Re: Explorer Slow With Files

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

It could be -- the registry is a big area, however. I have previously run
sfc, hacked at the registry to replace huge chunks with registry from
elsewhere, and after many hours of trying these things, finally just rebuilt
winxp. I've only partially tried it this time. For some other problems, I
have been able to guess at what to change by comparing registries from other
machines (don't have one particularly close to this setup right now).
Fortunately, the last time I rebuilt winxp, there was little that I had to
reinstall afterwards. That was a surprise, but then maybe I've rebuilt it so
often that I don't bother to put in the tweaks to make it faster, etc. so
there is no longer much to fix afterwards?

I see plenty of messages out on the net where people are having this
problem. I see the "it must be a virus" response and then after they have
the victim run hijackthis, the replies stop. So, I think, by far, just about
everyone is writing this off as a virus that "someone else" can fix. A lot
of people have run into this and it is being dismissed as a virus thing - it
isn't.

A fix would be very nice to have, a diagnostic to point in the direction
would be nice, a document of the interprocess communications for explorer
would be OK to scan and get ideas from. Alas, silence... ;-)

Don't know if I mentioned it before, but when I click on a PDF or other
non-MS file, I get fast response. I click on XLS, DOC, HTM, etc., I run into
the long delays. 1 minute to fire up excel, another minute to load the XLS,
etc. So, MS is using some mechanism for its own use that is not in play for
other programs.

"WRH" wrote:

> Could some Explorer registry setting be weird?
> The .zip file is my explorer settings, known to
> be ok. In compairson with yours, maybe some
> parameter will stand out as being odd...
>
> "Fifthgen Guy" <FifthgenGuy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:3ED09B0D-31BA-45DE-B966-4E3DDF109CFB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Sad to say, yes... I did think of it. In the "old days" this was a big
> > problem with my win98. Here again, it would be great to know why explorer
> > is
> > just sitting and timing out. But that is not the case here. In fact,
> > just
> > to be extra cautious, I rebooted with the network shut off - in case of
> > any
> > lingering info in memory. No diff.
> >
> > It is driving me nutz! I'm almost to the point <again> that I'll just
> > reinstall WinXP PRO. But this is silly. There must be a diagnostic or
> > real
> > solution out there.
> >
> > Thanks for the thought, however! -- Joe
> >
> > "WRH" wrote:
> >
> >> One final thought...you probably checked this already but
> >> does the problem occur when the PC is not physically connected
> >> to any network and there are no mapped drives?
> >>
> >> "Fifthgen Guy" <FifthgenGuy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:AF7A5735-AEDB-4BED-98AC-1BEA553DD1AD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> > Nice thought, but nope. This is not a thing where the system is busy
> >> > in
> >> > any
> >> > way. I have zip files turned off (use winrar) and have other overhead
> >> > junk
> >> > turned off. With GLINT, I can watch cpu, disk I/O, memory use, cache
> >> > use,
> >> > etc. All very idle. (Also use process explorer to what over all tasks
> >> > and
> >> > gross activity.) This is some whacko timeout thing going on. It is
> >> > like
> >> > explorer tries to send a message, times out, then forces the issue and
> >> > things
> >> > start to respond. Response times start at 60 sec., and I've seen 120
> >> > sec
> >> > and
> >> > I think 90 sec. Maybe there is some 30 sec. timeout and it normally
> >> > takes
> >> > 2.
> >> > But, in any case, tain't a resource overload thing in any way. And,
> >> > with
> >> > all files in the same place, I can get this corrected by reinstalling
> >> > winxp
> >> > pro. [I have all the latest updates, merged SP2 into my winxp cd, made
> >> > it
> >> > bootable - which it wasn't before, so when I rebuild, I automatically
> >> > have
> >> > SP2 in there.]
> >> >
> >> > It took a while to be sure that it wasn't IExplorer. I installed
> >> > firefox
> >> > and found it had the exact same problems. Also, left clicking on a PDF
> >> > file
> >> > will fire up immediately, but sometimes, clicking on a word or excel
> >> > file
> >> > will take 60 or 120 sec to fire up -- and then another 60 sec to
> >> > actually
> >> > load the file. No disk activity, cpu activity, etc. during that time.
> >> > Just
> >> > the normal dribbles. This is clearly some timeout thing.
> >> >
> >> > With the lack of tools, I've done crazy things like creating another
> >> > user
> >> > to
> >> > see if it is a user thing. Then, worse, I take chunks of the registry
> >> > and
> >> > replace it with chunks from another system, etc. Of course, this leads
> >> > to
> >> > disasters - but such is the life of testing with no tools... ;-)
> >> >
> >> > Someone in the bowels of MS knows what this is and has a quick way of
> >> > verifying the problem. After all, when an interprocessor message of
> >> > some
> >> > sort doesn't make it and a timeout occurs, someone knows which thing is
> >> > failing and probably why. That is a big part of the frustration. I
> >> > have
> >> > no
> >> > tools to find this myself and I don't see any real help out here. Just
> >> > the
> >> > usual "it must be a virus", which, admittedly is very frequently the
> >> > case
> >> > for
> >> > a lot of people.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks for the try, though!
> >> >
> >> > -- Joe
> >> >
> >> > "WRH" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Hello
> >> >> Do you have .zip files in the root directories you're looking
> >> >> at? If so, move them to a sub-folder. (Win Xp unpacks root
> >> >> ..zip stuff)
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> "Fifthgen Guy" <Fifthgen Guy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> >> >> message
> >> >> news:425B60B0-F68E-4578-B334-7D5561CCFEE5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> >> > I've been looking for the same thing for months. Keep coming across
> >> >> > "you
> >> >> > must have a virus" and "your network is slow" bull. Very
> >> >> > frustrating.
> >> >> > It
> >> >> > would help if I could find some tools to tell me WHY explorer is
> >> >> > waiting,
> >> >> > WHY
> >> >> > a program is timing out before something happens. I see these 60
> >> >> > sec.,
> >> >> > 90
> >> >> > sec., 180 sec. delay and NOTHING is claiming to be having a problem.
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > have
> >> >> > reinstalled WinXP Pro 3 times now -- cleans it up, but that is
> >> >> > rediculous.
> >> >> > No, my machine was not hijacked. I run glint and see NOTHING going
> >> >> > on
> >> >> > while
> >> >> > it just sits.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I'm a systems guy, wrote some network code, OS code, firmware,
> >> >> > designed
> >> >> > some
> >> >> > hardware, so it is real frustrating that I can look at see what
> >> >> > explorer
> >> >> > is
> >> >> > waiting for. No indications, no tools and no one has even hinted at
> >> >> > a
> >> >> > real
> >> >> > fix. I've mashed around the registry in hopes of tripping across a
> >> >> > solution.
> >> >> > Nope!
> >> >> >
> >> >> > If I find my way back here, I'll let you know what I found, but as I
> >> >> > said,
> >> >> > I've been looking for months...
> >> >> >
> >> >> > "Mike Ferrie" wrote:
> >> >> >
> >> >> >> Hi,
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> I'm looking for help with a frustrating problem that has happened
> >> >> >> on
> >> >> >> my
> >> >> >> PC.
> >> >> >> Essentially the symptoms are this:
> >> >> >> 1.Opening files through Windows Explorer results in a 20 to 30
> >> >> >> second
> >> >> >> pause
> >> >> >> before the files open. This happens on local and network drives.
> >> >> >> 2.Executable files or applications open immediately. Also files
> >> >> >> open
> >> >> >> immediately from inside the application e.g. from Excel open dialog
> >> >> >> box.
> >> >> >> 3. In explorer, right-clicking on files results in a 20-30 second
> >> >> >> delay
> >> >> >> in
> >> >> >> bringing up the menu, while with executables the menu comes up
> >> >> >> immediately.
> >> >> >> The system is XP SP2. What I have tried so far is:
> >> >> >> Reapplied the Service Pack
> >> >> >> System restore to before the problem manifested itself
> >> >> >> Disconnected and reconnected mapped drives.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> Any suggestions would be gratefully received before I go ahead and
> >> >> >> reinstall.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> Thanks
> >> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
.

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