Task Manager processes/Taskbar freeze-up

[pingu]

Hi there
i have been having this problem for a while and have yet get it solved. i am not a computer smart person so i really need help here.
i am using Win XP home edition, recently the taskbar kinda freezes up every few minutes. and occasionally, error window pops up saying 'windows explorer has an error...' when OK button clicked, the taskbar kinda disappeared and appeared again.. it kinda refreshes itself. if i may say so.
during the freeze up, i cant click on the Start button, n all the windows that i might have open are not displayed on the taskbar. the clock stopped, and only way i can switch in between opened programs is to use Alt-Tab.
in the Task Manager (Alt-Ctrl-Del), many processes running but only Explorer.exe uses up to 98% of the CPU memory. the rest shows 00. once i was doing a routine virus scan of my pc, realised that it's scanning really slowly.. i ended the Explorer.exe process(what ever it is its doing) and the scan sped up!!!
so, after all that, can someone tell me if i could stop all the processes that has 00 under the CPU column, and how to stop this explorer.exe process from consuming too much of my CPU memory. and any ideas on the taskbar freeze up??
Any comments and suggestions are welcome..
thank u
pingu

 

[Rick G]

Bad idea to stop Explorer.exe.
Instead try reinstalling XP over the existing OS and see if it helps. No format just a rewrite as sometimes a bug or such can make XP go whoopsy daisy.

 

[Lee]

My computer has ****ed up

I installed the xp skin patch from thickskinned.org (http://thickskinned.org/Zip_Files/PatchXP-SP1.zip) and I read the following before I downloaded the file:

"If you do not want to use the supported program (Style XP), you can patch the UXTHEME.DLL of your system.

Remember that this patch is un-supported. (no help files or customer service reps to help you if you f#$!@& up your system.)

And...All of these procedures are un-supported by Bill and the gang at Microsoft."

Anyway, I downloaded the file and ran it, and the dos window came up and the it told me to restart the computer, so I did, when I came back on it said:

"The application has failed to start because UXTheme.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix the problem"

So anyway, I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL -> File -> New Task -> Then I typed EXPLORER.EXE but it shows the same message.

How do I get my desktop back because EXPLORER.EXE is required for everything on XP. My desktop, applications, start bar etc.


And why do they have this on download when it clearly can **** other people's computers up? They are definitley responsible for this.