How-To How to Fix Slow Loading Folders in Windows 7 By

The mystery started about 6 months after I bought my new machine. My new Windows 7 PC started slowing down when loading folders that had a few hundred downloads in them. At first, I figured it was just a fragmentation HD issue or perhaps my Anti-Virus was going wacky on me. Unfortunately after trying all these basics, I was stumped. The good news is I figured it out in the end and I’m going to bet a few of you groovyReaders are probably having the same issue I was having. Care to know the fix to the infamous slow loading folder issue? Read on, the fix is simple.

Just to clarify, the load-delay can be seen in the directory box as a green progress bar that fills from left to right. Depending on how many files you have in a folder, this can take several minutes or even hours to load.

Step 1 – The Fix!

Locate the folder that is exhibiting the problem. The easiest way to do this is to be in a directory one level higher than the folder with the issue. Now Click the folder, Click Organize and Click Properties.

You can also access the properties windows by Right-clicking a folder and Selecting Properties from the context menu.

Step 2

In the properties window, Click the Customize tab. Under the “Optimize this folder for: drop-down menu, Select General Items.

Once you’ve done that, Click OK to save changes.

Conclusion – Root Cause Analysis

The mystery is solved! But why? In my situation, because the first file copied/downloaded into this folder was a photograph, Windows 7 defaulted to optimizing the folder for images. After that, each time I selected the folder Windows would scan every file looking for images before displaying the folder to me. Not a big deal until the folder had several hundred files in it. As soon as I re-configured the Folder type, problem solved. No more lengthy load-delays.

I was able to reproduce the issue on a few different PC’s so this appears to be an obvious oversight by Microsoft. Good thing for you, you’re a groovyReader so if you ever bump into this, now you know how to fix it!