How do I stop Windows Explorer from logging sub-folders?

[Fireman1ce]

Windows XP, SP3 using Windows Explorer with all folders set to "Detail View."
Hard drive indexing service is turned off.

Suppose you have a parent folder called Alphabet. Inside Alphabet (nested)
are 26 sub-folders containing 50,000 photos each. As long as I choose
Alphabet, Explorer only lists the folders in the right window pane. However,
suppose I want to view the contents of the "M" folder. As soon as I click on
the "M" folder or expand Alphabet (change from a "+" to a "-"), Windows
Explorer logs every file in all 26 folders, even if I only intend to view the
contents of the "M" folder. Obviously, waiting for Windows Explorer to
enumerate, search, list, find, whatever....all files in all the sub-folders
takes an inordinate amount of time, when all I want to list are the files in
the "M" folder. How do I stop Windows Explorer from searching all the
sub-folders automatically? This behavior is hard on the HDD and kills
performance. Thanks.

Fireman1ce

 

[Gerry]

Isn't your problem the reason for having and using the Indexing Service?


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Olórin]

Windows XP, SP3 using Windows Explorer with all folders set to
"Detail View." Hard drive indexing service is turned off.

Suppose you have a parent folder called Alphabet. Inside Alphabet
(nested) are 26 sub-folders containing 50,000 photos each. As long
as I choose Alphabet, Explorer only lists the folders in the right
window pane. However, suppose I want to view the contents of the "M"
folder. As soon as I click on the "M" folder or expand Alphabet
(change from a "+" to a "-"), Windows Explorer logs every file in all
26 folders, even if I only intend to view the contents of the "M"
folder. Obviously, waiting for Windows Explorer to enumerate,
search, list, find, whatever....all files in all the sub-folders
takes an inordinate amount of time, when all I want to list are the
files in the "M" folder. How do I stop Windows Explorer from
searching all the sub-folders automatically? This behavior is hard
on the HDD and kills performance. Thanks.

Fireman1ce

What exactly do you mean by "logs every file"? Do you mean it expands *all*
subfolders (and their subfolders, etc) when you click on the "+"? Do you
have some other sort of indexing or desktop searching tool installed?

 

[Fireman1ce]

Gerry,

Thanks for taking the time to help me. I have been on Jury selection all
day and just got home (5p.m. - didn't get picked!!)

I have read to turn off indexing service to improve performance, but I will
turn it on again to see if that makes any change. However, I believe the
reason I turned it off in the first place was for the issue of it checking
all the folders anyway. I will do it as soon as I answer Olórin's message as
well. I will get back to you within a few minutes. It is now 5:10 p.m.
Texas time on Friday, June 26.

Fireman1ce

 

[Fireman1ce]

Olórin,

No, the sub-folders do not all expand in the left pane. They remain closed
(the icon of the folder remains as a closed folder), but the sub-directories
are checked anyway. When I first expand the "Alphabet" folder, it lists all
the sub-folders in the left window pane. All the folders (A-Z) have a "+" at
first, even though none have any folders nested below them. However, I say
"at first," because the "+" starts disappearing entirely with each sub-folder
as each is checked for files. When the sub-folder is checked completely, the
next folder is checked. No folders have any "+" or "-" sign, after the
folder is checked. Only Alphabet retains a "-" sign. The order in which
this "checking," or searching occurs is from Z to A. So, I have to wait for
all the folders to be checked prior to continuing any task.

Further, I do not use any third party indexing program of any kind. I am
going to try Gerry's suggestion and turn on the indexing service to see if
that helps. It didn't before, but we'll see. I hope he is right.

Thanks you both for helping me. I am running out of "experts" to ask about
this issue. I will let you know how the indexing service does in fixing the
issue.

Fireman1ce

 

[Gerry]

Using the Indexing Service does initially result in slower system
performance for a few days. This fades once the index has been built.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Fireman1ce]

Gentlemen,

Turning on Indexing Service had no effect. The same behavior occurs with
the sub-folders.

Procedure: Turned on Indexing service in Administrative tools, then
rebooted. After reboot, checked properties for C: and D: with Windows
Explorer to "Allow Indexing" to be used for each disk. Rebooted again.
Checked settings. Expanded Alphabet to see each sub-folder being checked
from Z-A. Behavior unchanged.

Fireman1ce

 

[Gerry]

As I said earlier it takes 3/4 days for an index to be built.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Fireman1ce]

Gerry,

Thank you for the follow-up message. I will keep indexing service turned on
and keep opening all the folders to speed things along, if that is possible.
Once the index is fully built, I will report back to you. I assume, per your
message, that this will take several days, perhaps a week.

Fireman1ce

 

[Gerry]

Yes


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Fireman1ce]

Gentlemen,

The experiment of building the index for one week did not stop the behavior
I originally described. However, over the course of the week, I noticed the
computer getting slower and slower. In some cases, the slow down is rather
significant! It can be so significant that I would rather put up with the
original problem, rather than deal with the sluggish computer.

Fireman1ce

 

[Fireman1ce]

By the way, I did notice that searching for text inside files is FAR faster
with the indexing service turned on. However, I rarely search for text
within a file, and the cost/benefit ratio is not worth it to me. Certainly,
if the trade-off is a sluggish computer, then I am better off turning
indexing service off.

Fireman1ce