non stop running of explorer

Try running defrag and scandisk in safe mode

Explorer is always running. It provides the basis for disk access and most programs use it. Most likely it is something else, such as a screen saver or anti virus program that is interrupting your defrags/scans. Safe mode will load windows without most drivers, startup programs, etc.

"Windows" Explorer is always running, when you have Windows loaded. Don't confuse that application-shell with "Internet" Explorer.

Now as to why defrag is restarting...depending on which defrag appl'n you're using, that may be OK, too. Some defrags that I've used go through the loop up to 3 times: check, do the work, and verify. And this usually takes a few hours.

As the other mentioned you can't stop explorer from running - that is an intergral part of windows....

What you want to do is ctrl+alt+del and end task on all the running programs execpt Explorer and systray....

Also make sure that all power management is turned off, and that you have the screen saver turned off.

Hi Jerry. As previously stated, explorer must be running for windows to run. Disable all Screen Savers. Go to Start>>Settings>>Control Panel and open the Power management applet. Make sure that the Monitor and Hard Disk are not set to turn off or sleep for at least 2 hours, or never. Shut down the PC. Turn it on and before Windows can load, press F8 and from the menu arrow down to Safe Mode and run scan disk and defrag while in safe mode. You can also run the Disk Cleanup windows utility beforethat to delete temp files that can slow down the scan and defrag. Hope this helps!

Well, this question is still open and you didn't post any comments to the questions that you rejected, which were, by the way correct. Programs that seem similar in the task manager (when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL once to see what's running) are very similar.

Explorer==Windows
Exploring#####==Windows Explorer
Internet Explorer#####=Page in Internet Explorer.

In addition to running Scan Disk and Defrag in Safe Mode (my previous answer which I still stand by) you might also want to disable non-essential programs in the startup some of which can be:
Find Fast (causes excessive A:\ drive reading)
Office or Microsoft Office (you don't need this to run the programs, but in newer versions you should put the MS toolbar in startup or it won't be there--it's also listed in Start>>Programs>>Microsoft Tools.)
You should run scan disk and defrag in safe mode if you are running an enterprise version of anti virus as it will constantly be writing to the hard drive and interrupting the task making it impossible to complete. Check you anti virus settings also to tweak the amount of checking it does (increase the time intervals). Please let us know what happened with this and how you're doing--post a comment before you close this thread. Best wishes.

I've had this same problem too, the only way I have found for scandisk and defrag to finish is:
Click run
Type msconfig
Click selective startup
Uncheck ALL the boxes
Click ok and restart your computer
When your computer starts run scandisk then defrag. When you Ctrl-Alt-Del you should not see any programs running other than Explorer.
When you are done, go back to msconfig and click on normal startup, click ok and restart.
Explorer cannot be shutdown because it is part of windows itself.

Good Luck

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