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I've had a problem with avi files on my computer for quite some time, and thought I had downloaded a virus along with the file. Everytime I tried to open the folder containing my avi file, or even hovered the mouse over the file, Windows Explorer used to crash, and last night when I tried to open an avi file, Windows Media Player crashed.

Previously, I've run the antivirus and anti spyware programs and haven't been able to come up with an answer. Last night I Googled my problem, and wouldn't you know it, I'm not alone. One forum post in particular helped me to solve the problem.

Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview in the Details box on the left of the file you have selected, if it's supported. Image files, HTML pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed (even with the folder view open). If you have a large movie clip and it either is corrupt (ie. no index from a partial download) or it uses an unsupported codec, then Explorer tries to load the whole file. This can slow your computer a lot and prevent deleting/renaming/moving/etc the file until it's finished.

Run regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll. This unloads the video preview utility in Explorer and solved my problem. Another suggestion was to download DivX521XP2K.exe to solve the problem without having to regedit. The second fix allows you to keep thumbnails of videos.