I don't know what is causing this but it has something to do with how Explorer is handeling right clicks.

If you select a bunch of different files (like 100 or something), and want to access the context menu, it takes ages until the right click menu comes up - but then the Explorer window gets focus again (without any user interaction) and the menu disappears - i can only open the context menu when i select less files.

What can cause this behaviour? Context menu handlers (like WinRAR or sth.) or Windows itself? It is very annoying!
 

The most likely issue is with a context menu extension installed on the machine.  Try uninstalling the extension and see if the issue still occurs.

chrdavis:

The most likely issue is with a context menu extension installed on the machine.  Try uninstalling the extension and see if the issue still occurs.

 

Well, I tested it on 3 different machines and it was the same behaviour - just go to system32 folder, select all files, make a right click and it will load for a long time, then the context menu can be seen for a short time but the Explorer window gets focus immediately - so the menu disappears and there is no chance to click it.

Will check it on a computer when I come home from my student dorm if i can find out which extension possibly causes this problem.

Maybe you could try my steps mentioned above too? 

I tried on a Vista RTM and SP1 machine and am not seeing a noticable lag in the context menu appearing or focus issues with explorer.

 Are you seeing this on Vista or XP?  Is there anything else unique about how the machines are configured or similar applications installed?

chrdavis:

I tried on a Vista RTM and SP1 machine and am not seeing a noticable lag in the context menu appearing or focus issues with explorer.

 Are you seeing this on Vista or XP?  Is there anything else unique about how the machines are configured or similar applications installed?

I am experiencing this problems on Vista (Ultimate + Business) RTM + all patches, although these are 3 similar configured computers - all have a bunch of adobe programs and other stuff loaded (i.e. icq 6 (bad bad app under Vista (i hate it) but it is so widespread here in Austria ), Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Avira AntiVir, Logitech Drivers and 2 of them have TortoiseSVN). I'm more a design and programming guy so maybe you could try it on a machine of your (web)designers (so we could factor out adobe progs ;-)?

Hope we can reproduce it so you can tell me what causes this bad behaviour
Shouldn't be possible in the first place, but I know, Windows is a big ecosystem and if only one app/extension behaves badly, this can be real pain.

PS: Could you possibly look at this problem too?
 

What version of the adobe programs are you running?  I see if I can get a machine configured in the same way as you described.

 Can you also try disabling your anti-virus program and see if you still hit the issue?

Chris

I was able to get this to occur as you described on my home machine running Vista RTM with Adobe v.8 products installed.  I'm looking into this further to determine the root cause.  Please let me know what version of Adobe products you have installed on your machine(s) in case this is a specific application compatability issue.

 Thanks for reporting this,

Chris

Hehe nice attitude! I like that you actually care about :)

Yeah, all machines are using latest versions of Adobe Acrobat (don't know if it's only Adobe Reader 8 or Acrobat 8 too), but i think it could be caused by the contextual options Adobe Acrobat provides.

So my guess with an add-in was right - everybody would blame Windows for this behaviour but then it is clearly the fault of the add-in vendor :(
May be there should be a stricter API that prevents these ugly things? well, then new compatibility programs occur... hm - not so good...
 

Did you have a look at my other problem (in the other thread) too? If you need more information, I can provide it in the other thread (if I didn't describe it correctly)...

I have Adobe v 8 products installed with Vista RTM and SP1 RTM, i'm not seeing this happen here.

chrdavis:

I was able to get this to occur as you described on my home machine running Vista RTM with Adobe v.8 products installed.  I'm looking into this further to determine the root cause.  Please let me know what version of Adobe products you have installed on your machine(s) in case this is a specific application compatability issue.

 Thanks for reporting this,

Chris

I also have this issue and Adobe Acrobat 8 installed along with CS3 apps. Here's a screencast of what happens when I select multiple files vs one file. I was actually suprised the content menu didn't disappear after the long wait, as that is what it normally does:

 http://screencast.com/t/TiZ0QeKo7aP

Vista Ultimate SP1, all updates installed.