Member Avatar for Piecinitup

When I right click and or double click to load a song for instance, it takes forever? I counted...right click takes 6 seconds! and when I open a song it takes 10! I understand this is a small problem but i find it very anoying. I have a home built pc, Athlon 64 2800+ 1 gb of pc3200, I feel that it should be flying but i have this problem. Anybody know whats up?

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reported very slow Explorer responses (right‑click and opening files) despite a fast CPU and plenty of RAM. Replies from , and point to sensible causes (indexing/AV, bad file‑type entries and malware). The best course is a short, ordered diagnostic so each possible cause can be ruled in or out without guessing.

Try these steps in order — test after each change so the culprit is obvious:

  • Basic isolation: does the delay occur on the Desktop, in an empty new folder, or only in one music folder or file type? A local test folder with a single MP3 quickly shows whether the problem is folder/type specific.
  • Network resources: disconnect any mapped drives or network printers. Explorer will hang if it tries to access an offline network resource.
  • Clean boot / Safe Mode: boot Safe Mode or use msconfig to disable non‑Microsoft startup items and services; if Explorer becomes fast, a third‑party shell extension or startup app is responsible.
  • Shell extensions: use a tool that lists context‑menu handlers (ShellExView or Autoruns). Disable only non‑Microsoft context menu handlers, then restart Explorer (end/restart explorer.exe) and retest. Disable rather than delete; make a restore point first.
  • Antivirus hooks: temporarily pause real‑time scanning to see if AV context integration is causing the lag. If it fixes it, add exclusions or update the AV.
  • File‑type handlers: clean up orphaned or broken associations (Folder Options or export the related registry keys first). Corrupt handlers can cause long timeouts.
  • Disk/OS checks: inspect Task Manager for high disk usage; run chkdsk c: /r on next boot and sfc /scannow to verify system file integrity; check drive SMART for hardware issues.
  • Malware: run a current on‑demand scanner (for example Malwarebytes or an updated offline scanner). Shell hooks installed by malware are a known cause and removing them can restore speed.

If none of the above isolates the problem, capture activity with Process Monitor while reproducing the delay to see which DLLs, registry keys or network calls are timing out, or test with a newly created Windows user profile to determine whether the problem is profile‑specific. Always back up important data and create a restore point before editing the registry or disabling lots of components.

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

As fast as the processor is and as large the amount of RAM you have installed, it doesn't necessarily mean that everything is going to happen in an instant.

Transfer of data between components is a bottleneck, the way Windows and software is configured can be another.

It sounds to me that there is a delay in the process of initially locating the file. This could be incorrectly configured drives causing a slowdown, but it's more likely to be a software cause.

Is Windows set to index files on the drive? If very large numbers of files are stored on a drive, Windows Indexing can actually slow down access, rather than speed it up! Are files compressed? That would cause a delay in access? Is antivirus software set to scan all files on access? Yet another slowdown.

You're never going to have file access occur instantaneously. The drive heads have to be moved to position from 'park' to access the file for starters. But the access times could certainly be improved, and you'll need to look at your software and settings to find what's slowing it down.

Member Avatar for zreak

When I right click and or double click to load a song for instance, it takes forever? I counted...right click takes 6 seconds! and when I open a song it takes 10! I understand this is a small problem but i find it very anoying. I have a home built pc, Athlon 64 2800+ 1 gb of pc3200, I feel that it should be flying but i have this problem. Anybody know whats up?

I had the same problem. What I did was to go to Tools -> Folder Options in Explorer, then File Types and then removed all the files I didn't use/know what were.

You can't really do anything wrong, as the only thing that you alter here is what program explorer should open a certain file-extention with. Any things you don't know what are, or never use you can remove, but, if you don't know what you're doing however, you might break something, take care..

There was something wrong somewhere in the file-associations and that made certain files hang for a while for they opened or the rightclick-menu appeared. After a quick cleanup and a reboot it all worked again :lol:

Member Avatar for NecroGnomezZz

When I right click and or double click to load a song for instance, it takes forever? I counted...right click takes 6 seconds! and when I open a song it takes 10! I understand this is a small problem but i find it very anoying. I have a home built pc, Athlon 64 2800+ 1 gb of pc3200, I feel that it should be flying but i have this problem. Anybody know whats up?

hello, Iam StanDP AKA NecroGnomezZz and Iam:

"An Avid PC Enthusiast Since 1982...!"

After much stress and complaining, I investigated my right-clicking issue because this was the problem:

i would right click on something usually a file or folder and it would take at least 4-6 seconds for the context menu to come up GOD I HATED THIS WITH A PASSION!!! And so i spent a few days until i found the best solution possible, so here's what I did:

1> Looked online for a solution and weighed my options.

2> Downloaded SHELL-EX-VIEWER (Because I was told I could cleanup my right click menu with it... Well that did not work at all, and so I:

3> Waited a day out of frustration...

4> Today I gave it some deep thought and I came to this conclusion...

5> I downloaded the mal-ware remover that recognized the "MOST THREATS' and so I;

6> Downloaded PREVX v3.x and installed it (Along with PREVX Online protection).

7> I then set it's options, ran a deep scan and sure enough quite a few malwares...

8> So without registering I manually removed the malwares that PREVX detected and told me about & ran another scan to make sure they were gone. P.S. The virused files i renamed "VIRUSED1, VIRUSED2 ETC..." and so after scan it told me my renamed VIRUSED Files were infected, DUH! and so rebooted, and deleted the files and emptied the TRASH-BIN.

9> Guess what? No more 4-6 second wait for my right-click menu to show!!! BINGO, That fixed right-clicking issues totally.

10> I can once again enjoy my PC Time, And I hope You do as well...CheerzZz...!

StanDP A.K.A.~NecroGnomezZz~

Member Avatar for NecroGnomezZz

The above held true once again, malware was the cause of right-click context menu taking 6+ seconds to showup, after malware was removed with PREVX v3+ (btw the only malware monitor to detect and remove the right click malware bugs...!) it took then (after removal of the right-click malware bugs, only a mere 1/10th of a second to load my right-click context menu!!...NO JOKE!

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