Windows Explorer is slow

[Guest]

This is a problem that I've had for a while. When I try to access files
through windows explorer or within the program via the open command, it takes
a very, very long time. It seems to freeze because the windows explorer box
turns white and will take up to a minute to show the drive list. Clicking on
a drive and accessing subdirectories takes an additional minute or two.
Listed below is information about my environment and some troubleshooting
avenues I have tried. I'm trying to avoid doing a re-installation. I would
greatly appreciate some advice!

My environment: I have a Dell Dimension 8100 1.3 GHz with Windows 2000 Pro
and 768 MB RAM. Storage on C: drive is FAT32. Drive size = 18.6 Gb with 8.3
GB available. I'm on a Novell network with 9 other users.

Things I've already tried or have noticed:
1. No other users on the network report similar problems to mine.
2. I have the oldest computer in the office.
3. The slow issue comes up whether I'm the only user connected to the
network or the 9th.
4. The slow issue RESOLVES when I unplug myself from the network.
5. I use Ad-Aware and Spybot to clean my computer weekly with no improvement
to this problem.
6. I have performed clean disk and defrag operations and see no performance
improvement.
7. I have increased memory from 256 MB to 728 MB.
8. Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition scans my computer daily and checks my
email for viruses. I don't suspect a virus but who knows?
9. I use Mail Washer to filter my email and block spam.
10. All Windows Updates are kept up to date.
11. Deleted temp folders.
12. I've checked the Processes tab on Windows Task Manager to see if
anything is draining the system, but that seems to check out okay.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

This is a problem that I've had for a while. When I try to access
files through windows explorer or within the program via the open
command, it takes a very, very long time. It seems to freeze because
the windows explorer box turns white and will take up to a minute to
show the drive list. Clicking on a drive and accessing
subdirectories takes an additional minute or two. Listed below is
information about my environment and some troubleshooting avenues I
have tried. I'm trying to avoid doing a re-installation. I would
greatly appreciate some advice!

My environment: I have a Dell Dimension 8100 1.3 GHz with Windows
2000 Pro and 768 MB RAM. Storage on C: drive is FAT32. Drive size =
18.6 Gb with 8.3 GB available. I'm on a Novell network with 9 other
users.

Things I've already tried or have noticed:
1. No other users on the network report similar problems to mine.
2. I have the oldest computer in the office.
3. The slow issue comes up whether I'm the only user connected to the
network or the 9th.
4. The slow issue RESOLVES when I unplug myself from the network.
5. I use Ad-Aware and Spybot to clean my computer weekly with no
improvement to this problem.
6. I have performed clean disk and defrag operations and see no
performance improvement.
7. I have increased memory from 256 MB to 728 MB.
8. Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition scans my computer daily and
checks my email for viruses. I don't suspect a virus but who knows?
9. I use Mail Washer to filter my email and block spam.
10. All Windows Updates are kept up to date.
11. Deleted temp folders.
12. I've checked the Processes tab on Windows Task Manager to see if
anything is draining the system, but that seems to check out okay.

If you type

net use <enter>

In a command prompt, do you see any drives mapped to unavailable shares?

 

[Guest]

I typed net use from Start - Run and it flashes too quickly for me to see
other mappings. How can I pause it?

btw... Sorry for the multiple posts. My friend posted a similar question
for me as well. After I saw how she did it, I posted a more detailed
question in several posts. She told me about the Posting Etiquette, but
didn't tell me how to do multiple posts. This is my first time posting
anything, so your help in that dept. would be much appreciated too! Thanks
so much.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I typed net use from Start - Run and it flashes too quickly for me to
see other mappings. How can I pause it?

Start | run, type CMD <enter>

Then in the command prompt, type

btw... Sorry for the multiple posts. My friend posted a similar
question for me as well. After I saw how she did it, I posted a more
detailed question in several posts. She told me about the Posting
Etiquette, but didn't tell me how to do multiple posts. This is my
first time posting anything, so your help in that dept. would be much
appreciated too! Thanks so much.

No problem - didn't mean to sound schoolmarmish, but multiposting will make
many people far crankier than it makes me.

 

[Dave Patrick]

First open a cmd.exe window
Start|Run|cmd.exe
then
net use

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I typed net use from Start - Run and it flashes too quickly for me to see
| other mappings. How can I pause it?
|
| btw... Sorry for the multiple posts. My friend posted a similar question
| for me as well. After I saw how she did it, I posted a more detailed
| question in several posts. She told me about the Posting Etiquette, but
| didn't tell me how to do multiple posts. This is my first time posting
| anything, so your help in that dept. would be much appreciated too!
Thanks
| so much.

 

[Guest]

Thank you.

 

[Guest]

Looks like I'm mapped to up to 3 shares I don't recognize: a volume called
Updates, and two volumes called public under a Sys volume. However, I went to
several other users' workstations and performed the same net use command.
They all are mapped to the same drives/volumes.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Looks like I'm mapped to up to 3 shares I don't recognize: a volume
called Updates, and two volumes called public under a Sys volume.
However, I went to several other users' workstations and performed
the same net use command. They all are mapped to the same
drives/volumes.

What's the status of each connection you see?
Generally, problems like this are due to inaccessible network resources.

 

[Guest]

There is one connection that says it's unavailable. If that is causing a
problem, how do I resolve it?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

There is one connection that says it's unavailable. If that is
causing a problem, how do I resolve it?

Delete it -

net use x: /del <enter>
if it's a mapped drive.
or

 

[Guest]

This seems to have resolved the problem. Thanks for your help and Happy New
Year.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

This seems to have resolved the problem. Thanks for your help and
Happy New Year.

You're most welcome, and same to you!