A weird ‘Known Folders/Event 1002’ error

Windows’ system-managed “Known Folders“ (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Music, Videos, etc.) rarely cause problems. But when they do, the fix can be messy, as longtime AskWoody subscriber Mark Guenin discovered:

• “I’ve been having trouble with my Dell laptop… intermittent app-lockup problems. For example, when using Chrome and downloading a PDF from a website, the browser will hang when it gets to the Save as dialog box. At first, I used Task Manager to close Chrome — but then other already-open windows stopped responding.
  
  “So I tried terminating Windows Explorer in Task Manager — and that sometimes ‘woke up’ the Chrome Save as dialog box. (Interestingly, when you highlight Windows Explorer in Task Manager, the action button changes from End task to Restart.) In some instances, Windows Explorer wouldn’t stop, and I might get the error message Task Manager (not responding).
  
  “Anyway, I’ve viewed my Windows event logs, and there are dozens of “Event ID 1002” entries that involved the Microsoft-Windows-Known Folders API Service.
  
  “Any thoughts?”

Yes … mostly sympathetic ones. I’m afraid you’re in for a bit of a ride.

There are basically two options: a detailed diagnosis and repair — with uncertain outcome — or a crude but almost sure-to-work end run around the problem. It’s your call!

Those two main repair options are the topic of my column this week in the AskWoody Plus newsletter.

Also in this week’s ASKWOODY PLUS newsletter:

• ON SECURITY: BSoDs can be a good thing — really!
• BEST OF THE LOUNGE: Patched Win7 versus Linux: Which is safer?
• SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTING: COVID-19: Protecting your customers
• OFFICE: The new Office for Android

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In this week’s ASKWOODY FREE email newsletter:

• ON SECURITY: BSoDs can be a good thing — really!

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