Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents  SOLVED

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inga78
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Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by inga78 »

Hello,

randomly my explorer.exe crashes with enabled preview window showing PDF-documents.
Any time I click on the PDF-document, the explorer.exe hangs.

When I disable the preview in Explorer or disable "Preview-Handler" in the options, the Explorer
will not crash anymore. Reenable the preview window, explorer.exe crashes again.

Only after logoff the system and logon with new session, the Explorer keeps to be stable.

I'm running PDF XChange Editor (x64) in Version 7.0.328.2 in a Server 2016 (Build 1607) RDS environment.

The issue appears not every day, so it is not reproduceable.

In hope of any help
Inga
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Dimitar - Tracker Supp
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Inga,

Could you please go to this folder:

C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Shell Extensions

...and start this file - XCShInfoSetup.exe

Then please make a screenshot of the window that will appear, and send it to us.

Regards.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Interesting - I use XYplorer and that crashes when selecting PDFs. Not always - just when I'm doing more complex operations involving 2 or more folders. Then have to start again.
I did find something about the Thumbnails View in XYplorer, but it wasn't specific enough to be of any help.

Running XCShInfoSetup.exe gives:
ShellExtensionsSetup.gif
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by inga78 »

Hello Dimitar,

here is the screenshot.

Thank you.

Kind regards
Inga
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PDFXChange_Shell_ExtensionSetup.png
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Inga,

Could you please set all the values according to this screenshot and then restart your computer:

image.png

@Giraffe

I will make some tests at my end to see where the problem is with the XYplorer.

Regards.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by inga78 »

Hello,

I will get the attached error-message.

Do I have to be administrator to enable these settings ?

Kind regards
Inga
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PDFXChange_Shell_ExtensionSetup2.png
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Inga,

These settings are making changes into the registry and in the system,
so yes, you need to use an account that does have admin rights.

Regards.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by inga78 »

Hello,

hm, is there any other way to do this for all users on a start-script of the server ?

Kind regards
Inga
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Inga,

Maybe you will be able to use this in a start up script?

How do I re-register the shell extensions

Cheers,
Stefan
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by inga78 »

Hello,

I have regshoted the changes and import them via startup-script.
Now any handlers are set (see attachment).

So I will wait, if explorer.exe crashes are fixed.

Kind regards
Inga
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Keep us posted!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Having changed mine to those there have been no crashes, BUT I haven't done any work with multiple files from several folders yet.
It's also difficult to know when a negative is stable.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Just editing, then moving 3 PDFs to a folder - crash!
So, still happening.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Giraffe,

Can you please confirm:
1. Do all the files come from the same source folder, and if not are you moving them one at a time, or using another functions to move them all at once?
2. What are the names of these files?
3. Are the files still open in the Editor before moving?
4. Does the same crash occur if you are using Windows Explorer instead of XYplorer?

Thank you!
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

1. Yes. Select the 3 and drag to the new folder.
2. DVLA_19-03-11_p1_of_3.pdf etc.
3. No.
4. Don't know - don't use it if I can avoid it.
Just tried in WE: select all 3, move up a level, move back - no crash. BUT - can't reproduce the crash in XYplorer, so it's intermittent.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Giraffe,

Thank you for the confirmation. If you cannot reproduce this crash in WE, then the issue likely lies within XYp instead, however as you said this is intermittent, we cannot confirm that just yet. Could you please try disabling our preview handler, and using XYp as usual for a while (a windows preview handler should take over if it exists on your system), and let us know if the crash persists?

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Will do. I did spend some time trying to find an answer from XYplorer. Some luck, but I didn't really understand the info. It seems to be something to do with the Preview somewhere.
One snag - no preview at all, now.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Sounds good, we are also trying to find a way to reproduce this locally (with windows explorer), but please do keep us posted on any new developments along the way.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Having done 'end-of-month' work there's been only one crash of XYplorer and that was when I selected 6 files to open and before I did anything to open them. All the other manipulations were OK.
I have PDFs selected in XYplorer's Preview list and, in Shell Extensions, only Preview Handler enabled - seems to be the minimum for thumbs to function.
So, better than it was but, as it's only one fairly intensive session, not very informative.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Giraffe,

Have you tried contacting the XYplorer support about this crash?

They could gather more data about the crashing from their product, so we can identify the source of the problem.

I have done lots of tests but I could reproduce the problem at my end.

Regards.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

Dimitar, do you have XYplorer? If not, Ihave the install exe of the last free version. It's on about 3.5MB if you want it.

There have been some threads in the forum but it seems unresolved last time I looked.
https://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/search.ph ... mit=Search
http://bit.ly/2Uh5tHQ
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Giraffe,

Yes, I do have it.

I installed it in order to try to reproduce the problem at my end.

But until now I did not manage to do so.

As far as I can see in their forum, they have found a workaround until they solve the problem:

"....install the 32-bit versions of either of these two!
..."


Regards.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Giraffe »

In my case, both are 32-bit, so nowhere to go there. :cry:
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

I have been dealing with this issue for YEARS, it is so frustrating and this is still the only post specific to PDF Xchange Editor that I can find on the internet ... and yet I still have not seen a resolution!

I have been a paid subscriber to this software since 2014! My business deals almost exclusively with PDF documents and having to reboot my PC daily and sometimes multiple times daily because Windows explorer crashes when I attempt to click on PDF file while the Preview pane is active makes me want to switch back to Adobe Reader!!!

As with the others in this post, I cannot replicate the problem. In other words there are no specific actions I can take that will make this happen repeatedly ... it just happens randomly.

I have multiple Windows explorer windows open at any one time, and sometimes there are different PDF files previewed in each open explorer window.

I have verified that Shell Extensions Setup shows PDF X-Change for each of the 6 Handlers, I have had it like this since 2019 when I found this forum article.

I have also tried numerous suggestions from Windows help such as opening each new Windows explorer window as a new process. Nothing works...

To this day I still experience the issue opening PDF files while the Preview pane is active and then Windows explorer becomes unresponsive and the only fix is the reboot. :x :x :x

Please help!
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

I an sorry to hear of your frustrations BEERviper!

are you running 9.2.358.0? (current) For us to look into this, having you use the latest for your tests is important.

If this does happen with the current version please set up automatic crash dumps as per this KB for the two processes explorer.exe and prevhost.exe: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... estigation

This article details how to upload them to our file server if they are too large for email: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowl ... le-service
Please name the files something eponymous or else email support@pdf-xchange.com with the file names so that we may associate them with your case.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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http://www.tracker-software.com
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Ovg »

It would be nice to know versions of your Windows and PDFXE ....

I'm using PDFXE PRO since 2012 and preview working fine for me....
It's impossible to lead us astray for we don't care even to choose the way.
PDF-XChange PRO, 10.1.1 (Build 381) / W7 SP1 x64
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

snap!
Best regards

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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:29 pm I an sorry to hear of your frustrations BEERviper!

are you running 9.2.358.0? (current) For us to look into this, having you use the latest for your tests is important.
I am using an older version originally starting with version 5 and paid for maintenance for many years. Currently on 8.0.331.0 and I had the same issue with version 7 so I am hesitant to upgrade if the same issue is going to continue.

Windows version is Windows 10 Pro 21H1.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi BEERviper,

unfortunately we are not going to be able to do anything with the older versions. All the fixes we do go into whatever is released next, they are cumulative.

I can appreciate being reluctant to upgrade to a version that may not fix the problem, but I can tell you we have put significant time and effort into this and do believe that it is fixed.

The only way we can know for your case it for you to use it.

:)
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents  SOLVED

Post by BEERviper »

Thank you Paul, I have updated to the Free version of 9.2.358.0 to see if the issue persists. After a week or two if I am not seeing the same issue persist I will indeed buy the full version.

Thank you for your prompt responses.
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Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Chris - Tracker Supp »

:)
If posting files to this forum - you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded - thank you.


Chris Attrell
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

I have upgraded to the latest version of PDF Xchange Editor and have been using it for nearly 30 days now. Currently running version 9.2 build 359.0 with 3 years of paid maintenance.

Up until a few days ago I had not experienced any issues with the preview handler.

I have now experienced over 2 consecutive days more issues with PDF previews in Windows Explorer, however this time Windows Explorer at least does not completely lock up. Instead there is simply no PDF preview for any PDF file. I have completely restarted Windows at which point it worked as expected for a short while and now it's back to no preview being shown.

Please let me know the next steps to resolve this recurring issue.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, BEERviper

just to be certain, have you already tried re-registering the shell extensions, as detailed here, and then restarting the PC? If not, please follow the steps here to try that: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... extensions

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:28 pm Hello, BEERviper

just to be certain, have you already tried re-registering the shell extensions, as detailed here, and then restarting the PC? If not, please follow the steps here to try that: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgebase/395-How-do-I-re-register-the-shell-extensions

Kind regards,
That was the first thing I looked at however all of the Shell Extensions were already set to PDF X-Change
image.png
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, BEERviper

Okay, please try disabling all of them, (set to none or any other value) and clicking apply, then change them back to PDF-0Xchange, and click apply again. After that restart the PC, to see if it helps.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

Thanks Daniel, I tried this and before rebooting I clicked on a PDF in Windows Explorer and it started showing the preview correctly again.

I will continue to monitor this and let you know if anything changes.

At least I know a workaround if this happens again so I don't have to reboot continually!
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Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

Happened again today during normal use. Tried the same method of changing all the handlers to None then apply and then back to PDF X-C then apply. This time I once again tried to click on a PDF in Windows Explorer but the preview wouldn't show this time without a reboot.

Albeit better than crashing Windows Explorer like the previous version, this is still quite annoying as much as I need this functionality on a daily basis for my business.

I will continue to monitor and report....
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, BEERviper

Sorry for the delay, some communication earlier today we had pointed to this possibly being a windows issue which is fairly simply to resolve. The trouble is that on occasion windows will list some preview handlers as "blocked" and prevent their use. To rectify this, please see the newly added section, at the bottom of this article:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... ocked-list

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by BEERviper »

Thank you Daniel. I checked the registry entry identified in the document you linked however at this time the Blocked folder does not exist. If the PDF preview stops working again I will make sure to check this registry entry.
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by David.P »

Hell all,
TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:28 am some communication earlier today we had pointed to this possibly being a windows issue which is fairly simply to resolve. The trouble is that on occasion windows will list some preview handlers as "blocked" and prevent their use. To rectify this, please see the newly added section, at the bottom of this article:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgebase/395-How-do-I-re-register-the-shell-extensions#shell-extensions-and-the-blocked-list
Now that is interesting! Could this be finally a handle to the decades old problems with various non-functioning preview handlers?

I have a lot of entries there, I wonder if I should delete them all now...

image.png

Best regards
David
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello David.P,

Yes - Windows does seem to block some preview handlers. While your list is quite extensive - if you are sure you do not want any preview handler on your end to be blocked - I would presume that removing all the blocked tree is safe, but just to be 100% safe - do make a back up copy of that tree first.

Kind regards,
Stefan
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by David.P »

Thank you Stefan, that's what I did, and then deleted all those registry entries.

For now, however, PDF preview with PDF-XChange or Adobe still does not work for me, only with Fᴑxit, as described here:
https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=37826#p156161

I haven't done a reboot yet though. Once that's done, I'll report back on how it goes.

Best regards
David
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello David.P,

Now that you've removed those registry entries - can you please try to run the
C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Shell Extensions\XCShInfoSetup.exe
as administrator, and then try to force all the options in there to PDF X-Change and see if it will now work?

I had similar issue with the previews on my machine, and it's been on for some number of days now, however with the above I managed to restore the previews without a restart being necessary.

Kind regards,
Stefan
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by David.P »

Hello Stefan,

I did as you say, but I still get (without rebooting) the same situation as shown here:

https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=37826#p156133

I also don't see file previews for PDF in Windows Explorer -- nor for all other documents like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Text etc.

Only for bitmaps, I currently get a file preview in Windows Explorer.

And Explorer crashes immediately as soon as I click on any folder in the folder tree, as long as the preview pane is enabled in Explorer. I've been seeing this crashing issue on and off for quite some time.

Reliable file previews in Explorer is probably the problem I've been having with Windows for the longest time -- literally for 20 years -- and it's never been solved permanently or at least reproducibly until now.

Best regards
David
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, David.P

Not to sound like a broken record, but, does it disappear after a restart? The preview handler is used by multiple applications, including some which often do not like to be shut down (I'm looking at your Outlook) so simply restarting explorer often wont be enough to "reset" this in full. This is why we recommend a full system restart instead.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi David,

if the issue persists after a restart, does it generate a crash dump if you set up "Automatic Crash Dumps" as per this : https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... estigation

If so please send the dump files as detailed here https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... le-service
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by David.P »

Hello all,

after a reboot I still get exactly the same situation in Outlook as before, and as described here:
https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=37826#p156133

Image

I also still don't get file previews for PDF in Windows Explorer -- nor for all other documents like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Text etc.
Only for bitmaps, previews are shown in the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer still crashes immediately as soon as I click on any folder in the Explorer folder tree, as long as the preview pane is enabled in Explorer.

Note that the crashes of Explorer probably have nothing to do with PDF-XChange Editor, since they happen immediately when only clicking on any folder in the folder tree. Also, PDF-XChange Editor does not crash. So it is probably not practical to create a crash dump of PDF-XChange Editor.

Anyway, I have now switched back to Fᴑxit PDF Preview Host, so I get PDF previews again, at least in Outlook.

Image
https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=37826#p156161

In Windows Explorer, I still don't get previews for all documents except images.

Best regards
David
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Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi David,

when you say this:
Also, PDF-XChange Editor does not crash. So it is probably not practical to create a crash dump of PDF-XChange Editor.
I believe that if you set up automated crash dumps as per that KB it will generate them for explorer.exe and would still be helpful.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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David.P
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Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:16 pm

Re: Explorer crashes with enabled preview of PDF-documents

Post by David.P »

OK Paul, I will try to create a dump of the Windows Explorer crashes and let your team have it!

Thank you &
Best regards
David
David.P
PDF-XChange Pro
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