My Explorer.exe file possibly corrupted

I am running Vista Home Basic 32Bit on a Dell Inspiron 1501 notebook.
My current problem is that Windows Explorer appears to be "hanging up"
and I am unable to access any folders on my computer. From a fresh
boot, I can go into folders on my desktop or using My Computer but after
about 15 seconds, anytime I try to do this, the explorer window pops up
and is completely blank, and it stays like this indefinitely. I am able
to exit out of this but any attempt to access a folder results in the
same.

I have tried to do the earliest system restore possible, and this did
not correct it. I ran Windows Defender, AVG anti-virus, and an
antispyware program and they found nothing either. I am guessing that I
have a virus but I'm not sure how I can get my files backed up even
since I can't go into any folders. I have looked at the task manager
and Explorer is running in the background even without any folders open
and my cpu is also clocked at 100% usage as well (with nothing open).

Any suggestions on how to fix/repair this or how to do a restorative
type reinstall of Vista?


--
danielmiller

Dave,

Thanks for your response. I had downloaded Malwarebytes and tried to
check my C: and it didn't find anything in normal mode, but I think I
may have uncovered what was the real problem or another problem in
itself.

I hadn't thought about this, but since the HD on my laptop is small
(60Gb), I normally have my 500Gb Western Digital External hardrive
plugged in via USB. All the time I had been having these problems, I
hadn't disconnected the hard drive. Well, I tried unplugging the hard
drive, and then booting up fresh, and the aforementioned problems didn't
seem to be coming up -- I could go in and out of folders just fine, and
when I looked at explorer.exe under the Task Manager, it's usage had
gone back down to anywhere from 00 to maybe 10% when I had one folder
opened. Then, when I plugged the hard drive back in, the problems
resurfaced -- folders inaccessible, and explorer.exe in the Task Manager
shot back up to 90-97% with CPU Usage at a consistent 100%.

So now I'm thinking there might be a problem with my Hard Drive? I
wonder if that's what is infected, or maybe it's a sign that it's about
to fail. The hard drive is probably close to 2 years old, and there is
still about 120 Gb left on it. As we speak, I am running an AVG scan on
the hard drive, and I will try a Malawarebytes scan as well.

Are there any other suggestions you have given these new findings? I
am thinking I should probably go out and get a new 1Tb external since
they have dropped down to $100.


--
danielmiller