Clicking on desktop causes C++ error instead of bringing up context menu

Question

I just got a new computer running Win7 x64 Pro. When I right-click on the desktop, I get an error instead of a context menu. Here's a screenshot:

And in text:

Microsoft Visual C++ Debug Library

Debug Assertion Failed!

Program: C:\Windows\system32\igfxsrvc.exe
File: D:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\ATLMFC\INCLUDE\atlcom.h
Line: 2475

Expression: 0 && "Release called on a pointer that has already been released"

For information on how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual C++ documentation on asserts.

(Press Retry to debug the application)

If I press Abort or Retry, the error goes away, but nothing else happens. If I press Ignore, the same error comes up again. (Ignore about seven times in a row makes it go away.) At no point can I make the context menu come up.

What I've seen so far suggests that the solution is either removing a newly installed program (unlikely in this case because the computer is new) or disabling the Intel graphics drivers (which feels too severe to be the proper answer). What else could I do here?

Answer 1

The error is coming from the Intel Graphics driver that's loaded on your system. I would suggest downloading the latest graphics drivers from Intel.

If that doesn't work, I would try rolling the driver back to a previous version of the driver.

Answer 2

igfxsrvc.exe is the UI component that Intel installs with it's drivers. It's broken, and when it gets called to supply items to the context menu, it dies.

If you don't want to remove and re-install the Intel drivers, then you could try grabbing Sysinternals Autoruns, and disable that item. That should prevent it from being called for the context menu. I don't know whether you'll hit any other problems (for instance, the graphics control panel).

Doing that disable should at least prove it's the Intel program that's at fault.