Explorer opening by itself

This happened just now as I was reading an article via Chrome. I heard a sound on my speakers and then Explorer opened. It has done this many times recently. It opens but nothing happened. I've checked the Event Viewer but see nothing out of the ordinary. Is there something else I can look at?

Literally just happened now. The speakers made a da-da-du sound but while that seems familiar I can't place it.

It might be this:

Extensiible Storage Engine runtime

It is the only event with the right time stamp. Explorer comes up with Drive Tools enabled (clicked).

If you have Windows setup to "open folder to view files" whenever you plug in a drive, then, if your drive (or cable or USB port) is going bad, and disconnects/then reconnects, that will happen.

You could change the option for such drives in Autoplay, if that helps.

RonNewYork said:

I have a new hub and I *think* the cable is OK. The drive seems OK as well (but really how do I know). HOWEVER, the proximity in time with that service is a good clue.

Does Explorer open to the external drive when this happens? If so, then you need to do some troubleshooting:

Connect the external drive directly to the computer. Verify the problem is gone. If not, move the external drive to a different USB port on the system; see if the problem is gone. If not, try a different USB cable to connect it with. If the problem is gone, add the hub back into the mix. Does the problem return? If so, could be a bad cable, a bad USB connector, or, your drive may not get enough power from the hub. Is the hub self-powered? If not, you may need a powered hub.
Just some thoughts. You really can't use an external drive that's constantly losing its connection.