7 Tips If Windows Explorer Keeps Crashing

If it happens a lot, it’s a serious problem

Windows Explorer is one of the essential elements of your system, and if Windows Explorer keeps crashing, you’ll have difficulties accessing files and folders on your computer. While occasional crashes may not be too much of an issue for you, but if Windows Explorer keeps crashing too often, it’s an issue that requires a serious look into.

Unless you know what’s causing the issue, you can apply some of the standard fixes and see if they helpfix the Explorer from crashing anymore. There are actually a number of ways to try and fix it on your Windows computer.

Update Your System

If your computer is running an old version of the operating system, that’s perhaps why the Windows Explorer keeps crashing on your machine. An older version often has bugs and issues that have been fixed in the newer ones.

Updating your computer to the latest Windows versionshould fix the issue for you.

Clear Windows Explorer History On Your Computer

Just like your web browsers and other apps, Windows Explorer also keeps a history of the activities that have taken place in it. If it’s been a really long time since you’re using the Explorer and haven’t really cleared the history, the files may have accumulated in a large number and they may be causing the utility to crash.

Clearing the Windows Explorer history should fix it for you.

Launch Folder Windows In a Separate Process

Unless you have enabled the option to have a different process for each of your folder windows, the Explorer will use a single process for all the folder windows you open. Sometimes, it can cause conflicts and issues which may lead the Explorer to crash unexpectedly.

To fix it, you can turn on the option that assigns a unique process to each folder you open in the Explorer.

Disable Any Antivirus Programs That May Be Running On Your PC

The Windows Explorer keeps crashing issue could also be the result of a third-party app interfering with the workings of the utility. While most apps won’t do that, there are certain types of programs such as antivirus ones that are known to cause conflicts with the built-in Windows tools.

And if that’s the case, fixing the issue is extremely easy. All you basically need to do is close any running antivirus programs on your computer and you’re good to go. These programs will then not be able to touch any parts of the Explorer and that should fix the issue for you.

Quick access menu is a feature in Windows Explorer that lets you quickly access some of your recently and frequently used files on your computer. Since it’s a part of the utility, any issues in Quick access can lead to major issues like Windows Explorer keep on crashing on your computer.

Disabling the option to include aforementioned file types in Quick accessshould fix the issue for you.

Fix Corrupt Files & Drives

Corrupt files and drives are also sometimes the reason why certain utilities end-up closing unexpectedly on your machine. Manually finding and fixing the corrupt files may not be an ideal solution, and if you aren’t really into any geeky things, you might prefer a simpler method.

Windows actually has built-in methods to let you find and fix the issues related to corrupt files and drives. There are commands that you can use in the Command Prompt utility on your PC to get rid of these problems.

Disable Third-Party Extensions

When you install a third-party app on your computer, sometimes they end-up adding their integrations to the Windows Explorer. And when any of those integrations get broken for whatever reason, they cause the Explorer to crash as it can’t handle a broken app integration.

There’s a free app that lets you find and disable these extensions on your PC.

Have you ever run into any issues with Windows Explorer? Did our methods above help you fix the issues? We’d like to hear your response in the comments below.

Mahesh has been obsessed with technology since he got his first gadget a decade or so ago. Over the last few years, he’s written a number of tech articles on various online publications including but not limited to MakeTechEasier and Android AppStorm.Read Mahesh’s Full Bio

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7 Tips If Windows Explorer Keeps Crashing#

Update Your System#

Clear Windows Explorer History On Your Computer#

Launch Folder Windows In a Separate Process#

Disable Any Antivirus Programs That May Be Running On Your PC#

Remove Items From The Quick Access Menu#

Fix Corrupt Files & Drives#

Disable Third-Party Extensions#