File explorer suddenly running like a stunned slug

[MartG]

Using my PC last night, and all was well. Booted it this morning and file explorer is running ludicrously slow

The issue happens whether using it directly, or when opening/saving files from a browser ( tried both Chrome and Edge ) - it takes around 10 seconds before the files appear and all the buttons are there, and the same when navigating to another directory.

No new software loaded overnight, and the problem seems to vanish when booted into safe mode

I've tried all the usual remedies without success ( sfc /scannow and Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth etc. )

Anyone come across this ?

[MartG]

All drives are fine according the SMART, no extra utilisation when using file manager

[MartG]

All disks check out as being fine

[MartG]

Watchman said:

Do you access a network drive at home? When I access our NAS at home, then come to work, Explorer takes a few seconds to register the NAS is no longer attached before it'll let me access or save files. It does this once for every different app that requires to open or save files.

Absolutely no changes made to the PC or the network between Friday night, when it was working fine, and Saturday morning when it wasn't

[MartG]

mebe said:

OK I've had this for the last for days on a Win 10 machine, seemed to start after the latest bunch of updates were installed.

For me it's Windows Defender causing the problem. Go to defender settings and disable it and file explorer is perfect again. Sadly defender turns itself back on after a period of time so it's not a permanent cure.

Nice to know I'm not the only one

Win Defender already disabled on mine though, and permanently turned off by Spybot. I'm going through the process of removing all 'aftermarket' security software to see if it's one of them causing the problem.

[MartG]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Four - the same as on Friday ( and the last two years ) when it all worked perfectly

[MartG]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Tried it - no difference

[MartG]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Works fine if I boot into Safe mode, but still present if I do a 'clean boot' ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/929135 ) which indicates it's a Microsoft issue somewhere

[MartG]

Funk said:

System Restore back to a week ago. That will undo any updates that happened in the interim. If it still occurs then it's hardware. If not, it's software.

Could be duff memory. Try onboard graphics too, see what happens.

Looked at doing that - unfortunately it seems that when I upgraded to Win 10 it appears to have disabled System Restore, so I hove no restore point to revert to

[MartG]

TameRacingDriver said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Agree with this if you don't have to do much to get it re-setup. We do this at work if we suspect we will waste time trying fixes that may not work.

Unfortunatley the PC gets used for all sorts of things, so has a lot of software installed - it would take a lot of work to get it all back running after a re-install

[MartG]

Well it seems to be working again - Dropbox just installed an update and the problem has vanished

[MartG]

Yup