Slow opening files and menus

[autotran]

Just recently when I right click on most files (jpg, html, dll, txt, etc.) it takes about 30 seconds for the menu to show up, it doesn't happen on exe and bat files or folders (maybe some others), it shows up instanteous then. I then tried to just open some of these files (jpg, html as examples) by left clicking and they take about 30 seconds to open also. If I open the program that these files use and then open the file it takes about 3 to 4 seconds total for both program and file to be opened. I just finished removing some programs I installed in the last couple of months (about 10 programs) and it hasn't helped. Tonight when I came home I installed SP2 just to see if that would help, there was no change whatsoever. Dave

[j4ck]

If you computer used to be much faster than this, then it sounds like some other program(s) might be hogging CPU time. Both make sure that you aren't running loads of unnecessary programs in the background, and that your computer isn't overrun with spyware. I suggest you use Adaware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
and spywareblaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
to rid your system of spyware.
Defragging is also a good idea.

If that doesn't help the problem, then please post again.

[EzyStvy]

Try these tweaks:

Automatically Refresh File Lists in Explorer

Change the value of UpdateMode in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update from 01 to 00.



Windows XP Icon Cache

Are you experiencing icon lag, while browsing thru all your Start icons and programs? Do you have

a smaller menu delay and your icons need ages to load? No need to give up.

Just delete the IconCache.db file from your profile directory (usually /Documents and

Settings/Username/Local Settings/Application Data).


Speed up menu display


"When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different
tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I
recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers
to appear instantly."

Start Regedit & Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 200
Reboot your computer!

[autotran]

I ran both Ad-aware and Spybot S & D (both up to date) previously and got rid of all known spyware etc. This didn't help either. I will try the tweaks that EzyStvy suggested tonight even thou none of them appear to be my actual problem. The "Refresh File Lists in Explorer", "experiencing icon lag" and "Speed up menu display" all appear to be working at the correct speed. Dave

Edit: About my computer speed, while installing the SP2, it installed at its normal rate, no delay at all. Also, I am running a Pentium 4 @ 1.8GHz and 1 GHz memory. dle

[eldon]

May or maynot be of help,but have you tried checkdisk and defrag?

[autotran]

I tried EzyStvy's suggestions and it didn't help at all. I have now deleted several more programs from my computer without it helping. I have now determined which files open the menu immediately when you right click on them. So far all exe, bat, com, scr and pif do, there might be others. These are the ones that I have tried and take 30 seconds for the menu to show up (also they take 30 seconds or more to execute if I just left click on them). They are, so far, avi, dll, jpg, html, doc, zip, bin and PLS. There is one thing in common about all of these files when the menu opens, they all have the option "open with". The files with no problem do not have this option. Any more suggestions? Dave

[autotran]

I started my computer in Safemode and the right click worked fine for any file. I then rebooted my computer, ran msconfig and unchecked every startup application. I then rebooted and tried right click again, I still had a 30+ second delay. I then disabled all "Services" (this turned out to be a major mistake), rebooted and tried right click again. Right click now worked fine. But, because I disabled all "Services" I now have three days to reactivate Windows and all of the restore points on my computer disappeared even the one I made last night to help me recover in case I made a mistake! I now have to determine which of the running services is causing my problem and then reactivate windows. Dave

[EzyStvy]

Temporary Decline in Performance Occurs When You Right-Click a File or Folder in Windows Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


A Program Stops Performing a Task or Explorer.exe Uses 100 Percent of the CPU When You Right-Click an Item in Windows Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Csrss.exe uses 100% of the CPU When you Right-Click an item in Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

[autotran]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy Temporary Decline in Performance Occurs When You Right-Click a File or Folder in Windows Explorer http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp A Program Stops Performing a Task or Explorer.exe Uses 100 Percent of the CPU When You Right-Click an Item in Windows Explorer http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp Csrss.exe uses 100% of the CPU When you Right-Click an item in Explorer http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

I tried all three suggestions above and the problem persists. Dave

Edit: I reactivated this AM with only a few mouse clicks, the quickest yet. This is my sixth time to reactivate and the last two times I had to call MS so I thought I would probably have to call them again!

[walkerboh2112]

The one absolute fix I found for this was to shut down the Workstation Service. However, if you're on a network w/other computers, this could limit your fun, eh?

I have a user here at work against whose XP laptop I ran winsockxpfix.exe, clearing her of the problem whilst allowing her to continue unabated to the network. However, I'm an XP SP2 masochist. The EXE did nothing for me.

I have a Windows Server 2003 box w/the same problem, though I have other Win Server 2003 boxes which run fine.

I guess I should mention we are using DFS and a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Domain.

I think there is an issue with either Windows Explorer or the Workstation Service (or both). For some reason the OS seems to be checking the network when you either launch (double-click) or right-click a LOCAL file. It's bizarre.

The other thing I found which works is to start up w/no network connection- not even wireless. It doesn't help much w/being able to use the PC but it helps (hopefully) provide some insight into the problem. There's definitely something stupid going on w/the network connection when accessing local files.

The reason I think it's Explorer.exe-related is because I can launch a file via the RUN option off of the Start menu and it pops instantly.

I'm still searchin'...

[autotran]

Thank you walkerboh2112, this appears to be the answer. I disabled "Auto-hide the taskbar" and I enabled the "Local Area Connection" status icon in the notification area. I then watched this icon as I right clicked on different files. When I right clicked on the ones that I mentioned above " exe, bat, com, scr and pif", this icon never blinked and the menu opened immediately. On the other ones " avi, dll, jpg, html, doc, zip, bin and PLS", it always blinked and the menu didn't open up instaneously (1 to about 3 seconds now). Therefore as you mentioned "the OS seems to be checking the network" with these files. I had also removed WinXP SP2 and that is what reduced the delay to about 1-3 seconds. Also, you are right, it only appears to happen and to be related to explorer.exe as any other time the file seems to open correctly. I will keep searching for the answer also and repost on my progress - if any. Dave

[Panama Red]

Don't know if this relates to your problem but I ran into a similarly odd situation with right click on a machine running SP2. When I right clicked on any item in the program menu, the program list would flash but nothing would come up. I found that the "enable dragging and dropping" box in the Start Menu customize area was unchecked.

[autotran]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Don't know if this relates to your problem but I ran into a similarly odd situation with right click on a machine running SP2. When I right clicked on any item in the program menu, the program list would flash but nothing would come up. I found that the "enable dragging and dropping" box in the Start Menu customize area was unchecked.

Mine was checked, I unchecked it to see what happened, no change. I then checked and unchecked some of the other options, no change either.
When I first right-click on a file now it takes 6-7 seconds for the menu to show up, the 2nd time about 3 seconds. The 3rd time about a second, the icon stops blinking after the 3rd try. Dave

Edit: I ran winsockxpfix.exe also which didn't help either.

[steve_steve]

I had the same problem about a year ago. I was trying all sorts of things, but the one thing that I think fixed it was to uninstall the Intellipoint software.

Here's some of the things that I did:

disable routing and remote sevice

disable ati hotkey poller service

disable intel active monitor service

uncheck 'file & print sharing' in the network properties of the internet connection

uncheck' client for MS networks' in the network properties of the internet connection

disable reserved bandwidth in Group Policy>Comp Config>Admin Temps>Network>QoS

uninstall & reinstall IE through control panel (helped a lot, but not permanent)

"BootVis>tools>options:driver delay from 100 to 50; Advanced: 00(?) to 50; delay time:
50 to 20; shutdown time 10 ; stop time 30"

uninstalled indexing service from add/remove: Windows Components

uninstalled Intellipoint- that may be it…

[autotran]

steve steve, I uninstalled Intellipoint V5 and nothing changed, still 6 seconds on the first right-click to get the menu. Dave

[steve_steve]

If it's ok in safe mode, that's a clue. Look at all running processes for anything that doesn't belong or is using up an inordinate amount of cpu. There are some shareware process analyzers you could try. You might also try HijackThis from: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip
to see what comes up.

I remember that prob, drove me crazy, just a little 6 second lag...

[Naja]

I have been dealing with this problem on and off-frequently though-for some time now.

I have tried some of the things in this thread just now, but dont know what the results are yet, because I'm not currently having this problem.

I haved searched PCMech in the past and have failed to locate a straight forward answer.

My situation and insights are this:

I have 2 PCs networked together running XP SP2.

PC2 I use mainly as a P2P Sever and I do A LOT of DLing with it--All types of files including a lot of video, ie movies, ie AVI, MPEG, Etc.. Every 4-7 days I shut down the P2P Program and perform my maintenance: I move files to PC1 for DVD burning, Defrag, Scandisk, Adware SE, Spybot and Easy Cleaner.

PC1 is my main personal PC that I use for pretty much everything else.

I have this Explorer.exe problem mainly on PC2 from what I will call--"BAD" Files. There is something about these "BAD" files that causes this problem. NOTHING I do eliminates this problem UNTIL I locate and delete the "BAD" file. There is something in these files that attaches itself to Explorer.exe. Sometimes its activated by opening Explorer in any way. Sometimes its by opening the folder that the file is in. Sometimes it just by opening and/or right-clicking the file itself. One time I could open the folder that a "BAD" file was in and everything was fine until I moved the vertical scroll bar.
Whatever is "BAD" about these files is not something that is picked up by Antivirus, adware, spybot or easycleaner. I have HiJackThis, but don't really understand the result well enough to be able to weed through them.

The only time I have this problem on PC1 is when I have managed to copy a "BAD" file from PC2 onto PC1 via the network. When I locate it and delete it---the problem goes away.

So, My thought is-if you were DLing files around the time that this began---You have a "Bad" file--You will have to hunt it down and Delete it.

I have found "BAD" exe files, but for me its mainly video files. The situation has become relatively simple although still fairly time consuming. I have all my new DLs going into one folder on one PC---so its just a simple process of deduction and I have learned what to look for.

HTH in some way. I know I'm not the only person that has this problem and a fix would be really nice.......

Added thought: When this problem occurs--Explorer.exe CPU usage usually goes up to 50-100%---often hangs at 48-52% which just really bogs down this system. Sometimes there's a system Lockup which has to be "Fixed" by a Hardreboot.

[walkerboh2112]

Cutting this loose sounded promising. I did it but file access was still slow. I rebooted (going for broke) but came back up and was still slow. I turned it back on. The mystery continues...

[walkerboh2112]

http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak739.aspx

This worked INSTANTLY for me. I hope it helps my fellow sufferers. Now I've gotta go find the other forums to which I've posted.

[autotran]

walkerboh2112, amazing! I disabled NetBios over TCP/IP in my "Local Area Connection" only and then tried right-clicking on a jpg file. My "Local Area Connection" status icon in the notification area never blinked again and the menu came up very quickly. I then re-enabled NetBios over TCP/IP (to be sure this is what fixed it) and I was back to the blinking and slow menu opening. It looks like my problem is solved with NetBios over TCP/IP disabled. I will now reinstall WinXP SP2 and see if everything still works correctly. Thanks, Dave
PS: I have tried in excess of over 50 misc. type files now, they all work.

Edit: I reinstalled WinXP SP2 about Midnight and everything still seems to be working OK. dle

[glc]

If you disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, you will not be able to set up a file and print sharing network - just be aware of that.

[autotran]

Originally Posted by glc If you disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, you will not be able to set up a file and print sharing network - just be aware of that.

glc, I looked and saw that my file and print sharing network was no longer working. Since I rarely used this it was no great loss, but at least I will know why it is not working now. I then wanted to see how bad my right-click was now working after reinstalling WinXP SP2 so I re-enabled it. Immediately the menu delay went back up to 30 seconds plus. So, while I am waiting for someone or myself to come up with a better answer it will remain disabled. Dave