What is hiberfil.sys ?

Windows has two power management modes that you can choose from: one is Sleep Mode, which keeps the PC running in a low power state so you can almost instantly get back to what you were working on. The other is Hibernate mode, which completely writes the memory out to the hard drive, and then powers the PC down entirely, so you can even take the battery out, put it back in, start back up, and be right back where you were.

Hibernate mode uses the hiberfil.sys file to store the the current state (memory) of the PC, and since it’s managed by Windows, you can’t delete the file.

Disable Hibernate / Delete hiberfil.sys in Windows 7 or Vista

You’ll need to open an administrator mode command prompt by right-clicking on the command prompt in the start menu, and then choosing Run as Administrator. Once you’re there, type in the following command:

powercfg -h off

You should immediately notice that the Hibernate option is gone from the Shut down menu. You’ll also notice that the file is magically gone!

Disabling Hibernate Mode in Windows XP

It’s a lot easier in Windows XP to get rid of Hibernate mode. Just head into Control Panel –> Power Options, and then find the Hibernate tab. Uncheck the box, reboot your PC, and then you can delete the hiberfil.sys file.

Solution To : Incorrect Icon Shown for a File Type ?

Recently I received a query wherein the user had incorrectly associated .zip file type with Adobe Reader. The problem is that the .zip file type is still showing the Adobe Reader icon, although the association settings are correct.

And, one of my blog reader said he was facing this problem that even after changing the file association for some file the file showed different icon image.Despite changing the file association for the song file from windows media player to VLC player, his song file showed the same icon image as linked with the Windows media player.

Forcing A Refresh Of The Icon Cache

Usually, the icon should be refreshed after a restart. If that does not happen, you can force a shell icon refresh by performing a task that triggers the calling of SHChangeNotify API. For example, you can use the Default Programs applet and set Internet Explorer as your default browser, in order to refresh the shell icons. Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Default Programs

2. Click Set your default programs

3. Select your web browser, email client or any other item in the list.

4. Click the Set this program as default button.

5. Click OK.

Check if the icon for that particular file type (eg .zip) is fixed.

More Information

Whenever the file association settings are changed or new association is created via the registry or script, the system might not be aware of the change unless the SHChangeNotify API is called specifying the SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED event, or until the system is restarted.

iedw.exe : Application Failed To Initialize Error. How To Solve it?

Many of us may have faced this problem with Internet Explorer atleast once that whenever we open some website, there is an error like :

iedw.exe Application Error – idew.exe failed to initialize

dcownin.exe application error

These errors are a result of improper function of Internet Explorer Add- On Crash Detection. This kind of error generally appears with the IE 6 and with Windows XP SP2. There could be several possible reasons for this error.

Reason 1 :

One of the most common reason for iedw.exe Application Error is some problem with RAM or Virtual memory. This add-on crash detection uses some of the RAM or Virtual memory area. If the RAM is faulty or the Virtual memory area on the hard disk is not fine or fast enough, the initialization of this idew.exe component fails.

Solution :

For Memory or RAM issues, I recommend all to use the Memory Diagnostic Tool to check the health of the RAM. For Virtual Memory area, you should run a Hard Disk Diagnostic Test to check whether the hard disk is in good health or not. If the hard disk is in bad health, the virtual memory area becomes slow or corrupt which may be the cause of idew.exe application error.

Reason 2 :

Another reason might be the idew.exe corrupted somehow. A Corrupt application has high tendency to create application error when it run.

Solution :

If the memory and hard disk diagnostic tests come out fine, the next possibility is the corrupted of add-on crash detection. This corruption can be the result of hard disk bad-sector, malicious script of some virus infection. First of all, run a full computer virus scan with any good anti-virus. After this if the problem is not solved, you can simply disable this feature of Add-On crash detection by following the instructions HERE. But turning of crash detection may interfere with other kind of error detection as well, so I don’t recommend it. Instead, see the next solution related to the IE version.

Reason 3 :

All of the internet browsers, including the Internet Explorer have some problems in them, the problems are fixed from time to time and new versions are released. If you are facing the idew.exe problem, you might most probably be using Internet Explorer version 6, in which this problem is mostly observed.

Solution :

There has been certain problems and safety issues with Internet Explorer which have been fixed and removed in the following version. I strongly recommend that you update the Internet Explorer to the latest available released version from Microsoft. You can download Microsoft Internet Explorer HERE.

Alternatively, you can try your hands on some other web-browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera Browser if you are comfortable with trying out some other Web-Browsers.

What is GoogleCrashHandler.exe ?

If you use any Google product like the Google Chrome or any other tool then you are likely to see GoogleCrashHandler.exe process in your task manager. So what is GoogleCrashHandler.exe then?

GoogleCrashHandler.exe is one of the two Google processes – the other is GoogleUpdate.exe – that might be running on the computer system. GoogleCrashHandler.exe will send anonymous usage data and crash reports to Google. It is an opt in service during installation of Google software products.

GoogleCrashHandler.exe runs continuously on your computer if you’ve selected to send anonymous usage statistics and crash reports to Google for certain Google software, like Google Chrome. It helps send crash details to Google when your Google software unexpectedly shuts down. We use this data to help determine how to prevent these errors from happening in the future.

Here is how you can stop GoogleCrashHandler.exe to run automatically in background:

1. Open Google Chrome

2. Go to File Menu >> Options

3. Click the tab Under The Hood, and uncheck the option which says – Help Google Chrome better by automatically sending the usage statistics and crash reports to google.

4. Click Close, after doing as un checking this option you will not see GoogleCrashHandler.exe running again.