explorer.exe taking up too much of computer's resources

Forums › Microsoft Windows › explorer.exe taking up too much of computer's resources

IMFletch

13 posts

Geek

#51615 30-Nov-2009 09:00

The explorer.exe file is taking up too much of my computer's resources. (HP dv7, Vista). It seems to go up quickly when i open a folder or use an Office program. I can open task manager and watch it go up in the list of processes. Gets to the point where it slows down the computer and I need to restart. Is there a specific cause for this that can be fixed? Any thoughts? I've run scans of the explorer.exe file with WSE and AVG, but both say it's fine. Scans of computer come up clean too. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#277701 30-Nov-2009 09:39

Do you have many files or few very large files on the desktop? I've seen this causing explorer.exe to get rather hungry.

IMFletch

13 posts

Geek

#277756 30-Nov-2009 11:49

I did, but I moved them to the main folder (shortcut to that on my desktop). I've got a about 15 shortcuts on my desktop and a few files that range in size from a couple kb to about 10mb. Is that what you mean by big? Is there somewhere specific I'm supposed to be putting large files? I have quite a few. (from a couple MB to several GB).

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#277758 30-Nov-2009 11:51

Nowhere specific but I wouldn't put large files on desktop - explorer needs to look at the files to find icons, etc. Better to have files in folders - anywhere but on the desktop.

After moving the files, reboot your PC.

IMFletch

13 posts

Geek

#277764 30-Nov-2009 12:05

Done and done, but it's still a problem.

Jarno

270 posts

Ultimate Geek

#277884 30-Nov-2009 15:13

Showing any thumbnails? I have sometimes experience some bad interaction between explorer and the codec needed for the file, which explorer will call to generate the thumbnail.

Ragnor

8219 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#277984 30-Nov-2009 17:37

What is the Vista Resource Monitor showing?

You can open it from the task manager or by going to Start > Start Search > perf

OldRepublicJedi

53 posts

Master Geek

#279023 3-Dec-2009 13:39

Could I suggest stopping the windows search service...? Windows search can cause slowdowns all over the place.

Start > run > services.msc and windows search will be down near the bottom

You can also type services.msc in the search box in the start menu. Interested to see if that helps. Long term, you should be able to get a tool to find out exactly which process is doing it, and I dont mean explorer.exe but there will be a sub process causing the grief!