This is the explorer bug I have had since...forever. I am running Windows NT 5.1 Corporate (XP SP2) build 2600.
The effects of this bug are as follows:
1. Elements disappear
2. No right-click
3. Left click works, but doesn't do anything
4. Won't open new programs or windows
5. Programs throw up random errors
6. Always restores more than one window at the same time
7. Screen saver doesn't work
8. Programs can't be closed or terminated if they're unresponsive
9. Can't copy, paste, drag and drop or move anything
10. When web browsing, a new page won't load, or the screen will turn black
11. Problems minimizing, maximizing or restoring windows (see point 6)
12. No popup descriptions, or they aren't displayed properly
13. Sometimes gets triggered by Shareaza (wtf?)
14. Optical drives don't work
15. Something that monitors activity in real-time (Task Manager for example) makes the entire screen flicker
I can stop this from happening temporarily by closing two windows, it doesn't matter what they are.
But the bug comes back again every couple of minutes and gets more severe until I eventually need to reboot
I ran XPY over the fresh install, as it was ALREADY slow, I didn't like it so I reversed the changes, but these changes still remained:
Programs won't group
Quick Launch gets reset every reboot
No user image in start menu
No welcome screen, which does make boot faster, but switching users annoying
Ctrl+Alt+Delete goes do the "Windows Security" dialog
What I have done to fix the problem:
Re-apply the service pack.
Reinstall.
Format and reinstall.
Install it on a new hard drive.
Install it on a new computer.
It may or may not be related, but all-round, the system is incredibly slow even when the CPU is sitting idle. For example, mouse movement is very slow, when a different song starts playing it loops. Also, the on-board sound card makes two very loud clicks about one second apart every few minutes.
My system specs are:
Intel Pentium D (I think) E2160 1.8GHz
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 rev. 3.3 motherboard
2GB Kingston DDR2-667 memory in dual-channel
Albatron 8600GT DirectX 10 graphics card
About 700GB in HDD space