Shell Hardware Detection is slowing down explorer.exe

[=?iso-8859-15?Q?Morten_H=F8gholm?=]

The proces Shell Hardware Detection is slowing down my computer or to be
more precise: It is slowing down all actions that use explorer.exe in some
way. Some symptoms are:

1) It takes 3-5 min from clicking the logon button until I actually see
the desktop.
2) The toolbar has a similar delay in reacting to mouse clicks.

However I can run programs from Taskmanager, provided I just type the path
myself in "New Task". If I have to browse for the program path, I
automatically activate explorer.exe and everything takes forever.

If I disable Shell Hardware Detection everything runs smoothly again (bar
MSN Messenger 6.2) but disabling this service isn't exactly The Right
Way(TM) to do it.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Running XP-Pro SP2 (English).

 

[frodo]

I always disable this service, it is not necessary. It supports the
Autoplay feature, which I personally hate. Also, DVD drives will show up
as CD drives, but they still work just fine. It also pops up an
unnecessary dialog whenever you plug in a USB device.

Disable it and things will go more smoothly.

 

[=?iso-8859-15?Q?Morten_H=F8gholm?=]

I always disable this service, it is not necessary. It supports the
Autoplay feature, which I personally hate. Also, DVD drives will show up
as CD drives, but they still work just fine. It also pops up an
unnecessary dialog whenever you plug in a USB device.

Disable it and things will go more smoothly.

Thanks for your reply. However your advice - quite like my own temporary
solution - simply sidesteps the problem instead of getting to the root of
it. This way I still can't use MSN Messenger.

In the meantime I was able to successfully restored my XP configuration
from before it went haywire and all works fine now. I have no idea what
went wrong but I might be forced to find out should it ever happen again.
Here's hoping it doesn't! It probably won't either - I haven't been able
to find anything about it.