Windows Explorer takes forever to show folder contents

[Kunal]

When Windows Explorer (XP2, SP2) tries to show a folder containing many
large MS Word files or many other files (such as images, icons, etc),
it takes forever to open/render. The effect is one of the machine
hanging (in fact, the Windows Explorer process shows as "Not
Responding" in the task manager).

Similarly, dialog boxes that contain many very large Word documents or
many other documents take forever to open/render.

Does anyone know why this happens and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bob I]

In a nutshell, all that additional "info" take a while to read. Reduce
the filecount per folder is the most effective fix.

 

[Kunal]

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned off
or on.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned off
or on.

What information from the files are you having Windows Explorer
display? You can use View|Choose Details... in WE to tell it not to
display items that it needs to open the file to get.

NTFS directories are stored in a btree format. That means that for
directories with lots and lots of files and subdirs, it will take a
fairly long time to read out the entire list. Searching for a
particular file, however, will be pretty quick.

 

[Kunal]

Thank you for that information. The problem, though, may not always be
with the number of files; for example, I have a folder with just 10
Word files, with sizes ranging from 3 MB to 14 MB.
The file chooser in Word, for example, takes forever to show me the
contents of that folder.

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned off
or on.

What information from the files are you having Windows Explorer
display? You can use View|Choose Details... in WE to tell it not to
display items that it needs to open the file to get.

NTFS directories are stored in a btree format. That means that for
directories with lots and lots of files and subdirs, it will take a
fairly long time to read out the entire list. Searching for a
particular file, however, will be pretty quick.

 

[Kunal]

Incidentally, I changed the Folder Options->View settings to a minimal
set (disabled Network folders, Simple View, file size, thumbnail
caches, popup descriptions, etc.), but to no avail.

Thank you for that information. The problem, though, may not always be
with the number of files; for example, I have a folder with just 10
Word files, with sizes ranging from 3 MB to 14 MB.
The file chooser in Word, for example, takes forever to show me the
contents of that folder.

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned off
or on.

What information from the files are you having Windows Explorer
display? You can use View|Choose Details... in WE to tell it not to
display items that it needs to open the file to get.

NTFS directories are stored in a btree format. That means that for
directories with lots and lots of files and subdirs, it will take a
fairly long time to read out the entire list. Searching for a
particular file, however, will be pretty quick.

 

[R. McCarty]

This may not directly affect your issue, but I personally use the following
tool to remove "Metadata" from Office suite documents. Many users
are not aware of what extra info is stored in Office Docs.
Details and Info found here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011400341033.aspx
Couldn't say for sure, but I would assume that Explorer type operations
probably read/catalog Metadata from files.

Incidentally, I changed the Folder Options->View settings to a minimal
set (disabled Network folders, Simple View, file size, thumbnail
caches, popup descriptions, etc.), but to no avail.

Thank you for that information. The problem, though, may not always be
with the number of files; for example, I have a folder with just 10
Word files, with sizes ranging from 3 MB to 14 MB.
The file chooser in Word, for example, takes forever to show me the
contents of that folder.

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows
has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned
off
or on.

What information from the files are you having Windows Explorer
display? You can use View|Choose Details... in WE to tell it not to
display items that it needs to open the file to get.

NTFS directories are stored in a btree format. That means that for
directories with lots and lots of files and subdirs, it will take a
fairly long time to read out the entire list. Searching for a
particular file, however, will be pretty quick.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Thank you for that information. The problem, though, may not always be
with the number of files; for example, I have a folder with just 10
Word files, with sizes ranging from 3 MB to 14 MB.
The file chooser in Word, for example, takes forever to show me the
contents of that folder.

I suspect you're sunk with those large files. I guess, but I don't
know, that Word's file chooser always opens files and reads what it
needs. And when you read such large files, it takes some time.

I recommend that you pursue this in a Word newsgroup, the folks there
will know much more about that app than we here do. These groups are
available:

microsoft.public.word.application.errors
microsoft.public.word.conversions
microsoft.public.word.customization.menustoolbars
microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
microsoft.public.word.drawing.graphics
microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
microsoft.public.word.international.features
microsoft.public.word.internet.assistant
microsoft.public.word.macword2001
microsoft.public.word.macword5-6
microsoft.public.word.macword98
microsoft.public.word.mail
microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields
microsoft.public.word.newusers
microsoft.public.word.numbering
microsoft.public.word.oleinterop
microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
microsoft.public.word.printingfonts
microsoft.public.word.programming
microsoft.public.word.setup.networking
microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
microsoft.public.word.tables
microsoft.public.word.vba.addins
microsoft.public.word.vba.beginners
microsoft.public.word.vba.customization
microsoft.public.word.vba.general
microsoft.public.word.vba.userforms
microsoft.public.word.web.authoring
microsoft.public.word.word6-7macros
microsoft.public.word.word97vba

Maybe docmanagement or newusers?

 

[Frank]

When Windows Explorer (XP2, SP2) tries to show a folder containing many
large MS Word files or many other files (such as images, icons, etc),
it takes forever to open/render. The effect is one of the machine
hanging (in fact, the Windows Explorer process shows as "Not
Responding" in the task manager).

Similarly, dialog boxes that contain many very large Word documents or
many other documents take forever to open/render.

Does anyone know why this happens and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance

You may have an inadequate hardware problem. I notice
this behavior on an old P3 500, 128 RAM, onboard video.
Installing a better video card helped a _little_. (gave up on XP)
for this box.

 

[Kunal]

I'm not sure if hardware is the problem - I'm using a Dell Latitude,
with 1GB RAM, Intel Centrino running at 1.8 GHz.

 

[Kunal]

The problem vanished after I rebooted the system (yes, I rebooted after
several days!) with these changes (I changed the Folder Options->View
settings to a minimal set (disabled Network folders, Simple View, file
size, thumbnail caches, popup descriptions, etc.).

Just to make sure, I re-enabled them all, rebooted my system, and
viola! The problem reappeared like Ol' Faithful.

Thanks to everyone for all your responses and help!

Incidentally, I changed the Folder Options->View settings to a minimal
set (disabled Network folders, Simple View, file size, thumbnail
caches, popup descriptions, etc.), but to no avail.

Thank you for that information. The problem, though, may not always be
with the number of files; for example, I have a folder with just 10
Word files, with sizes ranging from 3 MB to 14 MB.
The file chooser in Word, for example, takes forever to show me the
contents of that folder.

Unfortunately I don't have that option. I would assume that Windows has
some kind of [registry] setting that would let the "read" be turned off
or on.

What information from the files are you having Windows Explorer
display? You can use View|Choose Details... in WE to tell it not to
display items that it needs to open the file to get.

NTFS directories are stored in a btree format. That means that for
directories with lots and lots of files and subdirs, it will take a
fairly long time to read out the entire list. Searching for a
particular file, however, will be pretty quick.