When I click on the 'delete' button on a file/folder then it takes about 5 minutes for the delete dialog confirmation to show up (and while it's waiting, the window is frozen.)

I can't see what's going on; CPU isn't being used, and neither is much RAM; any ideas?

AntiVirus protection intervening?

I've seen this happen in a folder with a LOT of files in it, (over 100,000 files in one folder). Managed to speed that machine up by turning off Windows Indexing, however it only halved the wait time. This particular machine would also take forever if you tried to save a file into that folder. Sounds unlikely to be your problem, but thought I should toss it in the pile anyway.

Actually, if Windows Indexing service is turned on, it's best to disable it. The feature does more harm than good!

It happens all over my computer, even in My Computer which I'm unsure if Indexing affects that part.

If I disable indexing, how much performance do I lose when searching? I'm guessing I won't get an exact response, though.

Most comments I've read about it suggest that you might even GAIN performance. It's not a very good feature, apparently. Google up 'Windows XP indexing service disable' and you'll find heaps of criticism of it.

I hope they adopt better ideas for Longhorn, which is supposed to hide all the filing system stuff from the user!

I think I found my answer http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper....html#11723247

Has it worked for you?

nope; check that page again, I made a response there about files working fine but folders are still taking a while

I've also seen this problem pop up when a folder is full of zip files, (or perhaps even if there is one large zip file), seems Windows XP (or any version with the built in zip file handling) likes to look inside of all those files. Antivirus programs often compound this by scanning all the files at the same time.

Again, doesn't sound like your problem, but might still be worth mentioning.