Windows Explorer Media File Performance

[Charles Crawley]

Hi,

I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when
displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder
containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"
for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,
control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed
up the file access.

My PC is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz
MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard
2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO
Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive
Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive
Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
Windows XP SP2 with all updates
nVidia ForceWare v169.28
Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

Shuttle SN45Gv2
Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)
AMD Athlon 3200+
XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP
2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM
1x 120GB IDE HDD
1x 300GB IDE HDD
Plextor DVD / CDRW
Windows XP SP2 with all updates
nVidia ForceWare v169.28
nVidia nForce v5.10
nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

Any ideas?

 

[Charles Crawley]

I should add that I have a Windows 2003 server, with far less powerful
hardware, that does not have any issues at all, even with AV enabled.

 

[Rey Santos]

Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview . Image files, HTML
pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed. If you have several video
players and more than one are associated as a default player can cause the
crash because each one of the player is trying to make the preview.
Configuring these players so that only one is the default player for avi
files may fix the problem.

Or try a registry hack. Run regedit and find the following key :-
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler Delete
the "Default" value then close. You should now be able to see .avi previews
almost instantly but without the crashes.
Warning: Backup your registry or export the key before proceeding so you
can import it back is something went wrong.

Some other references:
Windows Explorer crash opening a folder with thumbnail view.
http://techsecure.blogspot.com/2006/02/windows-explorer-crash-opening-folder.html

Explorer crashes when folder with avi files is opened (many fixes here)
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1061425126

 

[Charles Crawley]

Rey,

Many thanks, the Registry hack is perfect. I'm not in the slightest bit
bothered about previewing video files in Explorer, so if this has stopped
that, that is fine.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Windows Stops Responding When You Click a Large AVI File in Windows Explorer:
http://bink.nu/Article709.bink

TweakXP.com - Clicking AVI Files on explorer causing 100% CPU Usage:
http://www.tweakxp.com/article36990.aspx

Speed-up Access to AVI Media Files (Windows XP) at Registry Guide for Windows:
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1209/

See also:

Windows Stops Responding When You Click a Large AVI File in Windows Explorer:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822430


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
Winhelponline.com blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


Hi,

I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when
displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder
containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"
for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,
control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed
up the file access.

My PC is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz
MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard
2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO
Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive
Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive
Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
Windows XP SP2 with all updates
nVidia ForceWare v169.28
Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

Shuttle SN45Gv2
Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)
AMD Athlon 3200+
XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP
2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM
1x 120GB IDE HDD
1x 300GB IDE HDD
Plextor DVD / CDRW
Windows XP SP2 with all updates
nVidia ForceWare v169.28
nVidia nForce v5.10
nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

Any ideas?