Vista 64-bit closes file dialog windows randomly

Hi, folks -

I just bought my dad a brand-new laptop computer with Vista 64-bit Home
Premium pre-installed. Almost immediately, we started noticing a rather
strange problem with this computer.

Seemingly at random, the operating system decides that it doesn't want
us to select a file in a file dialog window (if I select Open... within
an application and then browse to select a document to open, for
example), and so it closes the browse dialog a few seconds after it
opens, whether or not a file has been selected, and when it does this,
the entire application closes as well. For some reason, this dialog
seems to make its application crash. I've never seen anything quite
like it before.

Sometimes this browse dialog works without any problem. But once it
starts happening during a given login session, it will happen every time
that dialog appears.

Does anyone out there have any clue why this might be happening? The
computer is brand-new and has very little software of any kind installed
on it other than the crap that comes pre-installed.

Thanks in advance...


--
beerslayer

What application causes this problem? Is it one that came with the computer
or one that you installed?

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience



"beerslayer" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hi, folks -
>
> I just bought my dad a brand-new laptop computer with Vista 64-bit Home
> Premium pre-installed. Almost immediately, we started noticing a rather
> strange problem with this computer.
>
> Seemingly at random, the operating system decides that it doesn't want
> us to select a file in a file dialog window (if I select Open... within
> an application and then browse to select a document to open, for
> example), and so it closes the browse dialog a few seconds after it
> opens, whether or not a file has been selected, and when it does this,
> the entire application closes as well. For some reason, this dialog
> seems to make its application crash. I've never seen anything quite
> like it before.
>
> Sometimes this browse dialog works without any problem. But once it
> starts happening during a given login session, it will happen every time
> that dialog appears.
>
> Does anyone out there have any clue why this might be happening? The
> computer is brand-new and has very little software of any kind installed
> on it other than the crap that comes pre-installed.
>
> Thanks in advance...
>
>
> --
> beerslayer

Hi,

If you haven't already, visit Windows Update and install any available
critical updates. If SP1 is not already installed, make sure this is one of
them: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935280

Also, uninstall any of the preinstalled "crap" that he is not going to use,
especially toolbars and anything else that integrates itself into the
Windows shell as this is the most frequent cause of this problem. Tools like
the google desktop are known to cause symptoms such as you describe.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"beerslayer" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hi, folks -
>
> I just bought my dad a brand-new laptop computer with Vista 64-bit Home
> Premium pre-installed. Almost immediately, we started noticing a rather
> strange problem with this computer.
>
> Seemingly at random, the operating system decides that it doesn't want
> us to select a file in a file dialog window (if I select Open... within
> an application and then browse to select a document to open, for
> example), and so it closes the browse dialog a few seconds after it
> opens, whether or not a file has been selected, and when it does this,
> the entire application closes as well. For some reason, this dialog
> seems to make its application crash. I've never seen anything quite
> like it before.
>
> Sometimes this browse dialog works without any problem. But once it
> starts happening during a given login session, it will happen every time
> that dialog appears.
>
> Does anyone out there have any clue why this might be happening? The
> computer is brand-new and has very little software of any kind installed
> on it other than the crap that comes pre-installed.
>
> Thanks in advance...
>
>
> --
> beerslayer

No specific app. The problem seems tied to the file selection dialog.
I've seen it in OpenOffice and Virtual PC, just because those are the
only major apps installed on this new machine. I have no doubt it will
manifest itself in other apps as they're installed.


--
beerslayer

On Apr 27, 2:14*am, beerslayer <gu...@unknown-email.com> wrote:
> No specific app. *The problem seems tied to thefileselectiondialog.
> I've seen it in OpenOffice and Virtual PC, just because those are the
> only major apps installed on this new machine. *I have no doubt it will
> manifest itself in other apps as they're installed.
>
> --
> beerslayer

I am also having this exact problem. I am not able click File / Open
(or Save) from any application, including Office 2007 (Word, Excel,
etc.), Adobe Reader, WinZip, etc. The applications just crashes.
Using IE 8 (32-bit) to save files also crashes IE 8 (restarts the tab)
but IE 8 64-bit does not seem to experience this problem. This also
happened using IE 7 (that's how I got to installing IE 8 yestday). I
have also run "sfc /scannow" from the command line. It did find and
correct errors (I have no idea what was corrected...it's a tough log
to read). I have done a System Restore back to April 1, 2009. I have
also scanned the computer for using several different virus/malware/
spyware scanners; no problems detected. I cannot be certain exactly
when this began to happen, but I'm certain that all was OK over the
weekend (4/25). As far as I can tell this is the only problem that I
am experiencing...this computer has been very stable for well over a
year. Vista x64 Ultimate with SP1; all Windows updates successfully
applied through this morning (4/29).

Any help would be most appreciated!

Ed

vista 32 bit on ACER AMD 64 bit computer Report builder program crashes but
does not crash on other vista (64 or 32 bit) nor on XP Pro.

Very troublesome May 28th, 2009 started.

"" wrote:

> On Apr 27, 2:14 am, beerslayer <gu...@unknown-email.com> wrote:
> > No specific app. The problem seems tied to thefileselectiondialog.
> > I've seen it in OpenOffice and Virtual PC, just because those are the
> > only major apps installed on this new machine. I have no doubt it will
> > manifest itself in other apps as they're installed.
> >
> > --
> > beerslayer
>
> I am also having this exact problem. I am not able click File / Open
> (or Save) from any application, including Office 2007 (Word, Excel,
> etc.), Adobe Reader, WinZip, etc. The applications just crashes.
> Using IE 8 (32-bit) to save files also crashes IE 8 (restarts the tab)
> but IE 8 64-bit does not seem to experience this problem. This also
> happened using IE 7 (that's how I got to installing IE 8 yestday). I
> have also run "sfc /scannow" from the command line. It did find and
> correct errors (I have no idea what was corrected...it's a tough log
> to read). I have done a System Restore back to April 1, 2009. I have
> also scanned the computer for using several different virus/malware/
> spyware scanners; no problems detected. I cannot be certain exactly
> when this began to happen, but I'm certain that all was OK over the
> weekend (4/25). As far as I can tell this is the only problem that I
> am experiencing...this computer has been very stable for well over a
> year. Vista x64 Ultimate with SP1; all Windows updates successfully
> applied through this morning (4/29).
>
> Any help would be most appreciated!
>
> Ed
>