Hi, Getting to know a new PC (Windows 10 Home 64-bit) and started having a very odd problem today (the PC is less than a week old). When clicking on a Word file, Excel file, or Powerpoint file in Windows Explorer, Explorer freezes. I get the hourglass cursor, and the window needs to be forcibly quit. I can reopen Windows Explorer immediately and it works fine... unless I click one of these file types. Other file types are fine (including Access and Publisher file types) What's going on with this? To be clear, I had not purchased MS Office when this problem began today (see below). This also started before installing any third-party anti-virus scanners (also see below). What I have tried: Updating BIOS (ASUS Prime Z270-P) Updating Graphics card drivers (Nvidia GTX 1060) Updating Windows (no update found) Purchasing and installing the full version of MS Office 2016. running sfw /scannow on all drives (1 SSD and 2 HDDs) running chkdsk on all drives downloading and running a third party anti-virus scanner rebooted multiple times, of course. None of the above has worked. Every now and then I get a "grace period" where it will let me manipulate these files, but relatively soon after that it stops working again. Also, these files can be safely manipulated from the Desktop - just not from Explorer proper. They also work fine if opening World directly and then choosing the files from the Open menu within Word (or Excel, etc.). This is my first experience with Windows 10 (coming from 7 64-bit).

Try performing a repair upgrade: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki... If that does not work... I am going to recommend you downgrade to Windows 10 1703. Step 1: download Windows 10 1703 from the following link: https://tb.rg-adguard.net/index.php?sid=74a7cf5... Choose the following: Windows Final Windows 10, version 1703 Windows 10 Pro + Home English x64 (64 bit) x32 (32 bit) Step 2: create a bootable copy https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik... Step 3: perform a custom install http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki... There are some compatibility issues with Windows 10 version 1709 and certain hardware or software. There is no explanation why a lot of these problems are happening in Windows 10 1709, but the release is significantly flawed. Software and Hardware that once worked in previous versions, just suddenly stops working in Windows 10 1709 after an upgrade and sometimes loses functionality or stability.

Hello, Try doing a repair install. A repair Install keeps everything and reinstalls Windows. http://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2016/06/how-to-... http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair... The best and the easiest way is to use first method in the first article.

DISM was a long shot, but worth trying. I was going to suggest re-installing windows, since you have doine almost every other trouble shooting step I can think of. Then I noticed you mention it is a new computer. 2 points. Did you notice the problem before starting to install your applications? Try starting Windows in safe mode to see if the problem goes away. Here are the options for doing that WIN 10 SAFE MODE / WIN 8 SAFE MODE SAFE MODE- HOW TO ACCESS ADVANCED STARTUP OPTIONS IN WINDOWS 10 OR 8 - 6 WAYS http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/open-... MS CONFIG - SAFE MODE- HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOL & ALL ITS AWESOMENESS! - WIN 7 / 8.1 / 10 http://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-system-c... SAFE MODE WIN 10 (F8 MENU) MISSING https://www.infopackets.com/news/9779/how-fix-s... ************************************ If all else fails, you may want to try repairing Window and then re-installing it (from restore parittion), then doing a clean install.

I have the same problem going on with my ASUS K570UD. Thing's not even a week old. Here's a G-drive link showing it in action. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n4QE2mW6WxBaN\_SWbWU\_7c6\_WazkPa81 I should note that if I manually terminate the COM process under WORD, Windows Explorer unfreezes. Of course if the Word doc is still selected, it will freeze right back up again. This is a snippet of conversation from a Discord chat with a friend: "it might havew something to do with the COM surrogate process Word opens up, that tends to use a lot RAM for some reason. Try killing that sub process, and if you can open office itself, then With a Microsoft Office program open, click the "File" tab from the top menu bar > click "Options" from the menu on the left. Under the "General" tab (in Office 2007, the "Popular" tab), click to deselect the "Enable Live Preview" checkbox. Click [OK]." That got rid of those two processes that show up briefly when I first click on the doc. But it still freezes.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Update: So when booting to safe mode, everything worked fine, so definitely didn't appear to be hardware related. And... the Windows Repair process worked! So far, things seem to be working fine. That said, I don't think this problem presented itself in the first few days of running windows, so it's of course possible that things will go south again in a few days. Hopefully not. Thanks again!

Windows Explorer Crashes when clicking on MS Office files

Anonymous

Hi,

Getting to know a new PC (Windows 10 Home 64-bit) and started having a very odd problem today (the PC is less than a week old).

When clicking on a Word file, Excel file, or Powerpoint file in Windows Explorer, Explorer freezes. I get the hourglass cursor, and the window needs to be forcibly quit. I can reopen Windows Explorer immediately and it works fine... unless I click one of these file types. Other file types are fine (including Access and Publisher file types)

What's going on with this? To be clear, I had not purchased MS Office when this problem began today (see below). This also started before installing any third-party anti-virus scanners (also see below). What I have tried:

Updating BIOS (ASUS Prime Z270-P)
Updating Graphics card drivers (Nvidia GTX 1060)
Updating Windows (no update found)
Purchasing and installing the full version of MS Office 2016.
running sfw /scannow on all drives (1 SSD and 2 HDDs)
running chkdsk on all drives
downloading and running a third party anti-virus scanner
rebooted multiple times, of course.

None of the above has worked. Every now and then I get a "grace period" where it will let me manipulate these files, but relatively soon after that it stops working again.

Also, these files can be safely manipulated from the Desktop - just not from Explorer proper. They also work fine if opening World directly and then choosing the files from the Open menu within Word (or Excel, etc.).

This is my first experience with Windows 10 (coming from 7 64-bit).

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

2018-01-29T12:14:22+00:00
Try performing a repair upgrade:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki...

If that does not work...

I am going to recommend you downgrade to Windows 10 1703.

Step 1: download Windows 10 1703 from the following link:

https://tb.rg-adguard.net/index.php?sid=74a7cf5...

Choose the following:
- Windows Final
- Windows 10, version 1703
- Windows 10 Pro + Home
- English
- x64 (64 bit) x32 (32 bit)
Step 2: create a bootable copy

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...

Step 3: perform a custom install

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki...

There are some compatibility issues with Windows 10 version 1709 and certain hardware or software. There is no explanation why a lot of these problems are happening in Windows 10 1709, but the release is significantly flawed. Software and Hardware that once worked in previous versions, just suddenly stops working in Windows 10 1709 after an upgrade and sometimes loses functionality or stability.
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Answer accepted by question author

Sumit 43,621 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2018-01-29T04:14:47+00:00

Hello,

Try doing a repair install. A repair Install keeps everything and reinstalls Windows.

http://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2016/06/how-to-...

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair...

The best and the easiest way is to use first method in the first article.
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2 people found this answer helpful.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

2018-01-29T03:24:51+00:00

DISM was a long shot, but worth trying.

I was going to suggest re-installing windows, since you have doine almost every other trouble shooting step I can think of. Then I noticed you mention it is a new computer.

2 points. Did you notice the problem before starting to install your applications?

Try starting Windows in safe mode to see if the problem goes away. Here are the options for doing that

WIN 10 SAFE MODE / WIN 8 SAFE MODE

SAFE MODE- HOW TO ACCESS ADVANCED STARTUP OPTIONS IN WINDOWS 10 OR 8 - 6 WAYS

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/open-...

MS CONFIG - SAFE MODE- HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOL & ALL ITS AWESOMENESS! - WIN 7 / 8.1 / 10

http://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-system-c...

SAFE MODE WIN 10 (F8 MENU) MISSING

https://www.infopackets.com/news/9779/how-fix-s...

************************************

If all else fails, you may want to try repairing Window and then re-installing it (from restore parittion), then doing a clean install.
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2 people found this answer helpful.

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Anonymous

2018-07-05T19:31:05+00:00

I have the same problem going on with my ASUS K570UD. Thing's not even a week old.

Here's a G-drive link showing it in action.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n4QE2mW6WxBaN\_SWbWU\_7c6\_WazkPa81

I should note that if I manually terminate the COM process under WORD, Windows Explorer unfreezes. Of course if the Word doc is still selected, it will freeze right back up again.

This is a snippet of conversation from a Discord chat with a friend:

"it might havew something to do with the COM surrogate process Word opens up, that tends to use a lot RAM for some reason. Try killing that sub process, and if you can open office itself, then With a Microsoft Office program open, click the "File" tab from the top menu bar > click "Options" from the menu on the left. Under the "General" tab (in Office 2007, the "Popular" tab), click to deselect the "Enable Live Preview" checkbox. Click [OK]."

That got rid of those two processes that show up briefly when I first click on the doc. But it still freezes.
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Anonymous

2018-01-30T02:57:01+00:00

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Update:

So when booting to safe mode, everything worked fine, so definitely didn't appear to be hardware related.

And... the Windows Repair process worked! So far, things seem to be working fine. That said, I don't think this problem presented itself in the first few days of running windows, so it's of course possible that things will go south again in a few days. Hopefully not.

Thanks again!
Please sign in to rate this answer.

1 person found this answer helpful.

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Windows Explorer Crashes when clicking on MS Office files

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