(windows) explorer.exe uses 100% CPU

[RGR]

Going into directories with al large amount of picures the windows explorer takes immediately 100% CPU and parallizes my machine (XP pro SP2; 512MB RAM 700MHz AMD). Accessing direcories with lot of pictures on the 2nd slave HD and on a CDROM the same problem occurs. Building up thumbnails is very slow and they are smaller than usual. Using other programs like Adobe Photoshop there is no problem building up pictures. Hardware runs properly. Since I have installed XP on a new HD this problem occurs. Can anyone help?

 

[slicessoul]

Uncheck the previewing pictures in thumbnail would help i think.

Change the view options into details or list. It help to reduce the CPU utilization since it won't render pictures one by one in thumbnail or icon.

Re-organize all pictures into different folder or using third party software for reorganizing pictures can help too.

 

[slicessoul]

Since you are using slow processor, try to disable the startup applications if you don't need them such as antivirus.

 

[mr_fnord]

Put some RAM in that thing. If it's swapping while trying to access hundreds of megs of images, it will slow it down even more. Like the previous posters said, drawing thumbnails is probably the problem. Adobe is probably more efficient at it than explorer. If you separate out your directories or disable thumbnail viewing it should alleviate the problem.

Honestly, if you are doing video editing or even file serving the cheapest whitebox computer you can buy would outperform this one. You might consider spending $300 on a Best Buy special, or even less to put together a low cost dual core MB/CPU/RAM off newegg.

 

[flabbergasted]

I recommend ACD See 9 Photo Manager. It's quick and efficient.

 

[jaguarskx]

So you didn't have this problem accessing large amounts of image files with preview on your slave drive before you decided to install Windows XP on a new drive?

 

[RGR]

Thanks for your reply. Strange thing is: the slave HD now, was the master before with the same XP and less of RAM. It did work well. No problem at all building up the thumbnails. Now the former master (maxtor20GB) is slave and a new maxtor 80GB is the master. And I added a 256MB RAM. Since I have the same problem with the old HD and on a CD-ROM, and running other programs is no problem, I guess the problem is in the new RAM or in the explorer. AVG did not detect any virusses........

 

[Jake_Barnes]

AVG did not detect any virusses........

Just a note on this. AVG Free has been failing most AV tests I've read (I'm a security forum geek). Try Avast! Free Home Edition - notice the awards on that website.

 

[mesarectifier]

That and the fact that I got an 'AVG want YOU to buy something from US' message the other day. Maybe something to do with? I duno.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

AVG used to be great, but they have gone downhill badly in the last year. But this is off-topic, so I won't elaborate.

 

[CNeufeld]

Try using the Microsoft SysInternals to track down what's taking up your CPU time. I ran into a similar issue as you; it ended up being a bum version of FProt that was causing my grief.

Microsoft SysInternals

Clint

 

[jaguarskx]

Thanks for your reply. Strange thing is: the slave HD now, was the master before with the same XP and less of RAM. It did work well. No problem at all building up the thumbnails. Now the former master (maxtor20GB) is slave and a new maxtor 80GB is the master. And I added a 256MB RAM. Since I have the same problem with the old HD and on a CD-ROM, and running other programs is no problem, I guess the problem is in the new RAM or in the explorer. AVG did not detect any virusses........

Hmmm... I can see this turning into a S&M topic...

Anywaste, before you turned the former master HD into a slave HD, did you format it? Just asking out of curiosity.

Just to be sure, is the RPM of your 80GB HD just as high or higher than your old 20GB HD?

 

[AMDThunder]

Sounds like a virus to me. I know from experience. At least the symptoms sound eerily familiar. Norton would find it, but had to delete in manually in safe mode. Royal pain in the rump that was. Wish I could remember which virus, but I can't. Good luck.

 

[RGR]

No, I did not format the old 20GB HD. It still contains the data as it was during its master-task. Now the 80GB HD is a lot quicker. DOes the RMP matter? Buying a new HD I looked for compatibility with the mainbord.

 

[dean7]

Going into directories with al large amount of picures the windows explorer takes immediately 100% CPU and parallizes my machine (XP pro SP2; 512MB RAM 700MHz AMD). Accessing direcories with lot of pictures on the 2nd slave HD and on a CDROM the same problem occurs. Building up thumbnails is very slow and they are smaller than usual. Using other programs like Adobe Photoshop there is no problem building up pictures. Hardware runs properly. Since I have installed XP on a new HD this problem occurs. Can anyone help?

I think that Photoshop is more efficient building thumbnails of pics because it saves a thumbnail with the file. Windows does not, and therefore has to create the thumbnails when you open the folder. Hence the performance hit.

Do you absolutely need those thumbnails?