File Explorer extremely slow and unstable.

JusMyBASSCannon said:

What I mean is that I can be half-way down a 260-count file folder, like this:

Attachment 21434

Then it will freeze, and after it unfreezes, it goes back to the top of the folder, like so:

Attachment 21435

Doing simple tasks such as moving, copying, renaming, deleting and even scrolling and clicking causes File Explorer to freeze, sometimes even when it's idle!

And what's weirder is that the glitch doesn't happen when your opening a file for a specific program (say you click 'open' in Word and you get the 'Open' dialog box where you can pick a file).

Hey man I'm encountering the same issue. Did you solve the problem of File Explorer bouncing back to top? Could you please tell how?

Hi I had tried everything I could find online but nothing worked - ccleaner - regedit etc. I downloaded CubicExplorer
but this application ran just as s-l-o-w-l-y - then I had a brainwave

This WORKED for me on Windows 10



1) Click on Search bar and type in Run
2) Click on Run Desktop App
3) In the box that appears at the bottom left of the screen type in eventvwr and press OK
4) On the left of the screen click onto Event Viewer (Local)
5) Click onto Windows Logs
6) Then Application
7) In the Application box showing the number of applications logged, you will see one or more
events with errors on them – this means we are on the right track – if not this won’t fix your
problem and I’m sorry for getting your hopes up
8) On the right click onto Clear log…
9) Open File Explorer and wait until it opens or says not responding then close again
10) Go back to Event Viewer and refresh by clicking onto Event Viewer (Local) then back to Windows Logs
11) There should only be a few entries in the Event Viewer Log – click onto the first entry with error against it and in the
Details box under the General tab - it should tell you which program ( mine said DTShellHlp.exe was not working properly –
I had no clue what it was so I Googled it and found it was linked to Daemon Tools
12) Delete the application ( in this case Daemon Tools ) click Start - Settings - System - Apps and Features -
Uninstall it then told me it was attached to File Explorer and to close that app before continuing – that’s
when I started smiling
I finished uninstalling Daemon Tools
Opened File Explorer – and it worked beautifully
Incidentally, when I re-installed Daemon Tools there was a tick box that said Link with File Explorer – I
unchecked it now both applications work fine

Hope this helps – sorry for the dumbing down of the explanation but I know if it was me looking up how
to do something I’d rather it was simple

Hey there everyone,

I was struggling with this particular issue since installation of Windows 10. A number of my folders took forever to sort by Date, size or anything except the standard Windows Explorer Display.
Luckily, there is an exact solution that works like a charm!!
Step 1: Open Explorer
Step 2: Go to the folder that you have issues with (but don't go into the folder)
Step 3: Right click on the folder, and select Properties
Step 4: Click on the "Customize" tab
Step 5: Under the "Optimize this folder for:" drop down, change this to "General Items"
Step 6: Tick the box that says include subfolders
Step 7: Click Apply and OK
Step 8: Done, move on to your next problem folder and repeat :)

Like many people I tried a lot of possible solutions. The instructions for using Event Viewer posted by alfienoakes put me on the path to solving my problem.

I found an error event for windows explorer but it led me to a Microsoft URL which did not work. However, my system events showed quite a few errors and warnings regarding other URLs which I had never entered into my browser. I then checked my Kaspersky anti-virus protection. I clicked on the 'More Tools' button on the first panel which led to another screen that showed 'Microsoft Windows Troubleshooting'. This checks for damage caused by "malware activity, system crashes, and incorrectly working operating system optimizers". I ran that, rebooted my machines (two computers were affected) and the problem was completely solved. Of course I did a full scan on both machines after that - but the scans showed no problems.

Regarding alfienoakes' instructions: you can skip step 8. Instead of clearing your log files, create a custom view by clicking on 'Custom Views' in the LHS panel then click on 'Create Custom View' in the RHS panel.

Big thanks to alfienoakes for putting me on the right path to fix this after two days of frustration!