Two instances of explorer.exe with Avira

I'm 'testing' AntiVir PE Premium again and I can confirm (again) that two instances of explorer.exe appears on taskmgr when I have Avira installed.

Why is this behavior and how can it be fixed? It ONLY happen with Avira!
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I use avira and I don't have this problem... When you turn off avira the second instance of explorer.exe goes away?

 

I run both Classic and Premium and never saw a double instance,either.
Hence,problem arises from another program.

 

i've been seeing the same thing. second explorer.exe always there, but it wasn't before. first time avira user here, on that 6 month premium deal posted the other day.

 

No such problems here, either in XP32 or 64 with Avira Premium.

 

I've never seen a double instance of explorer.exe and I have had Avira since January on XP Pro SP2.

 

I can easily get a second explorer.exe anytime. If I use another program, say uTorrent for example, and right-click on whatever I'm downloading and select "Open folder" while I already have a folder open somewhere, the new folder will trigger another explorer.exe. At least on Vista, don't know about XP.

 

I just tried what you described and I didn't get another instance of explorer.exe.

 

Never seen that issue here with either the Premium or Suite or Free versions. I suspect that something else is going on there and it has nothing to do with Avira.

 

Well, maybe it doesn't have anything to do with Avira. However, Avira sometimes has a few little bugs on certain pc's so I wouldn't rule it out 100 percent.

Macstorm, if you want, post on the Avira forum about it and see what they say.

 

It has nothing to do with Avira. My Computer -> Folder Options -> Tools -> Launch folder windows in a seperate process. If this is checked then when you open any folder, it'll launch explorer.exe as a seperate process. You can verify it from the different PID.

 

Thanks All for your responses.
Indeed, I CAN confirm this strange behavior is related to AntiVir and I have tried both versions (free & premium) before. However, this extra explorer.exe does not run all the time along with Avira but only under some circumstances which I can't identify. As I said before, what I am sure is this behavior IS related to AntiVir. About 14 years dealing with pc's, this is the first time I experience something like this with explorer.exe.
I did what Thanasis159 said and yes, the second process goes away.
Last time I tried AntiVir (about 3 months ago) this was acting exactly the same as described above. Some time ago I remember have read somewhere something like pc users running intel dual core processors could experience behavior like above mentioned.
Any ideas.
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What if you were to just let the 2 instances of explorer run and forget about it... ?

 

Agreed.
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6540/fldroptoq1.jpg

You can run Process Explorer to find out which process is the "parent" of explorer.exe:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx

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Edit: correct imageshack url

 

You can upload screen shots to here. Please do that in the future. I don't like having to click on some other site as that could be dangerous and, at best, is irritating to have to open another tab. Thanks.

Here's a tutorial:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=356726#post356726

 

So what you're saying is check to see if "Open each folder in its own window" and if it is, change it to "Open each folder in the same window"

 

Ok, no problem.

Nope, it is "Launch folder windows in a separate process"

 

I'm just saying that two instances of explorer.exe can be explained by the setting I mentioned in my previous post (Nubiatech posted a nice screenshot).

I'm not even saying its an issue. One can easily trace the files and i bet they are both the same explorer.exe. If that is not the case then its some nasty malware posing as explorer.exe (which I doubt since Avira is installed ).

@Macstorm

1. Have you checked the setting I mentioned? If the option is checked then unchecking will fix the supposed issue.

2. If its unchecked then see if both files are the same one.

3. Does the issue go away when you uninstall Avira and come back immedietly when you install it?

 

Ah, okay, I was looking in "general tab", my mistake.

 

Ahhh....a picture is worth a 1000 words.

That was a nice screen shot nubiatech.

 

Thanks AMRX, yes I have that setting enabled and unchecking it fix the 'issue'.
On the other hand, I found out what's causing the second explorer.exe to open in separate process: it happens everytime 'my documents' folder is opened, then if closed the second instance goes away.
As for your question n.3: Yes, I don't know why this happen only when I have Avira installed. Never with other AV or program.

Well, case closed I guess. Thanks to All for your help
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So that means Avira has nothing to do with it. When you open any folder while that setting has been enabled, you'll get two instances of explorer.exe. Its not a bad thing since it makes your computer more stable. If somehow the second instance crashes, it won't take the shell down with it.

That is plain weird. Because if this setting is enabled then you should see the same thing while opening any folder even when Avira is not installed. But I'm glad the issue has been ironed out.