hello2007 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 whenever I check my desktop windows manager I always see windows explorer there taking up space for no reason. I use firefox and explorer comes on the desktop windows manager whenever I start my computer so I'm wondering how can I disable this? avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) is an essential part of the Windows operating system, not Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe) which is the browser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunerz Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Disabling explorer.exe at startup would mean disabling the GUI of Windows at start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 can you guys tell me how to disable windows explorer it if it's safe? thanks for the clear up on the internet and windows terms avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators hazelnut Posted June 10, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 10, 2009 Do not disable Windows Explorer. It makes your computer work properly. Support contact https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general or support@ccleaner.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalj Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 can you guys tell me how to disable windows explorer it if it's safe? thanks for the clear up on the internet and windows terms Ok. I'm gonna show you what windows explorer is. (this is the XP way, I'm not sure if it's different in other OSs) First press Crtl-Alt-Del Task Manager will show up (remember not to close it) Go to processes right-click on explorer.exe and select End Process. right? Now (in task manager) go to Applications > New task. type explorer.exe and hit enter. If you closed task manager just press Crtl-Alt-Del again or reboot. Do you still want to disable windows explorer? Piriform Software User Guides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithuk Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 whenever I check my desktop windows manager I always see windows explorer there taking up space for no reason. I use firefox and explorer comes on the desktop windows manager whenever I start my computer so I'm wondering how can I disable this? I'm afraid you can't stop explorer.exe from running as already stated by Glenn its an essential part of the Windows operating system. It doesn't mean that Windows Explorer is running all the time in the background. Its the same with Systray.exe (Win9x/ME)and Mctray.exe (WinNT) thats the part around your clock that shows tasks and icons. As metalj has stated Ok. I'm gonna show you what windows explorer is.(this is the XP way, I'm not sure if it's different in other OSs) First press Crtl-Alt-Del Task Manager will show up (remember not to close it) Go to processes right-click on explorer.exe and select End Process. Now (in task manager) go to Applications > New task. type explorer.exe and hit enter. If you closed task manager just press Crtl-Alt-Del again or reboot. Do you still want to disable windows explorer? In Win98SE if you End Task Explorer.exe you will get the shutdown dialog box straight away. Keith Windows XP 2002 SP3 IE 7.0 Martin2k Rorshach112 is the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corona Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Yeesh. At least they asked first. It seems there are a lot of people out there that think Windows Explorer (explore) is the same thing as Internet Explorer (iexplore). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted June 10, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 10, 2009 Ok. I'm gonna show you what windows explorer is. Those were rather good instructions, and should clear up any confusion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldog9 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 You could replace explorer with a 3rd party window manager. The internet - Where men are men, women are men and children are FBI agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethec Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 You could replace explorer with a 3rd party window manager. Did you try what metalj said ? You cannot replace explorer with something else. You can use something else, like Total Commander, but you can't replace it. Another thing with explorer : Click on the taskbar. Alt + F4. Windows asks you if you want to shutdown your computer... Piriform French translator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldog9 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Sure you can. I use bbclean with a memory limiting plugin. Hovers around 5mb RAM usage when idle. Be sure explorer isn't running anymore along with the replacement one though as this will accomplish nothing except using more resources. I can't speak for others but bbclean and bblean require you to use the 'install' option from it's menu. Otherwise it'll run on top of explorer and may not work as expected. Some more- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_shell_replacement If you replace it you can still use explorer for file manager functions as normal. explorer.exe will start and close for that. The internet - Where men are men, women are men and children are FBI agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisVG Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 There is also a "clean" way to stop explorer.exe instead of killing it, goto the "shut down windows" dialog box press and hold CTRL-SHIFT-ALT then click Cancel on the dialog box, your taskbar and desktop icons will disappear as explorer exits (start it again as metalj explained) !! ONLY read further if you KNOW what you're doing !! FOR Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 ... Explorer.exe is started by userinit, and userinit is started by winlogon upon login of the user. all of this is configured in the registry under: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Currentversion\Winlogon There is an entry called "Shell" which has explorer.exe in it and an entry "userinit" which has userinit.exe in it. the program under "userinit" is started once when you log in, and should do its stuff and lastly execute whatever is in "Shell" the program under "Shell" is then again executed whenever winlogon detects that your explorer has stopped unexpectedly In other words, if you change for example the "explorer.exe" under "Shell" to "cmd.exe" a command window is started instead of explorer.exe BEWARE: if some nonexisting program is set in "Shell" you may not be able to login anymore !!! http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378750(VS.85).aspx (at the bottom) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldog9 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 You can't beat the performance of no shell. The internet - Where men are men, women are men and children are FBI agents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireryone Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Throw notepad.exe in the the shell for a laugh Note: ctrl+alt+delete to run regedit and correct it back. hmm way back when I tried it on a college test pc I should have tried shutdown.exe..... lol fireryone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted June 11, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 11, 2009 hmm way back when I tried it on a college test pc I should have tried shutdown.exe..... lol That would've been malicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators hazelnut Posted June 11, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 11, 2009 I have discovered that if I close down my computer explorer.exe gets disabled Support contact https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general or support@ccleaner.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted June 11, 2009 Moderators Share Posted June 11, 2009 I have discovered that if I close down my computer explorer.exe gets disabled Upgrade to DOS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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