Explorer.exe

Joe Shades · Jul 6, 2025

Suddenly today I logged into windows and memory usage was 98%, SSD temp is near 50 when usually 35, explorer.exe cpu usage is over 10% when normally 3 or 4, I restart Exporer.exe and memory goes down but slowly goes back up but in the task manager process it is not showing what is using the memory but is obviously something with explorer because when i restart the explorer process memory goes back down and then start going back up, I restarted the pc, no help, I have never reinstalled windows so I do not want to do that, please help. I am now at 96% memory usage!! 20 minutes after restarting explorer, skyrocketing main drive temp, did a checkdisk, every thing fine. Even checking the resource monitor there is nothing there using high memory but it say 98% and the drive is hot as hell

glasskuter · Jul 6, 2025

Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

See if issue happens in safe boot. If it does not, it would point to a driver. Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

glasskuter said:
Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

See if issue happens in safe boot. If it does not, it would point to a driver. Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11

"Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations", did not do clean boot yet

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

Did not happen in clean boot but step 11 says check upper half, but I have so many services compared to that example I don't know what to do!! I have so many, I keep restarting explorer but no help, I ready to scream !!

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

I disabled all the start up apps in task manager but still having same problem after reboot so it is not one of those

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

i don't know what to do

Melchior · Jul 7, 2025

How much RAM/memory do you have installed in your PC?
it is usually helpful here to fill in your system specs on the said page on the forums

https://www.elevenforum.com/account/system-specs

it helps us here better help you..

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

Melchior said:
How much RAM/memory do you have installed in your PC?
it is usually helpful here to fill in your system specs on the said page on the forums

https://www.elevenforum.com/account/system-specs
it helps us here better help you..

16GB

Melchior · Jul 7, 2025

Joe Shades said:
16GB

Sadly thats not enough to run Windows 11 effectively..
I have 32GB of DDR4 RAM
While I do have lots of apps running I use around 12.4GB of RAM used at 38% of 32GB..

Sadly my DELL laptop only has 16GB too...

Have you tried to check the Windows Eventlogs for anything that might give a hint?

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

Melchior said:
Sadly thats not enough to run Windows 11 effectively..
I have 32GB of DDR4 RAM
While I do have lots of apps running I use around 12.4GB of RAM used at 38% of 32GB..

Sadly my DELL laptop only has 16GB too...

Have you tried to check the Windows Eventlogs for anything that might give a hint?

My Windows Pc has run fine with 16gb

Fabler2 · Jul 7, 2025

Can you take a screenshot of your task manager and post it here and select the down arrow under the memory column, this is mine,

Might give a clue.

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

Fabler2 said:
Can you take a screenshot of your task manager and post it here and select the down arrow under the memory column, this is mine,

View attachment 138659

Might give a clue.

I was looking at that before, no excessive usage showing there just the % was high but after hours of trying I think the cause is Stardock Deskscapes. What is an alternative? The windows wallpaper switcher sucks, can't add more than one folder and it does not support sub folders

spapakons · Jul 7, 2025

In that case some unauthorized processes (aka malware) consume too many resources. Download and install Superantispyware, do a full system scan, remove all results and restart. If it finds over 1000, I would repeat the search with another application, such as MalwareBytes Antimalware to catch anything the first missed. In very severe cases, I would backup all my data and do a clean installation of Windows, let just hope you are not there.

Download SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition

Thank you for downloading SUPERAntiSpyware, we hope you enjoy theproduct!

www.superantispyware.com

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glasskuter · Jul 7, 2025

Joe Shades said:
I disabled all the start up apps in task manager.......I think the cause is Stardock Deskscapes.

For most people 16gb of ram will run windows 11 just fine.

You say you think it is Deskscapes causing the issue so I'm confused about something. If you performed a clean boot as per the tutorial it would have proven whether Deskscapes (or any other software)was the problem or not.

Joe Shades said:
Did not happen in clean boot but step 11 says check upper half, but I have so many services compared to that example I don't know what to do!! I have so many, I keep restarting explorer but no help, I ready to scream !!

Forget how many services you have running in task manager. Follow the tutorial.
If you can't do that, uninstall any and all 3rd party apps that alter the GUI.

spapakons · Jul 7, 2025

Bill Gates once allegedly said "640KB RAM is enough for everyone". Don't freak out! That was in the '80s when most computers had 64-128KB. Today minimum is 4GB, average 8GB and comfortable is 16GB or higher. I had 8GB but running 3-4 video rendering was tough. Now I have 16GB and hardly use beyond 12GB unless I also run a couple of virtual machines. I don't game. For gaming 16GB is barely enough. The rest of the hardware is also important. It's not the same having 16GB on an old computer like mine and on a less than 5 year old one. RAM alone doesn't improve performance. You also need a decent CPU and a mid-range or better discreet GPU.

PS: The workaround I use since my very old Intel Pentium 4 to have a responsive computer while rendering two or more videos is to set the process priority to below normal. In my current system I just make sure all processes run at normal priority. In my old Pentium 4 I had to set them close to idle. Whatever works.

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

glasskuter said:
For most people 16gb of ram will run windows 11 just fine.

You say you think it is Deskscapes causing the issue so I'm confused about something. If you performed a clean boot as per the tutorial it would have proven whether Deskscapes (or any other software)was the problem or not.

Forget how many services you have running in task manager. Follow the tutorial.
If you can't do that, uninstall any and all 3rd party apps that alter the GUI.

Yes definitely determined it was deskscapes by following the tutorial, not only did that fix the memory issue but a few other minor issues i had have disappeared, too bad because I like that program but it has not been updated in awhile. I just found a program I used 20 years ago that still is updated so I will use that

Joe Shades · Jul 7, 2025

spapakons said:
Bill Gates once allegedly said "640KB RAM is enough for everyone". Don't freak out! That was in the '80s when most computers had 64-128KB. Today minimum is 4GB, average 8GB and comfortable is 16GB or higher. I had 8GB but running 3-4 video rendering was tough. Now I have 16GB and hardly use beyond 12GB unless I also run a couple of virtual machines. I don't game. For gaming 16GB is barely enough. The rest of the hardware is also important. It's not the same having 16GB on an old computer like mine and on a less than 5 year old one. RAM alone doesn't improve performance. You also need a decent CPU and a mid-range or better discreet GPU.

I do no gaming, my PC is 3 years old, 16 Gb has been perfectly fine, I am sure someday we will look back and laugh at posts saying 16 GB was fine

pseymour · Jul 7, 2025

Joe Shades said:
I think the cause is Stardock Deskscapes. What is an alternative? The windows wallpaper switcher sucks, can't add more than one folder and it does not support sub folders

John’s Background Switcher

John’s Background Switcher puts beautiful full-screen photos and stunning montages on your desktop from places like your computer, Flickr, SmugMug, Unsplash, Pixabay and plenty more places. Choose …

johnsad.ventures

spapakons · Jul 7, 2025

16GB today are like 256MB in the era of the first Pentium computers. Windows XP without all the service packs and modern updates could run OK. Try running XP with less than 2GB today... Even 2GB are barely enough. If XP needs 2GB minimum, imagine Windows 7 and newer. Yes, Windows 11 can be installed and run with 2GB RAM but you won't like the experience... At work I use an old Intel Celeron (the entry-level equivalent of the Intel Pentium 4) with 1.5GB RAM running Windows 7 32-bit and it needs A LOT of patience. Doing the mistake to open more than two applications, you better go for a coffee break and return, than waiting for it to respond.

Spunk · Jul 7, 2025

Excuse me if I refocus this thread. We can go back and fourth about how much RAM is needed, but that doesn't solve the OP's problem.

When you do a Clean Boot, you should Hide ALL Microsoft Services so they don't get disabled, and Disable all other Services.
If this works, you can leave it this way. Or, if you want to know. You can add one or more Services at a time until the behavior returns, then you will know the culprit.

If this still fails, try Enabling the Hidden Admin Profile. Log out as you, and login as the Administrator. If that solves it, then you know your User Profile is the issue.

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