Windows 7 PowerDesk process remains after exiting GUI??

[rlincolnh]

I've always (10 years or so?) used PowerDesk in place of Windows Explorer (although I never choose the *replace* WE option when installing). Since installing it on Win 7, I've noticed some strange behaviour. After launching it from the start menu all is well, and when I have finished with it I close it, and its window vanishes. But if I try and run it again, it appears that nothing happens - no PD window, nothing. Try running again, again no window. Then bring up task manager an lo, there are three PDexplo.exe processes - the original that I thought I had quit, plus two from my subsequent attempts to run a new instance. I can delete one of the processes, then a second one, following which a PD window springs to life, and I can use it as normal. Again, if I exit PD the window vanishes but the process remains in task manager. I've tried running it in a couple of different compatability modes, but it makes no difference. I've just confirmed that on my regular win2k system the process is removed immediately after I exit the GUI.

Has anyone else seen similar behaviour in PD or other programs?
Does anyone have a suggested fix?

Roger

 

[Hermitt]

Hello rlincolnh, I to have been using Powerdesk for at least 10 years, I've seen the same issue in Vista and I'm almost certain I remember having the same problem from time to time in XP. I never did find a fix but since I thought it a small annoyance in a program I really liked I worked around it. Now in Win7 interestingly enough I have not seen the problem while using the latest issue Powerdesk7, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it has been fixed in Powerdesk7. What version of Powerdesk are you using?

 

[rlincolnh]

Hi Hermitt, good to hear from another PD fan - I couldn't get by without it. Since back in the NT4 days, then Win2k (which is still my main OS on several computers) I have been using the free version of PD5. I have also used that version on XP systems quite extensively without problems.

When I recently built an i5 system I decided to upgrade PD as well, so I now have the free version 6.0.1.3 on which I see the problem. Now, I've only had Win 7 up for a little over a week, but thinking back I don't recall being aware of the problem at the very beginning, but maybe that was just luck. One thing I didn't see in your post was the version of Win 7. I'm using x64, maybe that's related. In any case, I would appreciate it if you could give your version a bit of a workout (open, close, open, close...). If you definitely don't have problems I may have to re-think my Windows version, or (horror) shell out some money for PD7...

Thanks and regards,

Roger

 

[Hermitt]

Now that I think about it rlincolnh I believe that PD version 6.0.1.3 was the beginning of the problem for me on XP, but don't quote me on that. I also had a major problem when trying to update from 6.0.1.3 to 6042e on XP SP2, that I remember painfully and for sure.
Win7 x64 is what I'm using now and up to this point PD7 has been behaving quite well. I do understand your affinity for the free version, but I have liked Powerdesk enough that I have been buying the pay version for years. I now own two licenses so I can run it on my desktop and laptop.
I will take PD7 for a workout on both my Win7 x64 install and my Vista x64 install and post back what I find, but so far it has been good.

 

[Danaw]

I too have been a long time user of PD and use version 7 now. I have experienced the same problem and learned to use task manager to delete the multiple sessions. It works as well with W7 as with Vista. That said I have found the with each release of a new windows the explorer is getting better so that I am using PD7 less often.

Regards,

DanaW

 

[rlincolnh]

Thanks for the feedback guys. But, as seems all too common with software, it looks like we might have two different situations. Hermitt is using Win 7 x64 (same as me), but is not seeing the problem with PD7. Danaw is also using PD7 and win 7 (but doesn't say whether it's 32-bit or 64-bit), and *does* see the problem. The only difference there is the 32/64-bit flavour of windows. By the way, I'm using RC1 build 7100, with automatic updates enabled.

I agree, Danaw, explorer has come a long way from windows 3.1, but for me there are two very special points (among its myriad capabilities), and they are the launch bar and the command window launcher (the one under the Tools menu, not the one that is pre-loaded on the launch bar). I copy the one from the menu onto the toolbar so that a single click then opens the command window with the prompt path already set to the currently-open PD folder.

I recently exchanged posts with some users of xplorer2 (http://zabkat.com/) trying to convince them of the benefit of having a single-click launch bar, but it seems they couldn't, or wouldn't, take it on board. Maybe if a few others lobby for it, the developer (Nikos) may give it some thought.

I'd really like to sort out this PD/Win-7 thing, so please suggest anything else that you think may be relevent.

Regards,

Roger

 

[Hermitt]

Hello rlincolnh, I have tried to duplicate the PD behavior in Win7 but so far opening and closing multiple windows has not caused the PD process to hang in Win7 even when leaving the PD windows open for an extended period of time. I was able to duplicate the problem in Vista but only after opening about 12 PD windows. At this point Powerdesk 7 is working as it should in Win7 for me, but I see another poster (Hello Danaw) has reported the problem in Win7 so it may crop up on my system yet.
All I can say rlincolnh is to me PD7 is worth the money even with this problem, of course it is hard to beat free. Hopefully I'll cintinue not to see the process hang in PD because windows explore will have to get a lot better and PD a lot worse for me to use explore much, in my opinion PD still has it beat hands down.
If you do come across a fix please post it, one day I might be looking for it myself. Sorry I can't be of more help at the moment but if I do find something I'll try to remember to post back here, good luck.

 

[rlincolnh]

Hello Hermitt, thanks for the reply. I think I'll spring for PD7 and hope that it eventually gets fixed for good. I've looked hard at other alternatives, and while e.g. explore2 has a great many capabilities (some of which seem pretty useful), it just can't do the few things that are essential to me. There's been a couple of interesting comments by contributors with PD experience towards the end of my thread on the explore2 site.

It's been nice talking to you, Hermitt. Goodby and good luck,

Roger

 

[PAnger]

I've always (10 years or so?) used PowerDesk in place of Windows Explorer (although I never choose the *replace* WE option when installing). Since installing it on Win 7, I've noticed some strange behaviour. After launching it from the start menu all is well, and when I have finished with it I close it, and its window vanishes. But if I try and run it again, it appears that nothing happens - no PD window, nothing. Try running again, again no window. Then bring up task manager an lo, there are three PDexplo.exe processes - the original that I thought I had quit, plus two from my subsequent attempts to run a new instance. I can delete one of the processes, then a second one, following which a PD window springs to life, and I can use it as normal. Again, if I exit PD the window vanishes but the process remains in task manager. I've tried running it in a couple of different compatability modes, but it makes no difference. I've just confirmed that on my regular win2k system the process is removed immediately after I exit the GUI.

Has anyone else seen similar behaviour in PD or other programs?
Does anyone have a suggested fix?

Roger

Welcome to the club. This is a minor irritation with PowerDesk 6 in Vista (I don't yet have Windows 7). As another post suggests, an easy fix is to simply close the extra references to PDexplo.exe in the task manager. As long as you only have one version running, the program works just fine. Another tip is to not exit PowerDesk at all. That way you're not restarting it and sending a copy of PDexplo.exe to the task manager. This problem disappeared when I upgraded to the latest version of Powerdesk 7.

Warning to users of Norton 360 in Vista who add Powerdesk 7 to their systems (don't know if this applies to Windows 7, but my guess is it may)! There is a bug in Norton 360 that causes the context menus in Powerdesk to fail. Google "Norton 360 and Powerdesk bug" if this happens to you. Powerdesk has a downloadable fix that doesn't quite install as easily as advertised. (you need the context menus to fix the context menu bug), but it's doable. One of the threads points you in the right direction.

 

[rlincolnh]

Hello PAnger, good to hear that you no longer see the problem. But if you look back a few posts you will see that Danaw *is* still seeing it even though he is using PD7. Hermitt, who doesn't see the problem, is using x64. I asked Danaw whether he was using 32 or 64 bit windows, but he never replied. What flavour of Win 7 are you using?

Regards,

Roger

 

[Danaw]

Pd7

Hi,

Sorry not to reply sooner. I use 32 bit w7 on both a Dell XPS420 & an ASUS M51 laptop. The trouble is intermitent on both, usually after using windows explorer.

DanaW

 

[rlincolnh]

Hi DanaW. That's interesting because, if anything, I would have expected the 32-bit Win7 to *not* show the problem, whereas it would seem more understandable that it should appear in x64.

Perhaps your next comment 'The trouble is intermitent on both, usually after using windows explorer.' may be on point. I generally flick explorer on/off intermittently, usually for a quick take on the Libraries view or some such, but I have never made the connection between that and the PD problem. I'll try a few tests, although it will still be with PD6 - I really must get around to buying PD7!

Thanks for your reply,

Roger

 

[Danaw]

Hi again,

I just clean installed the 32bit RTM on my laptop and found no problems with PD7. Before both computers had RC1 installed as an upgrade to Vista. Maybe the problem was carried over from Vista. I'll clean install on the desktop when I get another external HDD to backup everything.

DanaW

 

[rlincolnh]

Hmmm... interesting. Maybe I just need to wait until I can get my hands on an official release of W7 x64 and then see where to go from there.

Thanks, Roger

 

[ekarges3rd]

I am using Windows 7 and Powerdesk 7 also has the same problem with Norton Internet Security 2009/2010 as it does with Norton 360. I also tried the Context Menu patch and that didn't work either, so for now I am not using PowerDesk 7. Avanquest said that PowerDesk 7 is not compatible with Windows 7 but apparently it must work as well as it did with Windows Vista. Unless I can fix the context menu I am going to have to not use PowerDesk until it is fixed. Does anyone know of a file manager that compares to PowerDesk? I can't use it for now since Internet Security is a little more important than a sophisticated file manager.

 

[BillN]

PowerDesk Pro7 crashes

PowerDesk crashes when right-clicking on some files and folders.

When right-clicking on some files and folders, PowerDesk may crash. Uninstalling PowerDesk, or disabling its context menu entries corrects this issue. This issue will occur when certain versions of Norton 360 are also installed on the computer. This problem occurs in both PowerDesk 6 & 7.

An update is available that will correct this issue.

To install the update:

1. Go to Advanquest (PowerDEsk) and download ContextMenu.exe.
2. Click on the "ContextMenu.exe" file name in the pop-up window.
3. Select the Save option and download the update to your Desktop.
4. Once downloaded, double-click on the file to launch the extraction wizard. On Windows Vista, depending on your setup, you may need to run the patch with Administrator priviledges. To do so, please right-click on the patch file and select "Run As Administrator" from the context menu.
5. When the installation wizard appears, click through the wizard and select the location of your PowerDesk installation directory. For most customers, this will be the default location which appears. This did noit work properky for me becasue I ahd an old directory from PowerDEsk 6 and it put the files there. I therefore downloaded the program to another directory and told it to put the files in that direcory. Once that was doen, I then went to the Powerdesk Directory and copies the new files to it.
6. When you click Finish to the wizard, the update will make a copy of the old PowerDesk context menu .dll and copy over the new fixed version. You may see a quick DOS command-prompt window appear and disappear. This is normal.
7. When you have completed running the update, you must reboot your machine for the change to take affect.

How to verify the corrected files are in place:

In your PowerDesk installation directory, you should find several new files:

* ContextMenu.bat
* PDShExt.new
* PDShExt.orig

After that patch is run, the timestamp of the file "PDShExt.dll" should match that on the file "PDShExt.new". You should also find that the timestamp on the file "PDShExt.orig" should be earlier than those files.

Filename "ContextMenu.exe"

 

[se7en]

I too was an avid and loyal Powerdesk user, and I am miserable without it. Too bad the company, avanquest, has no interest in Windows 7 compatibility. I even took the time to call the company and plead for an update. The reception to this plea was less than enthusiastic. Has anyone tried UltraExplorer? It looks like a viable alternative to the severely lacking Windows File Manager.

 

[reghakr]

Hello Roger , how about a ew-insayll?

Hi Roger, how a bout a ew-insatll of Powerdesk?

 

[se7en]

Even though PowerDesk would not run properly, I never un-installed it. I was hoping for a fix from Avanquest. I downloaded and installed UltraExplorer.

I was dependent on Dual Pane, Copy Path, and the Launch Bar in PowerDesk. I'm happy to find that UltraExplorer has these features. It's fast and light on resources. I have two instances of Windows-Exploder running. One is using 13k of memory, while the other is using 11k of memory. UltraExplorer, in dual pane, viewing the same two folders is using 10k memory. The only issue I have so far is that the toolbars may not be customizable. hmmm.

Less than 10 minutes into it, and I am un-installing PowerDesk!

Try it
Link Removed due to 404 Error

 

[reghakr]

That was ome of my biggest complants about Windows Explorer, hasn't changred mush since windows 1995.

There;s Powerdesk version 6 free and Dirctiry Opus,Turbo Browser,etc huge amount of functions.

I use explorer all the time, rarely iise shortcutss. I know where. everything is located.