Right-clicking "Start" Freezes W2K

When I right-click the 'Start' button in Win2k Prof., the hourglass appears and that's all she wrote. I have to power down and re-boot. Any suggestions?

 

"Suggestions" is exactly all I can offer here. Never saw this so can't give a fix I already knew about. Google search didn't turn up anything that looked likely. So here are the only suggestions I can think of (but maybe they will help stir other brains as well).

1. Check the event logs to see if anything interesting occured at the time you had the problem.

2. Try a C-A-D when it happens and if Task Manager will run, see what process us doing the deed to you.

3. In the registry, take a look at the following key which controls some of the items you see on a right-click of start and see if any unusual things are in there. I only had "find" as a default on my XP-Pro system and imagine 2K is the same or similar:
HKLM/software/classes/directory/shell/

4. Take a look at Q242557 which describes the registry settings that control what happens when you LEFT-CLICK on the start button. Not sure but could be some cross-over effect if you have strange stuff in there.

 

New one on me as well. If you have ever used a tweaking program(such as Tweakui) and removed the check boxes against the drives available on this computer You will remove the option of open & explore from the right click on Start. Maybe this has happened and caused this?In Win2k the registry Key from the previous post that you are looking for is I believe as follows:-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Shell\shell\op
en\command. Look for" %SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /idlist,%I,%L " Without the quotes. As I say I am not certain about this so if you do modify your registry to include this key and value then be sure to back up.
Quick way to back up registry, Open regedit click on Registry, then on Export. A window will open, call the file, backup, In save as type use, Registry files, Then choose to save in Desktop You will get an icon on your desktop just double click to restore your registry.

 

Uninstall/Reinstall Explore.exe?

Can't solve this problem as suggested. Could I uninstall/reinstall Explore.exe?

 

"Could I uninstall/reinstall Explore.exe? "

Not safely (and maybe not at all - never tried). It has hooks into way too many parts of the system.