Browsing folders goes slow and stops!

[Nigel Andrews]

When I am browsing folders on my PC, often across my network to other PC's,
the window often freezes for sometime and shows "Not responding".
Sometimes it will free up after a time and other times not and I have to
reboot.

Along with this I often see the hourglass coming and going, even when I have
not changed the folder I am looking at!

I am wondering if there is some dynamic update of the folder display, which
is too frequent and prevents the window ever displaying the latest view
(because it is busy always refreshing)!

It is not happening on any particular PC but each one and they are all XP.

Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thanks

Nigel

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

When I am browsing folders on my PC, often across my network to other
PC's, the window often freezes for sometime and shows "Not
responding". Sometimes it will free up after a time and other times not
and I have
to reboot.

Along with this I often see the hourglass coming and going, even when
I have not changed the folder I am looking at!

I am wondering if there is some dynamic update of the folder display,
which is too frequent and prevents the window ever displaying the
latest view (because it is busy always refreshing)!

It is not happening on any particular PC but each one and they are
all XP.
Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thanks

Nigel

Is the source computer the same, in all cases? Meaning, from each PC, are
you trying to look at the same shared folder on one computer?

How many objects are in the root of that folder? Not in subfolders - just
files at the root.

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Thanks for that.

No it is not to or from any one PC. I have 5 on the same n/w and each
exhibits the same effect.

One extra point raised by your question, is that often the problem seems to
get worse the further I drill down into the particular PC's directory
structure.
It has happened a few times on the same PC i.e., not across the n/w, but
much less often than across the n/w to another PC.

I am sure the effect of the hourglass flashing on and off is symptomatic. It
is as if the whole structure on the remote PC is frequently being updated to
the first. I could imagine this extra load could tie up the network.
I have tried, after having this problem, to close the Explorer window to
release the updating task. It seems to have an effect but I could be wrong.

Thanks for your help
Nigel



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Thanks for that.

No it is not to or from any one PC. I have 5 on the same n/w and each
exhibits the same effect.

One extra point raised by your question, is that often the problem
seems to get worse the further I drill down into the particular PC's
directory structure.
It has happened a few times on the same PC i.e., not across the n/w,
but much less often than across the n/w to another PC.

I am sure the effect of the hourglass flashing on and off is
symptomatic. It is as if the whole structure on the remote PC is
frequently being updated to the first. I could imagine this extra
load could tie up the network. I have tried, after having this problem, to
close the Explorer window
to release the updating task. It seems to have an effect but I could
be wrong.

Hmm - not sure what you mean by "updating task" - but do you get any event
log errors? Are all the workstations updated with all available patches? If
you see this problem on a PC to its own folders, I'd be inclined to run a
disk cleanup, a defrag, and a chkdsk if the first two don't help.

Thanks for your help
Nigel



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Is the source computer the same, in all cases? Meaning, from each
PC, are you trying to look at the same shared folder on one computer?

How many objects are in the root of that folder? Not in subfolders -
just files at the root.

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Thanks for that.

No it is not to or from any one PC. I have 5 on the same n/w and each
exhibits the same effect.

One extra point raised by your question, is that often the problem seems to
get worse the further I drill down into the particular PC's directory
structure.
It has happened a few times on the same PC i.e., not across the n/w, but
much less often than across the n/w to another PC.

I am sure the effect of the hourglass flashing on and off is symptomatic. It
is as if the whole structure on the remote PC is frequently being updated to
the first. I could imagine this extra load could tie up the network.
I have tried, after having this problem, to close the Explorer window to
release the updating task. It seems to have an effect but I could be wrong.

Thanks for your help
Nigel



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Nigel Andrews]

Thanks again.

By 'updating task" I meant that, when the browser appeared to be slowed down
by refreshing a remote folder that it would continue to be slow. So I close
the browser window in the hope that the refreshing will also stop.

I do keep all the PC's updated to the Windows Update and also run a Disk
Cleanup and chkdsk once in a while. Less often I do a defrag as it takes
such an age!

Thanks for the help.

Nigel


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Thanks for that.

No it is not to or from any one PC. I have 5 on the same n/w and each
exhibits the same effect.

One extra point raised by your question, is that often the problem
seems to get worse the further I drill down into the particular PC's
directory structure.
It has happened a few times on the same PC i.e., not across the n/w,
but much less often than across the n/w to another PC.

I am sure the effect of the hourglass flashing on and off is
symptomatic. It is as if the whole structure on the remote PC is
frequently being updated to the first. I could imagine this extra
load could tie up the network. I have tried, after having this problem,
to close the Explorer window
to release the updating task. It seems to have an effect but I could
be wrong.

Hmm - not sure what you mean by "updating task" - but do you get any event
log errors? Are all the workstations updated with all available patches?
If you see this problem on a PC to its own folders, I'd be inclined to run
a disk cleanup, a defrag, and a chkdsk if the first two don't help.

Thanks for your help
Nigel



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

When I am browsing folders on my PC, often across my network to
other PC's, the window often freezes for sometime and shows "Not
responding". Sometimes it will free up after a time and other times
not and I have
to reboot.

Along with this I often see the hourglass coming and going, even
when I have not changed the folder I am looking at!

I am wondering if there is some dynamic update of the folder
display, which is too frequent and prevents the window ever
displaying the latest view (because it is busy always refreshing)!

It is not happening on any particular PC but each one and they are
all XP.
Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thanks

Nigel

Is the source computer the same, in all cases? Meaning, from each
PC, are you trying to look at the same shared folder on one computer?

How many objects are in the root of that folder? Not in subfolders -
just files at the root.