explorer.EXE-Application Error

Question

When I turn on my laptop I get this message box after I select any of the 3 users, Explorer.EXE - Application Error. In the box it says 'The application failed to initialize properly (OxcOOOOOO5). Click on OK to terminate the application.' There is an OK button and when I select it the message box disappears & all I'm left with is my desktop wallpaper with no icons, start button or any toolbar . The only thing I've been able to get to come up is the task manager. I'm new to computers so I don't know what I should be looking for. I can also get into the f12 screen but again I don't kbnow enough to find the problem. This happend when I was on the internet and went to a website I found on Google. When I clicked on the link my toolbar (lower right screen) had a small message balloon come up & the contents of this started changing rapidly like something was being loaded. I paniced & shut the compuuter off and disconneted the DSL line. When I attempted to turn it back on that's when the above problem started. I did notice something in the task manager called ' alfe sweep' or something like that. I don't remember seeing it before. ??? I'm thinking I need to do some type of recovery. Maybe back to a date prior to my internet problem date? If so I don't know how. I can only get into the F2 & F12 screens. How would I do this? any help greatly appreiciated

Augie65 · Answer

To start up explorer to show your icons and taskbar. Ctrl+Alt+Del and on the Applications tab, File> New Task (Run..) then type: explorer and hit OK.
You can try a restore to before the problem. For your system restore, Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore. You can go to the Help and Support from your start menu and type in System Restore and it will give you a guide to run the system restore. If you don't have one, you need to get an anti-virus program. I use AVG7 Free. You need only one anti-virus running at one time or it will cause problems. You can install several anti-sypware programs and run them at the same time without any problems. Several good ones are Microsoft Defender, Ad-aware SE, Sypbot S&D, and SpywareBlaster.

hoggdr · Answer

Thank you for your response, I need the help. However when I do as you instructed me to and type in 'explorer' (or 'explorer.exe') I get the same pop-up window (exeplorer.exe - application error) with the same 0xc0000005 message. The 'status' column is showing 'Running'. Any other ideas? I'd rather not do a recovery and risk loosing data if at all possible. Thanks again

sparkenh · Answer

hoggdr,

Try this fix:

1. Ctrl+Alt+Delete>File>New Task (Run...)

2. Type: ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/shellfix.reg

3. Click Ok and it will prompt to download shellfix.reg file

4. Click "Run" file.

5. After it runs, reboot your computer

rainbowbrite · Answer

Hi. Iam having the same problem with my computer as well...I would like to restore my system but i can get to my start menu to restore my system. Because when I go to new task(run) it doesnt open the start menu.  and  ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/shellfix.reg doesnt register with my computer

sparkenh · Answer

rainbowbrite,

Go http://www.f-secure.com/download-purchase/tools.shtml
and download the file shellfix.zip. Unzip and then double-click shellfix.reg. Select Yes if you are asked if you want to add information from the REG file to the registry. Reboot. Hope this will fix your problem.

coffeecoffee · Answer

Hoggdr,   Did the fix work?  I recently experienced the same problem with my computer.  While on the internet, something happened and I was told that the computer was infected with spyware.  I ran my antivirus and quarantined/deleted some trojans, but after rebooting I had the same problems you did (same error message at the same point in time;  windows screen with no icons/startmenu/etc.;  same error message when try to search for explorer.exe via the task manager).   Were you able to figure it out?  What worked?  Thanks!!!

Windows General

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