Explorer windows keep opening.

Published on March 3, 2005 By teddybearcholla In WinCustomize Talk

Has anyone had this happen to them? After I had been on the internet for a bit, I closed out the explorer window then went to disconnect (dial up). Before I could do that I had explorer windows opening up by the dozens all by themselves. I tried closing them out, but they appeared too fast, it reminded me of Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, with the brooms multiplying!!!! I tried everything I could think of, ended up just shutting it off (not the correct way either). Everything was OK when I turned it on again later!

Comments

NightTrainthedark

on Mar 03, 2005

I have had this happen. I never found out what caused it. I had downloaded a desktop x theme awhile back and when I ran it I got the million windows popping up and all the windows said was "D'oh". No joke.

I would suggest deleting any skins you were running and try redownloading them. That workedfor me.

Sleeping Dragon

on Mar 03, 2005

Is it internet pop ups? Like adware?

teddybearcholla

on Mar 03, 2005

Thank you Night Train and Sleeping Dragon...actually I was at WC and had closed it out and they all started, blank ones, white that was all,...it would have been funny if it wasn't so scary trying to keep up with them to close them out...which I couldn't do anyway. Can't be the wb either, I've been using it awhile, your Keltruclblack, NT, which by the way is fantastic! No adware...no viruses, all been checked and updated almost every day. But it is comforting to know that it has happened to someone else!

on Mar 03, 2005

Yeah happened to me once. The help window on online site kept popping up. I had to be extremely careful not to close main window because there was work on progress, and hard to restart to boot. Luckily, Alt-F4 is your friend and mine.

I just minimized the precious window and closed rest by hitting this button combo.

teddybearcholla

on Mar 03, 2005

Thank you xx...what is this Alt-F4...I just know ctrl-alt-delete , which didn't work at all in that instance!

Jan Oscar

on Mar 03, 2005

By pressing Alt+F4(The F1 to F12, usually located at the top row of the keyboard) you close the active window/application. If a lot of windows are open, you can press Alt+F4 to close one by one or hold Alt+F4 to close all.

teddybearcholla

on Mar 03, 2005

Thank you Yrgal,very much appreciated explanation !!

Jan Oscar

on Mar 03, 2005

The keyboard shortcuts are very useful and once learned, you can't live without them. Most people knows these ones which works with most applications and Windows itself:

Ctrl+C=Copy
Ctrl+X=Cut
Ctrl+V=Paste

...and here's some more of the most frequently used with explanation:

You can switch users without going through the Welcome screen: From Task Manager, go to the Users tab, right-click a user, and select Connect.

Hold down the shift key in the shutdown dialog to change "Stand By" to "Hibernate". Or just press H to hibernate instantly.

You can rename multiple files at once: Select a group of files, right-click the first file, and select "Rename". Type in a name for the first file, and the rest will follow.

Hold down the shift key when switching to thumbnail view to hide the file names. Do it again to bring them back.

When dragging files in explorer: Hold the Control key to force a Copy. Hold the Shift key to force a Move. Hold the Alt key to force a Create Shortcut.

If you create a file called Folder.jpg, that image will be used as a thumbnail for the folder. What's more, that image will also be used as the album art in Windows Media Player for all media files in that folder.

If you hold down the shift key whioe clicking "No" in a Confirm File Operation dialog, the response will be interpreted as "No to All".

To save a document with an extension other than the one a program wants to use, enclose the entire name in quotation marks. For example, if you run Notepad and save a file under the name Your.Name, it will actually be saved under the name "Your.Name.txt" But if you type "Your.Name", then the document will be saved under just that as a name.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc will launch Task Manager.

To close several windows at once, hold down the Control key while clicking on the taskbar buttons of each window. Once you have selected all the windows you want to close, right-click the task buttonyou selected and pick "Close Group".

In the Address Bar, type "microsoft" and hit Ctrl+Enter. Internet Explorer automatically inserts the "http : //www." and ".com" for you.

To organize your Favorites in Explorer instead of using the Organize Favorites dialog, hold down the shift key while selecting "Organize Favorites" from the Favorites menu of an Explorer window.

Press Win+L to switch to the Welcome screen.

Hope some of you will find this useful.

yrag

on Mar 03, 2005

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html read the instructions carefully, then run it.

and/or:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html install and run. In Advanced/Tools/IE Tweaks enable 'Lock Host Files'

Mithun Pal

on Mar 04, 2005

The reason could be anything - a virus, a spyware, a joke program or any thing. No matter what anti-virus you are using, on the web you are never safe. Because viruses are built first and then when it is discovered, the anti-virus definition for it is developed. To recognize and destroy a virus successfully is not at all an easy job. So, it takes time to build a proper remedy for a virus infected file. Even once a virus is detected and deleted from your system, you cannot be sure the deletion was successful. Once my computer was perhaps infected by an unknown virus (before SP2). NAV 2004 could not find any. But, my system was creating several problems. Safe mode was not reachable. When I wanted to delete a folder, all the files contained was deleted excepting for the folder itself. Someone was using it. So, I decided to format the hard disk and did it. I was hoping there are no more viruses. But, machine refused to restart. I and my friend, Abhi finally discovered the existence of a CIMOS resident virus which was removed by taking the battery out from CIMOS. 700MB of download become unusable as the virus copied itself in the CD containing the download. As I insert it in CD drive same problem occurs and I have to format my system. Till date I don't know whether any virus definition has been build or not for it. Virus by its nature always transfers data by creating a secure channel through web. Moreover some of them contains a feature like auto update. So, despite of security we are never safe.
Only what we can do to use a reputed antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware. Please don't use any freeware in this case. If you ask about my recommendation, I would suggest NAV 2005, ZAP, Pest-Patrol/Ad-Aware Se Pro with RegHance.
(Tips: Press Windows Button + Pause/Break. From System Properties window select Remote tab. Deselect the option 'Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent from this computer'. Click OK. So, none will be permitted to view your system. Disable the sharing mode by configuring your firewall.)
I think your problem was due to a malware or joke program. Anyway if it does not occur further, then it's ok.

Mithun Pal

on Mar 04, 2005

just press H to hibernate instantly

If I am not wrong, Bootskin and Logonstudio don't support the feature of Hybernation. But, if you are able to do it using Bootskin or LogonStudio, please let me know yrag.
Your tips are useful. Thanks for providing them on WC.

Jan Oscar

on Mar 04, 2005

I use both LogonStudio and Bootskin and hibernation works on my Windows XP Pro SP2.

Mithun Pal

on Mar 04, 2005

My OS is WindowsXP HOME OEM SP-2. I use both LogonStudio and Bootskin, but the freeware versions. Thank you Yrqal. Thank you for your report. I have to find out what is wrong in my system.

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