Explorer folder open Delay

[adabo]

How can I change the open speed or delay when clicking on a folder in explorer when using single click mode. The current speed is slow, and I'd like it to open instantaneously.

Thanks for helping a noob to the boards

-adabo

Edited October 12, 2008 by adabo

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

How can I change the open speed or delay when clicking on a folder in explorer when using single click mode. The current speed is slow, and I'd like it to open instantaneously.

I'm not certain of your knowledge level so I'll assume non-expert non-Hacker. Traditionally we use a registry script like so ...

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"MenuShowDelay"=-
"MenuShowDelay"="0"

READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ...

Everything in that box there is saved to a ASCII text file with a name like: myreg.reg into a folder you can easily locate like your desktop. Then you click 'START' then click 'Run' then type REGEDIT.EXE and press [Enter]. Now in REGEDIT click 'File' and then ''Import" and click your way through the folders to that file you saved and when you see the file you created, double-click it. Then you should see a dialog box verifying that the information was successfully entered into the registry. To test that the menus have been sped up you might restart now to be sure.

Note-0: If you know how, you should first check and see what "MenuShowDelay" currently is using as a value (if anything at all). Do this by going to that key before you run this script. If it already has string value of "0", this script will not do anything for you. If it does not exist or has some higher value, this script might just speed things up. There are many things that can bog down the menu speeds in the WinXP GUI, most often the registry is overloaded with context menu and other optionally added extensions.

Note-1: This script is using REGEDIT4 which works fine in either Win9x or WinXP.

Note-2: The 1st value string has a deleter ('=-' removes the "MenuShowDelay" and its data type completely) then the 2nd value string adds it back as data type 'string'. This may be un-necessary but it is guaranteed to remove a previously incorrect date type like DWORD or HEX etc.

Note-3: There should be at least 2 CRLF's, (Carriage-Return Line-Feeds) immediately after that "MenuShowDelay"="0" entry. In your editor go to the end of that line and press [ENTER] twice to be sure.

Note-4: There are some folks that insist that "MenuShowDelay"="1" is a better setting. However I myself have never seen proof of this. But feel free to try it out and report back if you think it works better.

Note-5: If all of this seems like a foreign language, STOP and ask questions FIRST! Know exactly what you are doing before you mess with the registry. I am not responsible for anyone else's mistakes!

[Noise]

It should be set to 8 - not zero!

You run into weird problems with sub-menu lockups if you set it to zero.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

It should be set to 8 - not zero!

You run into weird problems with sub-menu lockups if you set it to zero.

Never seen those problems myself, and I'm always using "0" (WinXP and Win9x). It seems to me that "8" is as equally arbitrary as "1" or "200". From the WinGuides 2002 CHM file:

[b]User Key:[/b] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
[b]Name:[/b] MenuShowDelay
[b]Type:[/b] REG_SZ (String Value)
[b]Value:[/b] 0-999 (milliseconds)

So if those are in fact milliseconds, we're splitting hairs here. My assumption has always been that "0" does not just mean one millisecond less than "1", but ZERO delay ADDED to the GUI function that displays a given menu.

Not saying you're wrong though. I can easily imagine quirky video display drivers that require some delay padding. By all means experiment with it and report your discoveries. That's what we all should be doing.

I'll leave it at this: like all registry performance tweaks, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

EDIT: This is great news: WinGuides is still around! Under new management right here. That registry entry is found here. There is a seriously useful knowledge base of information there.

Edited October 13, 2008 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[adabo]

Well thank you for all the info CharlotteTheHarlot! That was kind of you.

According to what you said, I was able to achieve something, but not specifically what I had in mind, though this was a nice tweak.

The folders I am referring to are the ones located on the right side of the windows explorer browser (across from the tree-view, when in "Folders view"). These folders still have a delay after clicking them in single-click mode.

I took the step of disabling all sounds to see if windows was pausing to play a sound, but the speed did not increase/decrease.

Any further assistance would be appreciated.

-adabo

xp pro sp3

C2Duo 6420

300Gb HDD 2Gb RAM

Edited October 13, 2008 by adabo

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

According to what you said, I was able to achieve something, but not specifically what I had in mind, though this was a nice tweak.

The folders I am referring to are the ones located on the right side of the windows explorer browser (across from the tree-view, when in "Folders view"). These folders still have a delay after clicking them in single-click mode.

Well, it was worth a try considering that the StartMenu structure is in fact also a set of folders on a HDD. It seems reasonable to assume now that the 'MenuShowDelay' setting only modifies the function used by Explorer to display so-called Special Folders but not 'regular' ones. I am not aware of any other registry setting that is related to this but I would love to hear of one.

One useful check might be to enable the Control Panel > Folder Options > General item called Double-Click to Open an Item, test your folder open speed, and then set it back and test it again.

Another thing I would try is to run a 3rd party file manager like Powerdesk or Tracker or XYplorer or other. See if a delay is noticed when opening folders within them. Since they are not Windows Explorer based they would certainly help to pinpoint the lag as being introduced by the Windows Explorer shell itself or something else altogether.

This is important (and I should have asked earlier!). Do you have any realtime AntiVirus application running? It has been my experience that McAfee and others will scan files in realtime when a shortcut is executed or when a folder is opened. It could be that your delay is to be expected. Depending on CPU speed and some other variables, delays from realtime scanning could be anywhere from a tiny to substantial.

[adabo]

Thank you for the suggestions. Sorry to say, none of them worked. Different file managers proved to open folders instantaneously. Turning of firewall did zilch.

My installation of xp is fresh as of yesterday.

[adabo]

I've also noticed the same delay time when invoking a program. Double-click mode is instantaneous (err, as fast as the cpu can handle?)

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Thank you for the suggestions. Sorry to say, none of them worked. Different file managers proved to open folders instantaneously. Turning of firewall did zilch.

My installation of xp is fresh as of yesterday.

Actually this is kind of good news. It is not a hardware problem. It is likely something added to Explorer (e.g., context and shell enhancements).

You say Windows was installed yesterday, what other programs were installed after that? This is important.

You didn't mention about any realtime AntiVirus though. Is there any? It is possible for McAfee to scan files that it sees in folders that you just opened in Explorer but to NOT do the same for some other file manager.

Assuming you have no realtime AntiVirus, the next debugging step would be to use System Internals ProcMon, a utility that monitors both file and registry access (your delay could be from either). You would launch Explorer, then start ProcMon. Now jump over to Explorer and open a folder, as soon as it is open quickly jump back to ProcMon and stop the capture. The results found in the ProcMon window will contain all the magic clues necessary to solve this. But ...

Please Note: this is really expert level debugging, it is not for noobs! You would do well to study this utility over at System Internals before attempting it. There is no way to teach this here in a few posts. Make sure that you first learn how to enable and disable captures before you ever even try it!

EDIT: you added this last fact after I posted that reply ...

I've also noticed the same delay time when invoking a program. Double-click mode is instantaneous (err, as fast as the cpu can handle?)

I don't have time to Google right now, but I remember something about Urlmon or WebView or similar that is related to 'Active Desktop' maybe. The Single-Click vs Double-Click is the tip off that this ties into the Explorer WebView thingy. I'd say it is a registry setting and its likely that someone lurking here already knows the answer and will chime in shortly. Else, get over to Google and dig it up!

Edited October 14, 2008 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[adabo]

Here goes: Programs installed after xp setup (no anti-virus)...

blender

comodo firewall

firefox

thunderbird

ati tray tools

the kmplayer

vlc

autohotkey

utorrent

asio4all

microsoft visual c++ 2005

I think it is unlikely these are the problem since none of these add context menu items.

I am super excited about experimenting with procmon. I will report what I find.

Edited October 14, 2008 by adabo

[adabo]

Woah. I get this pattern:

2:29:21.3831229 AM	explorer.exe	2924	CreateFile	C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data:QebiesnrMkudrfcoIaamtykdDa	NAME NOT FOUND	Desired Access: Generic Read, Disposition: Open, Options: , Attributes: N, ShareMode: Read, AllocationSize: n/a
2:29:21.3831725 AM	explorer.exe	2924	CreateFile	C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data:Docf_QebiesnrMkudrfcoIaamtykdDa	NAME NOT FOUND	Desired Access: Generic Read, Disposition: Open, Options: , Attributes: N, ShareMode: Read, AllocationSize: n/a

on 107 lines consecutively. What is pasted in the browser here is actually only taking up 2 lines, so that would make 53.5 multiples.

Edited October 14, 2008 by adabo

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Woah. I get this pattern: [snip]

Hmmm. You're either a fast learner, or not really a noob.

Anyway, before trying another capture, here is a question. Can you install WinXP again, and then test the open folders BEFORE you install any 3rd party programs? I understand it is a pain, but its not so bad if you do this kind of thing a lot. That single test would completely rule out all that 3rd party software as the culprit (the Torrent client is possible). I have a bare WinXP test machine here (from SP3 install CDROM) without any other programs setup at all, no Windows updates, and only the minimal chipset/motherboard drivers. I believe it is as bare as Windows XP SP3 can be. I see no visual difference in folder open speed with either single-click or double-click settings.

If that is completely impossible for you, you should obtain a good ProcMon snapshot. Please follow the steps carefully so that the information remains as pure as possible. Here is how:

Open Explorer. Push the window to one side with a folder visible for the single-click test, do not click it yet.

Open ProcMon. If already capturing press the magnifying glass so it has a red slash through it, this stops any capturing. Press Ctrl-X to clear the current capture if any. Push this window to the other side and shape it so they are both visible and not overlapping.

Make sure nothing else is running. Close any that are. Look in the tray for hidden icons!

Now click that magnifying glass in ProcMon, it should begin capturing.

Quickly click the folder in Explorer, wait for the folder to completely open, then ...

Quickly stop the capture in ProcMon by clicking the magnifying glass so it has a red slash through it.

In ProcMon again, click FILE > SAVE, make sure ALL Events is checked, make sure PML is checked, designate a filename/path and click OK. Throw it in a ZIP file. Doublecheck the size (should be small enough to attach here). If too big you will have to upload it elsewhere.

Probably won't have time until tomorrow or next day to check the log, but others here are also familiar with ProcMon.

CtH

[adabo]

Oh I'm definitely a noob... on these forums

Well I sincerely appreciate the help thus far, CTH.

Heres the log file. I made sure to keep the scan very quick and precise. I even cropped the top portion of the procmon events.

Steps I took after clicking capture:

-move mouse over folder

-click folder

-wait for folder to open

-move mouse to capture button

-click stop capture

So the summary is that I opened one folder and captured the details.

adabo_Logfile.zip

Edited October 14, 2008 by adabo

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

@adabo,

A couple of ideas, try them one at a time. It would be good to close Explorer, make the change, open Explorer, test the folder open. Then, close Explorer, make the change, open Explorer, test the folder open. yada yada yada ...

******** Idea - 0 ********

Still my best suggestion, if you can re-install Windows, test out the folder open speed right after that. You really need to know when the problem started. Then you should add the software apps one by one, testing each time until you find out who is causing the delays!

******** Idea - 1 ********

If checked, try un-checking the Control Panel > Folder Options > View item called Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers then click APPLY and then OK.

******** Idea - 2 ********

This is the most obvious time waster in the log. In REGEDIT go to the key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shellex\ColumnHandlers\{24f14f01-7b1c-11d1-838f-0000f80461cf}

IF IT EXISTS you Right-Click directly on the key in the left pane and select RENAME then press [END] which moves the cursor to after the key name, and type in: -disable (you are adding the text '-disable' to the key name). It should now be named:

{24f14f01-7b1c-11d1-838f-0000f80461cf}-disable

This effectively disables the Windows Explorer function of extracting the version information from a file (described in MSKB 328170). To revert back you RENAME again and edit out the '-disable'. This change should cause some noticeable increase in speed because that ColumnHandler subroutine is iterating wildly in your ProcMon log.

******** Idea - 3 ********

There seems to be some wasteful looping with the cached thumbnails which involve ADS (alternate data streams) seen in your log like so: 'Program Files:Docf_' etc. This would seem to be the correction: Control Panel > Folder Options > View, SELECT the item called Do Not Cache Thumbnails then click APPLY and then OK. You can always set it back if you need to. I always use details view, for fancy thumbnails or previews there are much better file manglers than Windows Explorer.

******** Idea - 4 ********

I doubt this is the larger problem, but you seem to have 7-Zip installed (hey, it wasn't in your list!). I used to see problems with the shell extension DLL back in the day and disabled it leaving the program available through a normal shortcut. You might try to kill the shell extension through the program options menus.

******** Idea - 5 ********

* Double-check your Scheduled Tasks. One of the CLSID's seems related. Look for something that runs in the background.

******** Idea - 6 ********

A quick Google search turned up: Wierd File Browser Lag that seems similar in content. Don't have time to look into it myself but some there seem to believe that this delay is normal.

That's all I got for now. Hopefully some others can jump in and help out! I'm kinda busy scrubbing another virus off someone's system here.

EDIT: Idea-3 has been corrected to 'SELECT' Do Not Cache thumbnails . Dang double negatives. Doh! Thats from being in a hurry.

Edited October 15, 2008 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[adabo]

Woah. You really know your stuff CTH =)

Concerning a fresh install, the folder open delay is still there. I have another hdd with xp installed fresh as well for testing.

I tried all 6 suggestions, 6 being the most significant in results. Yes the speed was increased by changing the mouse settings for double click speed to fastest, however I still notice a slight delay. I'm used to folder browsers like the one in Blender and others where the open speed is instantaneous.

I'm going to do the unthinkable and install tweakui and see if it does the trick. Will report my results.

Thanks a bunch CTH!