Active desktop is turned off by default in XP. Did you turn it on? What file system (FAT, FAT32 or NTFS) are you using? Try turning off the Active Desktop. Art >Can anyone help with this frustrating problem. > >I have a large number of photos, including hundreds of family history >photos, stored in various folders . I am unable to open some (not all) of >these folders as when I try, after a pause of a few seconds I get a window >displaying the following message: Windows Explorer has encountered a >problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. When I >close this window I get back to the desktop and sometimes but not always >the desktop is on a white background and I am invited to "restore my >active desktop" by clicking on this button. This is a very frustrating >problem that I have been unable to solve as I am unable to access some of >my photos. I also have copies of the photo folders stored on an external >harddrive but I get the same problem here when I attempt to open the files. > >I am running Windows XP and have Norton automatic Live Update protection >and Spybot so I am confident I have no viruses in the system. > >Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. > >Martyn >Queensland, Australia > > >==== GEN-COMP-TIPS Mailing List ==== >Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites of the Internet: >http://www.cyndislist.com > >============================== >Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration >Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237