Windows Explorer Slow

[Kanga 85]

XP Home with service pack 3 and all upgrades. Plenty of RAM and a hard
drive only 7% full.

Windows Explorer is very slow. Click on 'My Computer' and this opens but
takes a long time to find 'Files Stored on This Computer'. Click on 'Local
Disk C' and it takes ages to provide the Folder/File listing. Try to move a
file (Edit/Move to Folder) and the computer takes an eternity to find
available folders to move it to. The computer seems to be only looking at
the hard drive for a fraction of a second , but regularly every three to four
seconds.

This problem has just occurred; the system was working well until a week
ago. No new software or hardware has been installed, although I am not the
sole user of the machine. I have checked carefully for viruses, malware and
spyware and the computer is clean. The hard disk has been defraged. The
registry has been cleaned by three different programs. I have looked at a
Shell Extension Manager and tried disabling, in turn, all the Context Menus,
with no consequent speeding up of Windows Explorer. Three attempts to do a
System Restore to three days of last week all failed; I don't know why.

I am certain that this problem is not due to an accumulation of junk. The
incidence was sudden; almost as if there is a corrupted switch or pointer in
Windows Explorer. Everything else works perfectly and at great speed. I
would normally treat this by uninstalling and reinstalling the program, but I
do know how to this for Windows Explorer, embedded as it is inside Windows.

Thanks for any advice/help

 

[Malke]

XP Home with service pack 3 and all upgrades. Plenty of RAM and a hard
drive only 7% full.

Windows Explorer is very slow. Click on 'My Computer' and this opens but
takes a long time to find 'Files Stored on This Computer'. Click on
'Local
Disk C' and it takes ages to provide the Folder/File listing. Try to
move a file (Edit/Move to Folder) and the computer takes an eternity to
find
available folders to move it to. The computer seems to be only looking
at the hard drive for a fraction of a second , but regularly every three
to four seconds.

This problem has just occurred; the system was working well until a week
ago. No new software or hardware has been installed, although I am not
the
sole user of the machine. I have checked carefully for viruses, malware
and
spyware and the computer is clean. The hard disk has been defraged.
The
registry has been cleaned by three different programs. I have looked at
a Shell Extension Manager and tried disabling, in turn, all the Context
Menus,
with no consequent speeding up of Windows Explorer. Three attempts to do
a System Restore to three days of last week all failed; I don't know why.

I am certain that this problem is not due to an accumulation of junk.
The incidence was sudden; almost as if there is a corrupted switch or
pointer in
Windows Explorer. Everything else works perfectly and at great speed.
I would normally treat this by uninstalling and reinstalling the program,
but I do know how to this for Windows Explorer, embedded as it is inside
Windows.

Sounds like the hard drive is in PIO Mode. See the details and fix from MVP
Hans-Georg Michna here:

http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10

If the fix doesn't work or doesn't "stick", then your hard drive is probably
failing. Test it with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the drive mftr.'s
website. You will create a bootable CD with the file you download. You will
need third-party burning software to do this such as Roxio, Nero, or the
free ImgBurn. Burn as an image, not as data.

http://www.imgburn.com

Boot with the CD you made and do a thorough test of the drive. If it fails
any physical tests, replace it.

BTW, using registry cleaners would be useless in this instance and in all
instances may be deleterious to your computer's health.

Think you need a registry cleaner? Think again:
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

Malke

 

[Jim]

XP Home with service pack 3 and all upgrades. Plenty of RAM and a hard
drive only 7% full.

Windows Explorer is very slow. Click on 'My Computer' and this opens but
takes a long time to find 'Files Stored on This Computer'. Click on 'Local
Disk C' and it takes ages to provide the Folder/File listing. Try to move a
file (Edit/Move to Folder) and the computer takes an eternity to find
available folders to move it to. The computer seems to be only looking at
the hard drive for a fraction of a second , but regularly every three to four
seconds.

This problem has just occurred; the system was working well until a week
ago. No new software or hardware has been installed, although I am not the
sole user of the machine. I have checked carefully for viruses, malware and
spyware and the computer is clean. The hard disk has been defraged. The
registry has been cleaned by three different programs. I have looked at a
Shell Extension Manager and tried disabling, in turn, all the Context Menus,
with no consequent speeding up of Windows Explorer. Three attempts to do a
System Restore to three days of last week all failed; I don't know why.

I am certain that this problem is not due to an accumulation of junk. The
incidence was sudden; almost as if there is a corrupted switch or pointer in
Windows Explorer. Everything else works perfectly and at great speed. I
would normally treat this by uninstalling and reinstalling the program, but I
do know how to this for Windows Explorer, embedded as it is inside Windows.

Thanks for any advice/help

Did this happen before or after you cleaned the registry ?

 

[Kanga 85]

Did this happen before or after you cleaned the registry ?

Before. I only tried cleaning the registry as one of the procedures
employed after the windows explorer slowing down event, to try and solve the
problem. I am puzzled about the hard disk failing, as all other programs
(apart from windows explorer) run well and at acceptable speed, and defrag
(also done after the slow down) ran completely at a good pace.

 

[Kanga 85]

Sounds like the hard drive is in PIO Mode. See the details and fix from MVP
Hans-Georg Michna here:

http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10

If the fix doesn't work or doesn't "stick", then your hard drive is probably
failing. Test it with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the drive mftr.'s
website. You will create a bootable CD with the file you download. You will
need third-party burning software to do this such as Roxio, Nero, or the
free ImgBurn. Burn as an image, not as data.

http://www.imgburn.com

Boot with the CD you made and do a thorough test of the drive. If it fails
any physical tests, replace it.

BTW, using registry cleaners would be useless in this instance and in all
instances may be deleterious to your computer's health.

Think you need a registry cleaner? Think again:
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

Malke

Thanks Malke,
I have looked at the site http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10>, and will try some
of the suggestions. But I am unsure how to run the file resetdma.vbs for
which the script is supplied. Do I paste this into notepad, save it as
resetdma.vbs and then click on it? There seems no spot on the website to
actually download this as an executable file.
Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Kanga 85]

Thanks Malke,
I have looked at the site http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10>, and will try some
of the suggestions. But I am unsure how to run the file resetdma.vbs for
which the script is supplied. Do I paste this into notepad, save it as
resetdma.vbs and then click on it? There seems no spot on the website to
actually download this as an executable file.
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Later: I haven't run the script file because I don't know how to. However,
following advice from winhlp.com/node/10 I have checked my BIOS to find no
available PIO mode. It is set at 'Auto', with a choice of a number of DMA
and uDMA modes. I've played with this to no effect, so returned the setting
to auto.

I have also checked the keys in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
and deleted the MasterIdDataCheckSum and SlaveIDDataCheckSum which I found in
subkeys 0002 and 0005. My Hard Disc is a Samsung HD753LJ 750.2GB.

Looking in Device Manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI controller, I have TWO Primary and
TWO secondary devices listed. (I believe I have only got two devices, a HD
and a CD\DVD). One of the primaries is set at Ultra DMA Mode 4, and one of
the secondarys is set at Ultra DMA Mode 5. The other primary and the other
secondary are both set at Current Transfer Mode non-applicable.

Any further suggestions? The computer boots well and rapidly, complex
desktop loads rapidly, all programs run fast except Windows Explorer. Is it
possible that Explorer is corrupted in some way, and I perhaps I should
overwrite it - if possible- with the same program from another machine.
However Explorer still works, only exceptionally slowly, so it must be a
funny corruption.

Thanks

 

[Malke]

Kanga 85 wrote:

Before. I only tried cleaning the registry as one of the procedures
employed after the windows explorer slowing down event, to try and solve
the
problem. I am puzzled about the hard disk failing, as all other programs
(apart from windows explorer) run well and at acceptable speed, and defrag
(also done after the slow down) ran completely at a good pace.

To run Hans-Georg Michna's .vbs file you simply double-click it. Then reboot.

However, your later post contradicted the information in your first post
which gave the impression that your entire computer was slow and
unresponsive. Hence my suggestion that you check for the drive mode. You
wouldn't check in the BIOS anyway.

What exactly do you mean by only Explorer being slow? Windows Explorer is
the operating system's graphical user interface. Are you sure you don't mean
*Internet* Explorer?

You also didn't say how you checked for malware. Please review the steps at
this link to see if you were that thorough. Since you used registry
cleaners, it is quite possible that you had previously installed system
optimizers and more of that cr*p and your computer is infected even though
you think it isn't.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke

 

[Kanga 85]

Kanga 85 wrote:



To run Hans-Georg Michna's .vbs file you simply double-click it. Then reboot.

However, your later post contradicted the information in your first post
which gave the impression that your entire computer was slow and
unresponsive. Hence my suggestion that you check for the drive mode. You
wouldn't check in the BIOS anyway.

What exactly do you mean by only Explorer being slow? Windows Explorer is
the operating system's graphical user interface. Are you sure you don't mean
*Internet* Explorer?

You also didn't say how you checked for malware. Please review the steps at
this link to see if you were that thorough. Since you used registry
cleaners, it is quite possible that you had previously installed system
optimizers and more of that cr*p and your computer is infected even though
you think it isn't.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke

The problem is now solved; see below.

But firstly thanks Malke for your assistance. I do appreciate people who
are prepared to help, and I thank you for your postings and pointers. I
have now learned a lot more about spyware and malware. I had been running
SuperAnitspyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, but I have now totally
removed AdAware2008 and Spybot 1.6 which I also had on the computer for
'emergencies'. I am sorry that you found my postings contradictory as I
though I had only claimed that it was only Windows Explorer which was running
slowly and that all other operations appeared normal. However all my
posting were made in desperation after long nights of unsuccess, so my
apologies for any confusion.

The Solution: Simple, but I will post in full in case others have the same
problem. Last week the scanner (an old HP Scanjet 5470c - perhaps I should
upgrade, but it works well for my purposes) was temporarily moved and then
reconnected through a USB port. It was tested (from an icon on the desktop)
and scanned o.k., but obviously Windows Explorer was treating it as a new
drive and was slowed down looking for files on it. This was discovered by
disconnecting all hardware and re-booting the computer. This seems to be a
known scanjet problem, solved by downloading and running SJ668.exe obtained
from the HP download website. I previously had this software on my computer
and had run it when I first installed the scanner (2001) in the current
(2009) computer. Note that my system offered me no backed-up drivers to
reinstall, I had to run SJ668.exe again. I am unclear as to why this
happened, but it is possible that the scanner was reconnected to a different
USB port from that to which it was originally attached (it is pretty dark and
constricted at the back of my computer, and in any case I have always treated
these ports as interchangable). I haven't tested this yet; when the
software is run does it only apply to that USB port to which the scanner is
attached? But why bother now that things are back to normal!

Thanks again.