Classic Shell: Forum

Hello

I recently installed Classic Shell 3.65 on my laptop which has Windows 8 Pro 64 bit, it worked fine for a week then all of a sudden when a click the start button it freezes for 20 to 30 seconds then skips to metro start page back to the desktop then I try to launch the menu with the start button again it freezes, sometime it may work for a few minutes then it freezes again and the rest of my laptop works fine

thanks

Gaby

Is it possible you added some link to the menu that points to a network location? Network access can be slow, particularly if the network is currently disconnected.

hi

my wireless network ia always connected and i have a link to the network menus from the start menu, i will untick this option and see if it makes any difference tommorrow, i have the same configuratiin on my pc with win 7 32 bit never had any problems.

do you think the problem with win 8 64 bit may be a dll problem or configuretion issue

i will let you know tommorrow how i get on.

gaby

Hi

In the tab special items I ticked Don't display this item for Network Connections then clicked ok, still get same problem when click the start button freezes then screen refreshes returns to the desktop

Regards

Gaby:cry:

The network connections is not going to be a problem. I was asking if you have links to files (like exes) that are on the network. In such case the start menu must access the network to get the icon.

To get to the bottom of this, follow the instructions here: http://classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6
Capture a series of dumps while the menu is frozen. Zip them up and attach here.

I'm using Windows 8 Pro with Media Centre

I do not links to files (like exes) that are on the network and how do you open up command prompt in a folder?

You can do shift+right-click in Explorer and select "open command window here".

ok got their their, next do I need to type "procdump -e explorer.exe" in command prompt first then enter then click the start button?

Type "procdump -n 10 -s 1 explorer.exe", don't press Enter. Click the start button - if the menu doesn't open immediately, click in the command window and press Enter.
The goal is to capture as many dumps as possible while the menu is non-responsive.

OK I'll do that and send you the files, but at the moment its working, it works sometimes and most of the times it does not, next time it crashes, I'll send you the files

Ive logged of my laptop, Restarted my laptop and shut down and powered my laptop again for some reason its working

When it crashes again I promise I will send log files to you

Hi Ivo

I have copied and pasted the event log for the earlier crash from windows event viewer onto word for you, see if thats any help to you, I hope I have sent the right error messages from the event viewer.

it is still working and for some reason my laptop is booting up very fast too, before everything was working too but slow

Gaby

Hm, so is it a crash or a temporary freeze? To catch a crash you need to use the first command line "procdump -e explorer.exe" and leave it running until the start menu crashes.

ok my start button froze again, I forgot to open command prompt, silly me

temporary freeze kind of crash for about 5 to 30 seconds, it varys on each freeze

when it freezes the start button goes black then the whole desktop disappears for about 5 to 30 seconds then desktop comes back on

OK, that sounds like a crash. Just run "procdump -e explorer.exe" in the background and keep using your computer normally until the crash happens.

error log 2 from event viewer, 5 screenshots on word doc

run that before the crash happens

everytime I right click at the bottom then click properties and then the tab toolbars and then command prompt records an exception, start button not froze yet

Let's ignore those exceptions for now and wait for the crash. If there is a problem capturing the crash we can focus on the exceptions.

ok wil try again tommorrow

Hello Ivo

Start button froze from 20:03 to 20:06, in CMD procdump -e explorer.exe was running and it recorded 4 exceptions from 2003 to 2006, how do I exit the program ProcDump IN CMD and save the files in the new folder I created

If procdump is still running, that means there was no crash, so no files were saved.
Press Ctrl+C in the command window, and that should stop procdump. Then try the following command line "procdump -e 1 explorer.exe". This should create a file if there was just an exception without a crash.

Actually, there is something better you can do. Keep a command prompt open at all times. If the start button freezes for a significant length of time, type the command "procdump explorer.exe", which will create a dump immediately and exit. Repeat the command a few times while the button is frozen. This will create multiple dumps, increasing the chance of catching the problem.

It is important to keep a command prompt open, because otherwise Explorer will be frozen and you won't be able to open a new command window.

it says in cmd multiple processes match the specified name

Dang it. Sometimes there are multiple explorers running. If you open the Folder Options in Explorer, then go to the View tab, do you have the option "Launch folder windows in a separate process" checked?

its done ticked, next step

Uncheck it, log off, log in. From now on you should only have a single explorer process.

it was unchecked

Hm, I wasn't quite sure if "its done ticked" means "checked" or "unchecked".
Ideally you can use procdump with a process ID, which will work even if there are multiple explorers. However it will require you to use more tools to get that ID. Let's not complicate things for now.

Either way, logging off should get rid of the extra processes.

unticked that option
logged off
logged back in44
opened cmd
procdump -e 1 explorer.exe

file attached

hello ivo

you have not downloaded the crash dump file in above post yet

gaby

I am quite busy during the week. It will have to wait for the weekend.

Ivo take your time its just this annoying start button freeze problem is continuing, everything else works fine, even the metro screen works fine and I have attached a file showing all the software installed on laptop

Gaby3212
Try to uninstall all "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable".

Hi

I've uninstall classic shell 3.65 and installed version 3.63 yesterday, this version is better but when i click the start button it refreshes for 3 or 4 seconds then it comes back to the desktop minor freeze

I may give up on this now look at other third party start menu programs but I like classic shell better.

Regards

Gaby

XML settings files attached

Look at this problem here;

http://forums.stardock.com/436104

I have windows defender disabled in service.msc

no differnce to me

IVO
XML files above post for settings

With this post from windows event viewer, application and system events for the last 1 day or so, files attached

Gaby, thanks for persisting with troubleshooting this issue. The hangs also happen after Defender is disabled? Have you installed any other AV or firewall? ClassicStartMenu.exe injects itself in Explorer.exe process so your security program may be blocking that causing the hangs.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I examined the crash dump. I don't see anything abnormal related to Classic Shell. But I see quite a few references to avcuf64.dll. This file belongs to Bitdefender. See if uninstalling it temporarily will improve things.
Also see if disabling the jumplists has any effect. According to the stardock forums on a similar issue, they tracked down the slowdown to AV software re-scanning the exe every time a link to it is accessed. This happens when the start menu tries to resolve the jumplist to the apps in the main menu.

Hello

1. I've already disabled jumplists, tried it, did not work.

2. I've enabled and disabled windows defender in services.msc did not work.

3. The only Internet security software that is installed on my laptop is bitdefender Internet Security 2013, windows firewell is disabled, as far as I can remember this freezing problem with the start button windows 8 started after I was fiddling about with the bitdefender settings, never changed much at all in settings, I've had problems with bitdefnder in the past with xp, vista and win 7and now win 8. Never had problems with Norton while I ran classic shell on vista and win 7.

Do I need to uninstall bit defender and check classic shell on windows 8 now? then if it is the file avcuf64.dll causing the problem shall I install a different antivirus program

File attached showing 23 Screenshots of bitdefender settings.

Regards

Gaby

Looks like you have custom "on-access scanning". See if setting it to Default or Permissive helps. If not, try uninstalling it completely, at least to test if it will help your problem.

Ok I'll try that

and can you check these 2 settings in firewall

file attached

IVO

Check this file not one above

ClassicStartMenu.exe is not the problem. Its only purpose is to watch when Explorer restarts and re-enable the start menu.
You need to enable explorer.exe.

what's the path for explorer.exe?

see the ClassicStartMenu.exe I add to manually add these rules to the firewall, bitdefender does not pick it up

give me 1 week to test it without bitdefender

Explorer.exe is in C:\Windows.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.