when creating folder or deleting files explorer freezes

Whenever I create a new folder the explorer screen freezes. Nothing else
freezes. I have to go to task manager and end the task. When I get back to
Explorer the new folder is there. I also have the same issue when I create a
desktop short cut or try to delete the desktop shortcut. When I delete a
directory I get a message box stating recycling 1 item. I don't think it's
my anti virus software. I removed MacAfee and tired creating a new folder,
the same thing happened. I also ran malware and spybot. Nothing was found.

My windows mail also leaves a process running, this won't allow me to get
back into email unless I kill the process. I don't know if this matters but
I also lost the look of my Vista start button. It looks like the old XP.
Any idea's would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS Rich

[Pysis]

I've had this problem, searched everywhere, tried anything and still nothing. When I delete something by sending it to the Recycle Bin or completely, rename it, move a file, or make a new file or folder in explorer it freezes, entering rename mode but not doing anything does not cause this though. This also happens in any program that attempts the same actions. It's been happening for a whle and I would use system restore if it went back that far. Maybe it was related to the Mail program process not terminating, which I also found to be the problem with windows movie maker. I uninstalled McAffee, and for another COM surrogate error that crashes almost every 30 minutes I tried updating DivX for thumbnails etc. and nothing has helped. Apparently now my search function is broken and freezes explorer as well when I use the small box in the top right corner. I tried enabling/disabling services and still nothing. One thing I saw is to stop error handling in the dllhost program but that's not fixing the problem. I Have Vista Home Premium SP1 on a Dell M1530 and an nVidia GeForce 8300 video card i think. All of this just makes Vista so unwanted.

Any help I can get on this would be appreciated.

The problem seems to be with the "SearchIndexer.exe" process. Open Task
Manager and click the "Processes" tab. On the "Processes" tab, you may
also need to click the button labeled "Show processes from all users."

Search for the process named "SearchIndexer.exe." End this process,
then restart it. To restart it, go to the "File" menu and choose "New
Task." In the box, type "SearchIndexer.exe" and click "OK."

I was having the exact same problem and this fixed it. I hope it works
for you!


--
dsimms

[helenscott84]

Sorry, if it did anything it didn't do much. Sometimes I'm able to copy some files to or from my internal hard drive to an external one but I just tried deleting something off of the Desktop and it showed the freezing progress bar again.

I tried disabling the service to SearchIndexer and it took a while and then said it couldn't contact the service so I set it to disabled and I'll try a reboot.

I had this problem, took me all bloody night to fix it - go to control panel, classic view, administrative tools, services then disable 'windows search'..

hope this helps... !! x

[Pysis]

Sometimes SearchIndexer was 'embedded' by the Windows Search process. What stopped me last time was that I could not stop it from running as it could not function properly to communicate with. Disabling a rebooting seemed to help. While the frequency of explorer's progress bar freezing is less, it still happens, maybe tied to some actions more than others. Move (cut), copy, paste seem to act a little better, creating files unsure, but renaming files seems to cause explorer to freeze (Not needing progress bar window?). This is starting to be confirmed on my part not only a partial solution but a temporary one. I did not know how Explorer and other related programs came to be in this broken state whether it be a Windows Update or a third-party program.