Classic Shell: Forum

With Win 8 Classic Shell works great. After upgrading to Win 8.1 and when Classic Shell is running the entire desktop screen keeps reloading. If I quickly manage to open an application the application stays on the screen but the desktop keeps reloading. I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL and end Classic Shell then the PC is fine. I have tried uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling with no A/V and it still does the same.

I have noticed that when this is happening Magic Shell and the normal left corner Microsoft icon seem to be battling for the corner spot on my screen. Both are flashing.

Thoughts?

If by desktop reloading, you mean your Taskbar is also disappearing, then it means your Explorer.exe is crashing. Look here how to capture crash dumps: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6 and upload a crash dump here so cause of the crash can be figured out.

If you upgraded in place from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, then you should do a Repair installation of Classic Shell by running its installer again.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

was this issue ever solved (i've searched the site as best i can but have come up empty)?

i am having the EXACT same problem, but with an initial install of v.4.1 on a new windows 8.1 machine rather than an upgrade from 8 to 8.1. everything worked fine for a couple of days and then last night the start button became non-responsive (but not completely). now i have to wait about 20-30 sec after clicking on it (or pressing the windows key) before i can click it again and have itrespond. if i click it before then, the cursor becomes a rotating circle and the button becomes surrounded by a black box (though it looks more like the screen surrounding the button is gone, to be replaced by "nothing"). and yes, very often explorer refreshes, the same as if i were to stop the process and restart it (i.e. the screen flashes, goes blank and when it "returns" at least one open document or application has been closed. in addition, explorer shell no longer loads after the machine boots; i have to manually start it if i want it open.

any help would be much appreciated. thanks in advance...jeff

It can be anything - a bug in the start menu, bad shell extension, bad network connection. You need to capture a dump while it is unresponsive.

@jmw, from your description it looks like the Explorer shell *is* locking up and there can be many causes as Ivo said. To get the issue resolved, capture a crash dump as instructed here: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.