Resolved Can't drag & drop MP3s from Explorer into Audacity or WMP window

Just in the past day or two I've been unable to simply drag & drop any MP3s from a Windows Explorer window into an open Audacity window or a Windows Media Player window. Drag & Drop always worked before. I can use the File > Open menu to get them in, but not Drag & Drop. I get the circle with the diagonal crossbar, and nothing happens.

It may be coincidence, but I just installed a Windows Update (Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 for x64 (KB2656351)) and my problem began just after that (but as we know, it doesn't mean it caused the problem). I don't want to mess with a Windows Update, as by trying to uninstall it.

Can anyone explain why this change has happened, and how I can get my files to revert to the old Drag & Drop method? Thank you!

Frank D

 

Pete,
Yes, I told them there that I was going to post this on WindowsBBS, since I didn't think it was a problem confined to just Audacity.

I can drag & drop any files (e.g., mp3s, jpgs, etc.) to the desktop, to other Explorer windows, and to other programs such as file converters, but I cannot d&d them to Audacity or Windows Media Player. Hmm, something to do with sound-related files and programs?

Frank

 

Arie,
I spent over an hour running the clean boot procedure as described, with no change in behavior. Then, after returning all settings back to normal, I rebooted in Safe Mode and tried working (with Audacity, Window Media Player, dragging & dropping) -- and everything worked just fine!!! I could drag & drop everything and anything to anything with no problem.

I tried this in both Normal and Safe Mode, and all it did was to turn off the "no-go" (circle with diagonal bar) icon, but the pointer still did nothing.

Extras:
While I was running the Clean Boot and Safe Mode options, I noted the following:
Services in msconfig that would not allow themselves to be disabled:
avast! antivirus
Group Policy Client
RPC Endpoint Mapper
Task Scheduler

I didn't try messing with them, since there were no instructions as to what to do with them.

When I entered Safe Mode, I noted that these services were still running:
(in Windows Task Manager)
!SASCORE - SAS Core Service (SuperAntiSpyware)
DcomLaunch - DCOM Server Process Launcher
PlugPlay - Plug and Play
ProfSvc - User Profile Service
RpcEptMapper - RPC Endpoint Mapper
RpcSs - Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
All other services were shown as Stopped. Again, I didn't mess with them.

Processes that were running in Safe Mode:
(from all users)
csrss.exe - Client Server Runtime Process
csrss.exe - Client Server Runtime Process
SASCore64.exe - Core Service
ctfmon.exe - CTF Loader
svchost.exe - Host Process for Windows Services
svchost.exe - Host Process for Windows Services
svchost.exe - Host Process for Windows Services
lsass.exe - Local Security Authority Process
lsm.exe - Local Session Manager Service
System - NT Kernel & System
System Idle Process
services.exe - Services and Controller app
explorer.exe - Windows Explorer
winlogon.exe - Windows Logon Application
smss.exe - Windows Session Manager
wininit.exe - Windows Start-Up Application
taskmgr.exe - Windows Task Manager

That's all. I hope this provides a better view of what's happening.

Frank

 

On the theory that maybe my sound drivers were at fault, I've updated all my drivers that were updatable. No change has resulted. I'm still unable to drag & drop mp3s into Audacity or WMP. My sound driver, Realtek High Definition Audio, btw, was shown as not needing updating, so I couldn't update it.

Frank

 

Arie,
I've run the first two steps of the procedure you recommended. I'm going to post the mbam-log.txt file and the GMER.log to a new thread on the Malware and Virus Removal forum with the same name as this.

Frank

 

(As of Jan. 7th) I've completed the recommended course of malware removal at [Resolved] Can't drag & drop MP3s from Explorer into Audacity or WMP window . Although all malware was removed from my computer, thanks to Broni, I still can't drag & drop mp3s from Windows Explorer into Audacity or Windows Media Player. All my restore points have been wiped out so there's no possibility of going back to a former state.

This thread hasn't been resolved, but before I close it out, are there any other ideas?

Frank D

 

Arie,

Yes, drag & drop works fine in safe mode with Audacity and Windows Media Player, even with all startup items enabled in msconfig, but in normal Windows mode with all startup items disabled, I can't use drag & drop with Audacity and WMP.

Frank

 

Arie,

I followed the instructions in your article. Using ShellExView I disabled all the non-Microsoft extensions and tried dragging and dropping an MP3 file from Windows Explorer into the Audacity window. It was still "no-go." I then rebooted, thinking that some processes might have to be stopped or restarted, etc. Result: still the same.

Next question: should I try disabling some of the Microsoft shell extensions, or would this be dangerous, result in a crash or other problems?

Frank

UPDATE: I notice that there are still a lot of extensions listed in my right-click menus that are non-Microsoft. I thought that disabling all of them would mean that there wouldn't be any non-MS extensions in the right-click menus. How can I disable these also?

 

Resolved: I was able to restore to 12-25-11 and no more D&D problem!

Arie,

First, I must apologize for not letting you know earlier that I have two other ways than System Restore of restoring my computer : (1) a full Acronis TrueImage Home 2010 Nonstop Backup, and (2) ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT - http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/). Since my existing System Restore points had been deleted due to malware testing, and all other avenues had been tried as of this morning, I decided at this point to try the latter method to restore my system to a point before the problem began.

Since I make an ERUNT registry backup at the end of every day, I went to the January 1 backup, restored it, and rebooted. Result: no change. I then went back to the December 25 backup, restored it and rebooted. Result: Success!!! All was well again between Windows Explorer and Audacity.

The interesting part: I now reviewed all the software I had installed between December 25th and January 1st (a lot!) and here's what I found, in order of installation:

RevoUninstaller (update only)
LibreOffice 3.4 (added the presentation program)
Adobe Flash Player (update only)
CDBurner XP
Simpo PDF to Text
PDFill
Microsoft Movie Maker 2.6
Windows Live (to enable Movie Maker 2.6)
WhatIs Hang
Mozilla Waterfox 9 (switched from Firefox 9)
FFmpeg for Audacity
Microsoft Silverlight (update)

That all looks pretty harmless to me. At least there doesn't appear to be anything, IMO, that should affect dragging and dropping between Windows Explorer and Audacity.

Then I went to Windows Update and let it do a search, since the registry restore could have disabled some recent updates. Result: it found and wanted to install "Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 for x64 (KB2656351)."

My problems with dragging and dropping began right after this update was installed (see my first post in this thread). So this time around I am declining and am going to continue to decline to install this update.

I'll post back to this thread in a week or so to report on how things are going with Windows Explorer and Audacity. Hoping that the problem is solved and remains so.

Thanks to you and Broni for your help!

Frank

 

Pete,

Thanks! I'll read her columns more carefully from now on.

I've already marked the thread as 'Resolved.'

Frank

 

While it hasn't been quite a week, I thought I'd post now, while I'm thinking about it, that I'm plugging along successfully, dragging and dropping MP3s from Windows Explorer into Audacity as smoothly as ever. As far as I can see, the .NET 4 Windows Update was the cause of the problem.

Thanks, everyone for your advice!

Frank D