How to Start Explorer.exe Cleanly by Disabling Third-party Modules

The Explorer.exe process loads many DLLs, including some third-party shell extension DLLs. The shell extensions installed on the computer load whenever Explorer.exe is started. A buggy DLL may sometimes cause problems in File Explorer — such as freeze issues, crashes, or other unusual behavior in the Explorer shell. In most cases, a third-party shell extension … Read more

Black Screen and Command Prompt Open at Logon – No Explorer Shell

Due to a crypto-malware infection in the computer, after logging in to your user account, a black screen appears with a Command Prompt window open. Your desktop, taskbar, and the wallpaper (explorer shell) don’t get loaded unless you type explorer.exe in the Command Prompt window manually. This problem may continue even in the aftermath of … Read more

Track Process Creation and Exit Time Using Process Monitor

Summary: This post tells you how to track process creation and exit events using the Process Monitor utility. My previous post, List Running Processes, helps you track down currently running processes. And the article Command Prompt Opens and Closes immediately tells you if a last run program window was a scheduled task or not.