HelpSvc.exe causing explorer hangs on new Windows XP SP-2 install
Lately I have started having problems with the entire Windows Explorer shell becoming unresponsive. I have a new Dell Latitude D810 laptop with the factory install of Windows XP with SP-2, so I am surprised that I could have such a problem.
The last time this problem occurred, I did a CTRL-ALT-DEL and opened Process Explorer (see Sysinternals) to check-out what was going on. Surprisingly I found that the HelpSvc.exe process was at 100% CPU and was starving-out everything else.
After a quick search, I found Cyrus' blog post on this topic, which offered an excellent solution in the comments. I just applied these steps, and so-far so-good. *crossing fingers*
Hopefully this info will help-out someone else.