hinarei wrote:
> "Alister" wrote:
>
>> Don't forget that explorer.exe is the process responsible for providing
>> you with a desktop, start menu and taskbar, so if you open a My Computer
>> or any other browsing window you *will* see two processes, this is
>> normal behaviour.
>>
>> It sounds like in your efforts to stop this you may have broken something!
>>
>> Try doing a system restore back to before you started changing things -
>> and also check for malware infestation.
>>
>> Alister
>>
>
> Thanks for that. I don't recall changing anything, necessarily. All I've
> mentioned is that I've tried booting to safe mode and killing processes,
> deleting reg keys that set themselves back up again... if anything, the
> setup's the same as when I started looking at it.
>
> Unfortunately the machine hasn't had System Restore enabled, so that isn't
> an option. I have also run through scans from Windows Defender, MalwareBytes
> AntiMalware and Adaware, as well as Kaspersky Anti-Virus, none of which seems
> to have picked any problems out other than tracking cookies.
>
> Also, to my recollection, regarding the multiple processes: I've always
> noticed a single process for explorer.exe on every other XP install I've
> used. Perhaps this isn't a great way of working, but if the one process is
> capable of firing multiple folders, why do you need two processes to do the
> job?
>
> Surely I'd be able to tick a folder view option without it setting itself
> back again without my knowledge?

OK, you got me - I realise that I do have the option "Launch folder
windows in a separate process" ticked - and therefore I get multiple
instances in Task manager.

This is something set on all the machines I work with as we do a lot of
work on remote network shares which can be a bit flaky - this way if an
instance is open and locks up, we can kill the process without killing
the desktop / taskbar.

I apologise for the misleading information.

As Pegasus suggests you may have a rogue process pretending to be
explorer. The fact that you cannot get your settings change to stick
also suggests something is running which shouldn't be. As well as the
program he has suggested, you could try Process Explorer from sysinternals:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx

Which will let you investigate each process in detail.

Alister