Windows 7 Windows Won't Display Folder Contents

[yearofglad]

I just got a new PC with Windows 7 installed and have run into this issue twice, both times with a particular folder - let's call it "UsefulDocuments2" (the actual folder name DOES have a 2 at the end, but there is no folder called "UsefulDocuments").

Sometimes, when I try to view the folder contents using Explorer or through Windows Live Mail (in an attempt to include a file in the folder as an attachment), I can't view the contents of the folder. When I access the folder, it has the proper path listed in the address bar of the window and displays the number of items (171) in the lower left corner. However, the status bar just says "Searching for items..." except I can occasionally see it flicker to say "171 items."

While it is "Searching for items..." (which is 99.9% of the time), it doesn't display any of the contents of the folder. The scrollbar on the side of the window constantly flickers - it's recognizing that there are 171 items in the folder and that the scrollbar is necessary, but then keeps re-searching the folder contents, I guess.

Weirdly, if I change the folder name to, say, "UsefulDocuments" it works fine (at least right now). If I then change it back to "UsefulDocuments2" it reverts to its old behavior. Also, if I open a file in it in Word (2010), I can view and access the contents of the folder without any problem at all.

Obviously, I can just change the folder name, but don't really want to for organizational reasons, and also am just curious as to what's going on and how to fix it should it happen to other folders, etc.

Specs in profile.

 

[Saltgrass]

Don't know what is wrong, but it seems it works normally with most applications, but has a problem with a couple.

You mention Windows Live Mail. Is there any relationship between an online version of the folder and your folder? Do you sync mail or have something else that would keep something from being accessed?

Your "searching for items.." comment reminds me of the type of thing that happens if a location is not reachable, possibly because the location is offline or not available to that process.

 

[yearofglad]

I guess I'm not clear on what you mean by an "online version" of the folder vs. the actual folder. I don't sync mail or anything - all my email is accessed through POP via Live Mail - it's all downloaded to my computer and deleted from the server.

It does seem like it can't access it EXCEPT that it does know how many items are in the folder. Not sure if that information is stored elsewhere, someplace that it would be able to access without being able to access the folder itself.

At the moment, it's working fine. One thing I did neglect to mention is that I use Carbonite for backup, and that folder (along with tons of others, all of which work properly) is one selected for backup.

As I said, it does seem to be working now. If it stops working, I'll try to identify what may have changed to cause it to do so - if you have any other ideas, I'm open to hearing them, but otherwise we can just wait until it goes haywire again (if it does).

Thanks!