explorer.exe is using up lots of memory

[tali122]

in task manager explorer.exe (there is also iexplorer.exe which is fine) is using up lots of memory 160k and hence slowing down my pc , i ended the process and everything was fine - but taskbar and desktop disappear until reboot -is this best solution ? iam plagued by a rogue dialler is this related ? , ive ran numerous spyware av scans -should i do safe mode scans - any other advice welcomed

[jenky]

fwiw, 160k memory usage is nothing... especially when you consider that firefox takes about 100,000k, Dreamweaver uses 50,000k etc.
May be a misunderstanding but one explorer.exe runs the graphical interface of windows (why taskbar disappears when you disable it) and another explorer.exe is a trojan hazard.

If it is the legit explorer.exe caning your memory usage, think about defragging etc to see if that makes a difference.

[tali122]

thanks as mentioned i have ran all the scans -(dont do nowt) , how do i find its file path?

[rojash]

Explorer.exe is Microsoft's rather the silly name for the core part of XP. It's not slowing your machine, it's what makes it work! Hence if you stop it the machine won't work and the taskbar and desktop will disappear. (On most machines it would restart automatically after a few seconds)

On my machine explorer uses 47,032 K, so I'm puzzled that yours is taking only 160k

[sarah_louise]

There is nothing wrong. Explorer.exe is Windows itself.
As above reply 27,984K on my PC.
Dont end the process you need it running.

[tali122]

160k as in 160,000k, (so quite a lot?)been told depends where the explorer file is ,as one can be a vius if its in iirc sys 32 folder?

[rojash]

160,000K is not the same as 160K - You're right, that does seem a lot. Have you got a lot of context add-ons? (ie extra menu items that pop up when you right click a file in Windows Explorer - such as winzip, winrar, xptoys etc)