Windows Explorer has been acting funny on my laptop lately.

When I right-click the D: drive (internal CD-ROM)
regardless of whether a disk is inside the drive, the
following error results and Windows Explorer exits:

"Explorer.ext has generated errors and will be closed by
Windows. You will need to restart the program."

The same exact error comes up when I go to "OPEN FILE" in
a any program, like Windows Media Player for example, and
click the down-arrow to select from a different folder.

I just connected an external SONY CD-RW / DVD-ROM drive to
my laptop and it can't seem to figure out that a disk in
inside the drive. maybe an unrelated issue, but I feel it
may be related.

If you know how I can resolve this technical issue, your
help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

-b-bo.
sarphati76@yahoo.com