# [SOLVED] Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi,

Lately I have noticed that my computer has slowed down big time. I seem to be having a lot of problems with Windows Explorer.

For example: If I have a folder and delete an item, the item will stay in the folder until I refresh. Where before I never needed to do so.

I have noticed today that IE 9 has started to slow down as well. IE will lock up or hang at random times.

Other programs will hang or even lock up.

I'm good with keeping my computer safe, clean and healthly. All drivers, software, etc. are all updated. Yes I have read the "Is your PC slowing down?" thread. I've been here for 3 years don't forget :grin:.

Does anybody have any ideas? Is there a way I can reset Windows Explorer? 

Thanks,

MC


----------



## dmpm (Jul 18, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi, 

What normally is slowing your computer down is having a messy MSConfig and from the sounds of things, IE could do with being reset.

Easiest thing first, click on start and type "inetcpl.cpl" hit enter then click advanced at the top, near the bottom click reset (Click reset again when it pops up) - You should now have 3 green ticks in front of you - Click close.

Thats IE reset so any addons or toolbars will be gone (This will make IE run faster.)

Now, with MSConfig it can be a bit tricky because this changes on everyone's computer (People have loads of different things installed at any one time.)

Again, Start > "msconfig" > Enter > You should have System Configuration Utility open.

We are going to use 2 of the tabs at the top, these are startup and services.

Click startup, you will see a huge list of programs in here, to the left of the program name you will see a green tick, these are going to be removed (By clicking on them...) 

We can untick anything that is not needed (Anything that says google, apple etc are not needed..)

**Things that say your antivirus (AVG, Norton, McAfee, Nod32 etc.) are definitely needed and should be left alone even if they are already unticked, leave it alone!!**

If you are unsure, leave it be.

Now that we have everything we don't need unticked there, we can move over to the services tab, we need to do the same in here 

**BEFORE YOU START CLICKING**
There is a checkbox that says "Hide all Microsoft services" Tick this box!! (We don't want to stop Windows working...)

Untick everything that is unnecessary and click ok.

You will need to restart your machine for this to take effect.

Your startup time should be greatly reduced and you should be able to load programs faster too.

**The best way to make your computer run fast again is to run a recovery - This is a last resort as this gets rid of ALL user data (Pics, docs, music etc) + programs (You will have to reinstall office + reactivate it etc..)**

Sorry for the lengthy response but if you have any further issues, reply or PM me.

*Edit

For what its worth, try running an AV scan with MalwareBytes or something similar.

Not sure what computer you have also but if it is multicore, try setting affinity with explorer, it may help depending on 32 or 64 bit OS


----------



## satrow (Feb 4, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi Chief, the Explorer not refreshing thing is something that's been around since the first public beta for some people; for many, it's just occasional, others seem to be stuck with it. Yours may be from a different cause though.

If you've done the chkdsk/SFC thing, make sure the SATA channels in Device Manager are using DMA not PIO; maybe attaching MSInfo32 and autoruns outputs will allow us to dig deeper.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

@dmpm Thank you for you reply. In the past I have already made sure startup programs are disabled. Well the ones I don't want. I have taken a look at the services as you said and unticked one service. Thanks.

-----

@satrow Are you suggesting I do SFC?

As for the MSInfo32 its attached below.


----------



## satrow (Feb 4, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

I assumed SFC would follow chkdsk in the "Is your PC slowing down?" thread - if it doesn't, it should ^^ so, yes please  *SFC /scannow*.

I'll take a look through the data now.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

No problems on SFC.



> Verification 100% complete.
> Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.


----------



## satrow (Feb 4, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

That has to be good news, how about attaching an autoruns.arn (zipped) next: Autoruns for Windows because it looks like I've bugged some resource that blocks me from opening MSInfo32 - yours is the second tonight - until after I reboot to test. Don't you just love it when something stops working suddenly?!


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Doesn't it always seem to stop working when you need it to work too? :laugh:

Here is the autorun:


Edit: By the way when I delete somthing a folder I no longer need to refresh the folder. That issue seems to have fixed its self? :angel:


----------



## satrow (Feb 4, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Like I said earlier about the refresh thing "for many, it's just occasional".

Rebooted and still those last 2x MSInfo's still won't open, all earlier ones do  Does that .nfo open without error for you Chief?

Autoruns looks ok - _in places_ - a few too many startups for my liking, main problem could be to do with _all those storage *drivers*_ you seem to have loaded - take a look. I've seen that 3 times in recent weeks, I'm not sure what causes it but the other computers were in a pretty bad way, have you ever run any kind of driver searching software?


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

The .nfo opens fine for me. No problems at all.

I noticed that too! I saw all of the drivers and though... Wow I never installed these. I don't have any driver searching software.

Should I go though them and check which ones I don't need?


----------



## satrow (Feb 4, 2012)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Yes, I'd uncheck all that aren't needed, I'd really like to know how those drivers came to be active though.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

On the list there are drivers for Nvidia? I don't even have any nvidia parts on this computer . I also see a lot of RAID devices when this laptop isn't RAID supported. :ermm:


----------



## Tomken15 (Dec 7, 2011)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

You may find this aricle of some use in assisting with speeding up your pc How Can I Speed Up My Computer although I've never downloaded the free e-book.


----------



## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi, changing priority from Tomkeins post using Task Manager is session only, Gamers use third party mods to do this Or you can run a batch from startup using the wmic cmd.

However from your Msinfo file I see you have only 7 gb left on your C drive and a paging file of 7 gb on the same drive, loads of space on the D drive... move some data over OR consider moving the paging file to D drive.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*



> However from your Msinfo file I see you have only 7 gb left on your C drive and a paging file of 7 gb on the same drive, loads of space on the D drive... move some data over OR consider moving the paging file to D drive.


What do you mean by the paging file?


----------



## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi, I must say I am a little surprised you need to ask, still nothing surprises me nowdays.

In order to more efficiently handle data computers developed what we call memory. Programmers could have their program written so data, through the OS, could be stored at random in this memory, this gave an improvement in computing performance and is called RAM. Now as resource requirements increased it was often the case that the amt of RAM available was too limited and the system would slow down or crash, so it was decided to allocate a certain amt of space to the HDD to contain a sort of sudo ram, this was known as Virtual Memory, and the data referred to here is contained in a hidden system file "pageFile" at C:\pagefile.sys.

Now as you can see from your Msinfo you have Virtual Memory roughly equal to the amt of free space left on the hdd, windows does not like this:-

[Drives]

Item	Value	
Drive	C:	
Description	Local Fixed Disk	
Compressed	No	
File System	NTFS	
Size	58.59 GB (62,914,555,904 bytes)	
Free Space	7.28 GB (7,820,181,504 bytes)	
Volume Name	OS	
Volume Serial Number	B8457168	

Drive	D:	
Description	Local Fixed Disk	
Compressed	No	
File System	NTFS	
Size	397.30 GB (426,599,510,016 bytes)	
Free Space	382.02 GB (410,187,694,080 bytes)	
Volume Name 
Volume Serial Number	70D222B6	

Drive	E:	
Description	CD-ROM Disc	

Drive	Z:	
Description	Network Connection	
Provider Name	\\192.168.1.106\memory_card	

Installed Physical Memory (RAM)	4.00 GB	
Total Physical Memory	3.80 GB	
Available Physical Memory	1.96 GB	
Total Virtual Memory	7.60 GB	
Available Virtual Memory	5.49 GB	
Page File Space	3.80 GB	
Page File	C:\pagefile.sys

So have a read through this explains VM in a more computer science way and tells you how to move the Pagingfile.

Virtual Memory Paging File - Change - Vista Forums


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi Jenae,

Thanks for letting me know what the Pagefile even was.

I followed the link you posted and changed the Page File Size on my C: drive to None and let Windows System Manage on the D: drive.

My next question is do I need to delete the Pagefile.sys? Or will Windows move it to the D: drive?

If it helps I can upload a new MSInfo so you can be sure it moved or not.


----------



## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Hi, if you want to debug a windows OS blue screen you will need to keep a small paging file on C: drive the system is smart enough to handle paging transitions on both drives just set the size on C: drive to 30mg should do. Or if you aren't worried about dumps the way you have it is fine. Why not move some data from c to d as well. No need to delete anything.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Windows Explorer - Windows 7 Slow down*

Alright I allowed some space on the C: drive as well.

Seems like Windows isn't hanging/slow any longer. I did some cleanup of the drivers and moved files around. Lets just hope everything stays file :smile:.

Thanks for all of your help Satrow, Tom and Jenae!


----------

