[jmw3]

I know this problem has been posted here before many times however most seem to be associated with third party software, spyware or shell extensions.... not that I know to much about those, but anyway...
My problem with 'Windows Explorer has Stopped Working...' is with a couple of programs I have pinned to the start menu, Windows Mail & the CMD Prompt. If I right click on either of these I get the WE stopped working error. I have the default IE & Email (Outlook 07) also pinned but I don't have any problems with those nor with any other shortcuts on the start menu, all programs list or the desktop.

Had this problem with all shortcuts previously after recently installing iTunes & QuickTime however an un-install & re-install of both fixed that issue. Maybe something got left behind. Might try un-installing these again to see what happens.

May have come back to third party software afterall, but any other thoughts or suggestions?

[jmw3]

Ok, managed to track down what was causing the problem. It was a third party shell extension called, sunASShredCtxShell.Handler. After I disabled it both the shortcuts worked fine.
The shell extension comes from the Counterspy anti spyware program which I am currently using. I think it has something to do with the File Eraser tool available within the program.
Hopefully Sunbelt software will have an update or fix.

[jmw3]

Heard from Sunbelt Software today. This what they had to say, "Currently the file eraser tool is not supported under Windows Vista. This is the reason that it is causing windows explorer to crash. We are currently working on this for a future release."

So for anyone else using Counterspy with Vista & your having similar problems, this may be why.