File explorer crashes unexpectedly

[jimrich]

My OS is win 8.1 and I keep it up to date. Sometimes, while I am working on internet things, I need to open a folder or file but the file explorer just freezes and won't show any folders or files. I have tried several alternatives but the file explorer simply stays frozen and the different explorer windows will not even respond to the "close window" option even if I click on the red X on the icon. The explorer will come back in action by restarting the computer but that messes with whatever online project I am working on at that moment.
Please offer some ideas or solutions to fix the file explorer so it won't crash without warning in the middle of a project.
Thank you,
Jim

 

[mike1959]

It would be worth running a system file checker command.
So that's Windows key + X.
Choose Command Prompt (Admin)
Then type sfc /scannow
(Be sure to include the space after sfc.)
Press Enter and leave it to scan, Windows will repair any faults it finds.
You can use the pc while this is happening, but it will slow the scan down.
It will take about 10 minutes.

 

[jimrich]

It would be worth running a system file checker command.
So that's Windows key + X.
Choose Command Prompt (Admin)
Then type sfc /scannow
(Be sure to include the space after sfc.)
Press Enter and leave it to scan, Windows will repair any faults it finds.
You can use the pc while this is happening, but it will slow the scan down.
It will take about 10 minutes.

Mike, thanks for the response. I ran the sfc /scannow and came up with this report: "Windows Resources Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log"
........ so I opened the CBS logs and found some extremely long and complicated entries which I have no idea what to do with for now. I suppose I can restart the computer and wait to see if the File Explorer freezes up again or not. Please offer any other suggestions for following this issue from here if it is possible.

 

[mike1959]

Yes that is the standard report, it would be very unusual if it found no errors.
In fact you might need to run the SFC several times, and it doesn't guarantee a 'fix' but it's a good start, as SFC is a Windows 'built in' command and can only do good.
There is a chance that it has fixed your problem, ( I have seen the same before), but either way you could try installing this program, you might prefer it; https://explorerplusplus.com/

 

[jimrich]

Yes that is the standard report, it would be very unusual if it found no errors.
In fact you might need to run the SFC several times, and it doesn't guarantee a 'fix' but it's a good start, as SFC is a Windows 'built in' command and can only do good.
There is a chance that it has fixed your problem, ( I have seen the same before), but either way you could try installing this program, you might prefer it; https://explorerplusplus.com/

Mike, thanks for that Explorer app link. It looks like it will be more reliable and easier to get to than the win 8.1 file. P.S. I tried out win 10 but went back to win 8.1 right away! Whew, win 10 almost had me locked out of my computer due to a weird password issue! Once I got back in, I restored win 8.1! Ouch! Thanks for your help and feedback on this stuff. Happy new year, jim