Windows Explorer operations VERY slow

[cremoni]

I've seen plenty of posts about slowdowns, but I still can't find a
solution.

Symptoms: Slow explorer operations - like open start menu (15 sec),
delete a file (30 secs), right-click on something to get properties.
CPU monitor says around 1-2%. There's nothing special happening in the
background.

I can reboot, wait until system is fully booted, and try to open the
start menu and the problem is there. No apps running in the background.


All my other apps run fine - this problem seems to be unique to Windows
Explorer. So I doubt that it's my video card. I use AVG free and
SpyWare S&D and with everything up-to-date and no virus or spyware
problems reported. Rebooting (cold) doesn't help.

My machine is a 6-month old HP notebook Centrino 1.6 GHz. I'm running
XP Pro. Incidentally, I have another (slower) drive with another
install of XP Home and it doesn't have the problem. It's fast as
lightning no matter what I do.

Thanks in advance for any help!

- Paul

 

[Guest]

Paul,

I had this same problem myself. My company runs McAfee Virus Scan
Enterprise on all our machines. One of the options is "On Access Scan".
Whenever you click on a folder in Explorer, it scans everything in that
folder before it shows you the contents. If I right-click on the icon in the
system tray, then select "Disable On-Access Scan", everything works fine. If
I'm going to be doing a lot of things using Windows Explorer, I disable it
for the duration.

John