Solved Has Anyone Noticed That MS Programs Load faster Than 3rd Party Ones?

Catnip · Apr 25, 2026

I don't know if I am crazy or not, but please read on...

I have noticed lately that more often than not, when I load an MS program like Visual Studio 2026 Pro or Word/Excel, that they load almost instantaneously. These programs are huge. Yet, when I load a really small program like Paint.NET, it can take two to three seconds. Other 3rd party apps take between 2 and 5 seconds to load to a log in or start screen. Heck, OrCAD takes 5 1/2 minutes to load, but that may be another problem. Look away, look away... One the other hand, VS 2026 Pro takes about 1 second to pass the start screen and ask what you want to do. If I am paying attention, I can be into VS, with my code loaded in less than six seconds. That's only 3 seconds more than Paint.NET, yet VS is an ungodly amount bigger.

Is this some perverse way for MS to punish us for using 3rd party, side-loaded programs? I wonder if I got Paint.NET from the MS Store if it would load faster than my regular old installed copy?

This isn't a tinfoil hat thing, it's just an observation from someone who stays up too late fiddling with a PC.

Like a... thought for the day.

allan · Apr 25, 2026

Kees · Apr 25, 2026

Sorry, but I don't have that experience at all. Nearly all my apps are third party apps and those apps in general start very fast, within (part of) a second.

I compared the processor of your system to that of my system and yours is a lot faster than mine. Memory is the same amount, yours is DDR5, mine DDR4 (should be slower). And my SSD-NVME is of another brand (Crucial P5 Plus) than yours, but specs will be similar or yours may be somewhat better (did not compare them precisely). So overall a quick look at the specs of your system hardware give the impression you have a faster system than I have.

So the problem has to be somewhere else, thus probably in software. Are you using any UI tweaking software or software that might conflict with the third party apps you are having problems with?

PS.

Catnip said:
...some perverse way for MS to punish us for using 3rd party...

There are many things MS does that I don't like at all. I'll be the last one to defend Microsofts enduser policy. But that seems to me being a baseless accusation.

Spunk · Apr 25, 2026

I haven't seen this either

TairikuOkami · Apr 25, 2026

MS never optimizes, I mean, NEVER! If you use MS defaults, it is possible, otherwise, not really.
Just take MS index for example, MS takes 20-30 secs, 3rd party apps take 2-3 secs to index files.

Kees · Apr 25, 2026

That's a very good example: searching something on the system. The build-in search of MS really takes minutes, especially when something with (about) the same name is on the system on several places. The third party app 'Everything' does find complicated searches in fraction of a second!

Edwin · Apr 25, 2026

Classic Outlook takes about 8 business days to load..., other than that, normal.

snerd · Apr 25, 2026

I think you've been in the catnip a little too much!

kciN · Apr 25, 2026

If there is a difference it's probably because MS keeps theirs running in the background

TraderGary · Apr 25, 2026

Edwin said:
Classic Outlook takes about 8 business days to load..., other than that, normal.

My Outlook Classic loads almost instantly. However, downloading 100 emails from a slow Internet server, that's a different story.

Edwin · Apr 25, 2026

TraderGary said:
My Outlook Classic loads almost instantly.

Is your Outlook a Startup item?

Mine takes forever to load and sync from cold! But then again, I don't use Outlook, so...

... I was just making an observation.

Come to think of it, eM Client is a bit sluggish to load from cold as well.

dacrone · Apr 25, 2026

if you really want to speed it up... my Word, Excel, etc used to take 3-4 seconds to load completely but now load INSTANTLY:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\
- Search for "AI" (most results should be in \root\vfs\ProgramFilesCommonX86\Microsoft Shared\Office16\)
- Delete results (i just moved them to a .zip to Recycle Bin in case any become required at some point)

echo2446 · Apr 25, 2026

No — with Edge preloads turned off, Edge and Firefox loaded in about the same time for me.

TraderGary · Apr 25, 2026

Edwin said:
Is your Outlook a Startup item?

No

Edwin said:
Mine takes forever to load and sync from cold! But then again, I don't use Outlook, so... ... I was just making an observation.

Come to think of it, eM Client is a bit sluggish to load from cold as well.

Outlook Classic Desktop uses an Offline Storage Table (OST) file. This means:

My email, calendar, and contacts are already stored locally
Outlook doesn’t need to “load from the cloud” on startup
It only syncs changes after loading

This is the single biggest reason Outlook opens instantly.

Kees · Apr 26, 2026

Edwin said:
eM Client is a bit sluggish to load from cold as well

That's why I start eMClient with system start, but I do that from the startmenu startup section.

And let it minimize and close to the tray:

If I use the 'Run on system startup' from the settings menu, I get the eMClient screen at system start, which I don't want, I want it to start minimized as well. This appeared to be the solution for that: start it at systemstart by placing a shortcut in the folder:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Very convenient!

dalchina · Apr 26, 2026

Kees said:
That's a very good example: searching something on the system. The build-in search of MS really takes minutes, especially when something with (about) the same name is on the system on several places. The third party app 'Everything' does find complicated searches in fraction of a second!

Not true if you have everything appopriate indexed and start from an indexed point in the file system hierarchy above the item sought.

E.g. I can find a file with content 'aardark' almost as soon as I type it with file explorer open at My PC.

If you search for something not indexed, that's another matter.

But Windows search is unfortunately more designed for those who have to take the trouble to understand it, so naturally loses votes.

Kees · Apr 26, 2026

dalchina said:
But Windows search is unfortunately more designed for those who have to take the trouble to understand it, so naturally loses votes.

If a search option only can be used by people who understand the (for windows search rather complicated) rules how to use it, I consider it as a worthless option!

dalchina · Apr 26, 2026

Then there will be many things you don't properly use and discard.

Many things demand proper understanding before use. That's why so many things come with instruction manuals.

Each tool to its own use. What I find valuable is instant content search. That's what Windows search provides for me- and I've even provided a thread on this forum to point out how to get Windows Search to work from This PC. No replies, rather as I had expected.

I've now unsubscribed from this discussion.

Kees · Apr 26, 2026

dalchina said:
I've now unsubscribed from this discussion.

I never subscribe to any discussion...
Always open ElevenForum at recent discussions and choose what to view.

cheaterslick · Apr 26, 2026

Catnip said:
Has Anyone Noticed That MS Programs Load faster Than 3rd Party Ones?

Gee, I wonder why... lol

Kees said:
I never subscribe to any discussion...

I do all the time. When it's done, or I get bored, it's so easy to unwatch.

Solved Has Anyone Noticed That MS Programs Load faster Than 3rd Party Ones?

Forum Nitwit

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Microsoft 365 Basic

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

♦ ♦

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Stock Market Wizard

My Computers

♦ ♦

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Stock Market Wizard

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Similar threads