Delay launching programs with keyboard shortcuts

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker but just registered ! So please bare with me.

I just got a NEW PC so I installed Windows 10 Home on it.

Now I am running into an issue that when starting a program via the Shortcut Key (Added via Right Click on Shortcut, and select Properties and then fill in the Shortcut Key example CTRL+ALT+W) there is a delay of around 2-3 seconds before the program starts. This didn't occur on my old Windows 10 PC.

I already have found a couple of pages on the net that it has something to do with Prefetch, but I don't wanna disable that for now (only as a last resort )
(Example of one of those pages, but there are more

3-second delay when launching programs with keyboard shortcuts. : Windows10

What I have found out that when I manually kill Store and Settings (which seem to spawn sometimes even when all Background App Settings are DISABLED (Turn On or Off Background Apps in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials) that the DELAY is gone.

Here just a short excerpt from a log file I am keeping about Store and Settings and I kill them via Taskkill /F

24/07/2018 12:31:16,80 Store is killed
24/07/2018 12:31:16,93 Settings is killed
24/07/2018 13:38:16,83 Store is killed
24/07/2018 13:38:16,97 Settings is killed

As you can see store and settings are starting approx every hour.

Yes, Store automatic updates are disabled and NO I am not starting them manually

Any idea guys what is going on !

Thx for any insights and advice, really appreciated.

Edit: And another non related question, is it possible to automatically "kill" Suspended processes ?

From reading around, my understanding (and I stand to be corrected) is that the 2-3 second delay is a Windows default delay where Windows searches for any other app or program running at the time on your PC which MIGHT have the same shortcut as the program you are running and switch over to it instead of running the program initiated by your shortcut. In case of any unresponsive or misbehaving app or program, Windows waits 2-3 seconds before moving on to the next running program.

see:
Why is there sometimes a long delay between pressing a hotkey for a shortcut and opening the shortcut? The Old New Thing
for this explanation


There are also some trouble shooting steps which you can try listed down the page here:
slow windows desktop keyboard shortcuts - Super User

As regards the store and settings, I would try to reset at least the store app as per instructions here :
Clear and Reset Store Cache in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

I would also disable fast startup at least once and do a full shutdown and restart as often times it helps to get rid of some bugs in Windows.



Hope this helps you narrow down the solution. Otherwise, just wait for someone else to chime in.

The plot thickens.

have a look at this

25/07/2018 10:55:42,62 Store is killed
25/07/2018 10:55:42,75 Settings is killed
25/07/2018 10:55:42,93 Calculator is killed

Why the ..... is calculator starting.

Edit: @ The moment I am suspecting some idle task is causing this ! This asks for a stroll through the Taskschd "forest"

Update:

Nothing found in the Taskschd Tree.

Have disabled SuperFetch now that see if that makes a difference !

Update again

After disabling Superfetch via Services it seems that the problem is gone and also I don't see any instances of Store, Calculator or Settings appearing anymore !!

I will leave the PC on for a long while on idle and check again in a couple of hours !

Although the delays don't happen on my PC, I certainly agree with your frustration and I hope you get to the bottom of this irritating Windows bug.

iammike said:

Update again

After disabling Superfetch via Services it seems that the problem is gone and also I don't see any instances of Store, Calculator or Settings appearing anymore !!

I will leave the PC on for a long while on idle and check again in a couple of hours !

Try flushing windows\prefetch folder contents and turn Superfetch back on. Try it for some time. Maybe something got corrupted. If you are using an SSD, you could leave Superfetch disabled altogether but I have noticed some slowdowns even when using an SSD and having Superfetch disabled.

Thanks guys !
@eLPuSHeR.

Thanks I will try that, but the only thing I can't get my hat around is why when disabling Superfetch the PC stops spawning Store, Settings and Calculator.

Fortunately I haven't noticed any major slowing down of my system but the only thing I am seeing is that as soon as I open Store (or Settings or Mail or Calculator etc ) 2 RuntimeBroker processes get started and they keep running. But maybe I am getting paranoid

I solved it by renaming it C: \ Windows \ ImmersiveControlPanel \ SystemSettings.exe by SystemSettings.old, entering with a Linux distro. Then when I returned to Windows I could change the name without problems.

The point is that when that file is renamed the configuration center stops working, but if the name is changed to the original it works normally again.

What I did was create a shortcut to change the name that points to a .bat file that I later converted to exe (necessary to run as administrator)

rename C: \ Windows \ ImmersiveControlPanel \ SystemSettings.exe SystemSettings.old

And another shortcur to reset the name

rename C: \ Windows \ ImmersiveControlPanel \ SystemSettings.old SystemSettings.exe

So when I need to use the configuration center I just have to use the shortcut

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