XP Pro "explorer" process continues to refresh...

[Brad Pears]

I have noticed that if I browse using windows explorer on my Xp Pro SP1
machine, it is very slooowwww! What seems to be happening is that explorer
seems to be refreshing itself every couple seconds, and if I just sit there,
the cursor is always an hourglass and the screen is constantly being
refreshed. Viewing the task manager while this is going on shows the
"explorer" process chewing up a bunch of CPU time!!! Has anyone else seen
this issue? It's been going on for some time now... It also appears to be
happening when it is a network drive I am browsing...

Thanks,

Brad

 

[Guest]

This article seems to be on-topic:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819946

Also, try going on to Microsoft TechNet:
and do a keyword search like: explorer.exe CPU 100% (as I did)
where I found lots of possibilites for you to research...

Some other considerations are:
Are you on ANY kind of LAN (small or large)? If so,
What NetWork protocols do you have installed in your stack? (e.g. go to
Network Connections and rgt-click the adapter that connects you to your LAN,
select Properties and see what protocols are attached).
Make a list of all the components (AND the property settings of each one of
these), then try removing all but:
--> TCP/IP
--> Client for Microsoft Networks (if on a LAN)
and see what happens.
If things settle down, then start adding the other components back in one at
a time (be sure to reset the properties of each one as you recorded them from
above!) and watch the behavior after each one is reinstalled.
I expect you will find your culprit in there... somewhere.

Another thing you can try is to go into Control Panel>System>Advanced and
click the Settings button under Performance; on the Visual Tab (default)
select the "Best Performance" radio button and [OK] back out of Control Panel.

ANOTHER possibility is to turn off indexing of your hard drives (especially
if it is turned on to a mapped drive). Go to <AHem> Windows Explorer...
Right-click ea drive icon and select Properties; on the General Tab near the
bottom deselect the indexing checkbox and click [OK]. When prompted, be sure
that the include subdirectories radio button is selected.

I hope one of these thoughts helps.

Good Luck!