Properties won't open

Hey there,
I'm a bit confused by this following problem I've encountered and found no answer in the Help&Support in XP.
I d/l MP3's(non-commercial) and from experience on my own pc (also Windows XP) I can right click or open the properties from the toolbar to change all the info. Now at this pc, when I d/l MP3's it won't let me right click nor open from the toolbar and it automatically closes the folder. It only happens with MP3's. Other files like .jpg or .doc are working fine. I have d/l the same exact MP3 on my own pc and it works fine.
Any suggestion and help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance

 

so if you right click the icon of the file and select properties, it closes the windows which you right clicked the icon?

 

runlola--I read this yesterday and was confused by the statement that you are clicking these files on the Toolbar. Files do not normally reside on the Toolbar (the bar under the Menu bar which has File, Edit, View, etc.).
Also these are "non-commercial" MP3's. Perhaps that is just the way they work. Have you had a different experience on another PC?

 

Jim, I think what runola is saying is that the properties of mp3 files can't be checked by either right clicking on them or using the properties button in the toolbar. If you right click the toolbar and choose customize you'll see that you can add a properties button.

Is this right runola? When you right click on a file does it close the window before the menu appears (or at least before you click on anything in it) or does the explorer window close when you click properties?

With the button thing, are you single clicking on a file to select it and then clicking the properties button on the toolbar, then the explorer window closes?

 

After I select the file I right click and no menue appears, instead ...the window/folder closes completely and even reloads the desktop.
I added the "property" button to the toolbar and selected the file, clicked on the button and the same thing happenes. This is odd, because like I said .... I downloaded the same exact files/mp3's onto my own pc with the same operating system and it works just fine, no problems at all.

 

runlola--
What happens when you select the file, and click Alt+Enter simultaneously?

Zander--

No such option in my Customize Toolbar window.

 

that sounds like a shell crash. can u reproduce in safe mode? if not, check the 'stuff' u've got loaded. something in startup or 'extras' is causing it.

eg - u'r windows shell is crashing

 

shell crashing????? I'm not sure if I understand but I'm researching or better educating myself....... and reproduce in "safe mode "? I know how to get to safe mode... but reproduce ? what am I suppose to reproduce? The "stuff" I got loaded ???? What do you mean? The "running processes "???? Or current running applications? .....
oh my .. this seems to be more complicated then I thought.....
but thanx so far.....

 

I agree that it does sound like explorer going down. My guess (only a guess here) is that it caused by a bad context menu handler. By this I mean one of the things that appears in the menu when you right click on it. More than likely there's one in the right click menu for mp3s that other files don't have. These would also be present in safemode.

If this is what's a happening, you could try using shellexview to run it down. Open shellexview and then click on the options menu and make sure "mark all non Microsoft extensions" is checked. This will highlight all that don't belong to MS software. Then to make it easier yet, change the sort order by clicking on the product name column (click where it says product name). This will sort them so all MS extensions are placed together.

Then start by disabling all non MS extensions. Once you've done this, try right clicking on a mp3 to see if it works. If so, it's a matter of re-enabling a few at a time until you find the one that's causing the problem. It may be one that says something like burn to audio cd or something like that. I can't say for sure but if it is a context menu item causing it you should be able to run it down by doing this.

 

Hmmm, don't know what's up with that. You should be able to right click on the toolbar in any folder or windows explorer, choose customize and there should be a properties button you can add. Unless..... you happen to already have it on the toolbar. It looks like a white piece of paper with a red checkmark on it.

 

Sorry it took awhile to answer... I just now got a chance to look into it.... and sure enough, the "shellexview" and disable of the MP3 to Wave helped. That was the problem. It works fine now. Thank you very much for your help...

 

OK, thanks for posting back and letting us know.