Windows slowdown on delete - what causes this?

  • Thread starter Thread starter matt
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M

matt

hello,

this question is probably too un-scientific to get serious about, but i
am curious nonetheless.

for many years, on many different Windows XP & Windows 2000 machines,
ive noticed something.. using windows explorer, the first time i delete
something in a long while*, windows slows down and grinds. after about
5-10 seconds of unresponsiveness & thrashing, it then deletes the file
and any queued actions are carried out (new windows i tried opening
during the thrash, etc). subsequent deletes execute quickly & normally.

* its hard for me to pinpoint just how much time is required to
reproduce this, but i reboot daily.

im not really interested in tips on how to keep windows running
smoothly, but i am curious as to why this happens, if any one can say.


thanks!
matt
 
hello,

this question is probably too un-scientific to get serious about, but i
am curious nonetheless.

for many years, on many different Windows XP & Windows 2000 machines,
ive noticed something.. using windows explorer, the first time i delete
something in a long while*, windows slows down and grinds. after about
5-10 seconds of unresponsiveness & thrashing, it then deletes the file
and any queued actions are carried out (new windows i tried opening
during the thrash, etc). subsequent deletes execute quickly & normally.

* its hard for me to pinpoint just how much time is required to
reproduce this, but i reboot daily.

im not really interested in tips on how to keep windows running
smoothly, but i am curious as to why this happens, if any one can say.
Click to expand...

Non-scientific answer? Sure.

What kind of file is being deleted? It makes a difference with XP. If it is
a file that is monitored by System Restore, a copy gets made first that
will be added to the next restore point. If some other monitoring software
is in place - system backup software monitoring changes - that could slow
things down too.

Some multimedia files have very aggressive hooks into the Explorer shell -
*.avi files for example. It can take a while for Explorer to release that
hook before the file is deleted. In some cases, movie files are *very*
difficult to delete and the operation may fail completely without taking
some (bothersome) extra steps.
 
Sharon said:
What kind of file is being deleted? It makes a difference with XP.
Click to expand...

the file type can be just about anything, afaict. note tho: this
actually occurs on both my XP and W2K workstations, so its not actually
limited to XP. ive noticed it w/ even the simplies of .txt files. ive
noticed it at various work machines (different employers & setups), and
at home. since i notice it so often on different environments over the
years, im surprised more people havent noticed it and given it a name,
actually.

i know what you mean about .avi files getting hooked into windows, many
times i cannot delete those until days later.


matt
 
Ya... there's a name for it... Norton Antivirus. Other anti-malware
apps may also cause a slowdown as well.

|
| Sharon F wrote:
| > What kind of file is being deleted? It makes a difference with XP.
|
| the file type can be just about anything, afaict. note tho: this
| actually occurs on both my XP and W2K workstations, so its not
actually
| limited to XP. ive noticed it w/ even the simplies of .txt files.
ive
| noticed it at various work machines (different employers & setups),
and
| at home. since i notice it so often on different environments over
the
| years, im surprised more people havent noticed it and given it a
name,
| actually.
|
| i know what you mean about .avi files getting hooked into windows,
many
| times i cannot delete those until days later.
|
|
| matt
|
 
LuDean said:
Ya... there's a name for it... Norton Antivirus. Other anti-malware
apps may also cause a slowdown as well.
Click to expand...

that is not the case, as i am not running any sort of anti-virus or
anti-malware software on some of the machines where it happens.


matt
 
Haven't got a clue...

I have an NT4 machine that wont delete directories until you log off and
re-log on. Haven't been able to figure that one out in 7 years either. I
asked Microsoft, but they never came up with an answer either. It might
possibly be a rare, but minor, hardware incompatability that slowly fills up
an overflow register until it finally reaches the point where it just wont
work anymore - but that's just speculation.
 
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