Looking for New Ideas to Resolve Slow Right Click loading (Context Menu).

pacificSurf · Aug 29, 2025

Right clicking on stuff just has a very slow load. Drives me crazy, slows down my work. Windows 11. I want to say my previous brand new laptops were like this too, perhaps it is just already as fast as it can possible get? I have very little installed on my laptop.
See Demo here of loading time:

Is this about normal loading time?

Surface Laptop 7
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 268V (2.20 GHz)
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
256GB SSD (134GB free)
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 24H2
OS build 26100.4946
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.197.0

Fix Slow or Freezing Right Click Context Menu in Windows (there was nothing to disable for context menu items per tutorial)

Fix Slow or Freezing Right Click Context Menu in Windows

How to Fix Slow or Freezing Right Click Context Menu in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11

www.tenforums.com

Enable or Disable Recommended Actions from Apps in Windows 11 (Disabled everything, restarted)

Enable or Disable Recommended Actions from Apps in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off showing recommended AI Actions from apps as contextual suggestions for your account in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 build 26100.3915 (24H2) Microsoft is beginning to introduce a new settings page under Settings > Apps > Actions for...

www.elevenforum.com

Disabled all the visual effects for best performance, restarted.

Disabled "show more options" to get the old context menu back.

Enable or Disable "Show more options" context menu in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove "Show more options" on the context menu, or enable or disable having to click on "Show more options" to see the full classic context menu for your account or all users in Windows 11. When you right click on an item in Windows 11, you will see a...

www.elevenforum.com

Spunk · Aug 29, 2025

Try a Clean Boot. If this works, you can Keep it this way.
If you want to know, add one or more Services or Startup items at a time until the behavior returns, then you will know the culprit.

izzyforeal · Aug 29, 2025

Adjust Menu Show Delay in the Registry
This setting controls how long Windows waits before showing the right-click menu.

Open the Run dialog: Press Windows Key + R.
Open Registry Editor: Type regedit and press Enter.
Navigate: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Control Panel\\Desktop.
Modify the key: Find and right-click the MenuShowDelay key, select Modify.
Set the value: Change the Value data to 0 to remove the delay.
Restart: Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

pacificSurf · Aug 30, 2025

thank you. I attempted both suggestions @izzyforeal and @Spunk
Noticed no difference after clean boot and changing MenuShow delay to 0

The only thing that continues to persist running even after disabling on startup and in services, is NordVPN and WD DRive Manager. Im guessing thats probably not the culprit though.

Spunk · Aug 30, 2025

You can tray ShelExView and or Autoruns to see any other apps running in the background that may be causing a slow down.

WD Drive Manager is not essential for using your WD external drives; you can operate them without it. However, it may provide some convenience features, so you can choose to disable it if you prefer

Nord VPN has to sends your signal to different servers across the world to mask your IP address, but it shouldn't slow your computer down that much.

pacificSurf · Aug 30, 2025

Spunk said:
You can tray ShelExView and or Autoruns to see any other apps running in the background that may be causing a slow down.

WD Drive Manager is not essential for using your WD external drives; you can operate them without it. However, it may provide some convenience features, so you can choose to disable it if you prefer

Nord VPN has to sends your signal to different servers across the world to mask your IP address, but it shouldn't slow your computer down that much.

I cant imagine any of that would be causing slow right click on files idk. Could just be the way mobile intel CPU's work, to be efficient, they don't prioritize things like right click. It has to be re-load fresh each time or something

Assuming I am using these right, I Hid the Microsoft Extensions from view, this is everything else that shows.

ShellEXView:

AutoRuns > Services Tab:

joeandmarg0 · Aug 30, 2025

What programmes are shown as "Enabled" in Task Manager>Startup Apps ?
If any Third Party programmes are shown as enabled,then disable them,shutdown {power off}.
Wait a minute,then restart.Is there any improvement?

pacificSurf · Aug 30, 2025

joeandmarg0 said:
What programmes are shown as "Enabled" in Task Manager>Startup Apps ?
If any Third Party programmes are shown as enabled,then disable them,shutdown {power off}.
Wait a minute,then restart.Is there any improvement?

I disabled all of them when I did the clean boot. There's nothing enabled in startup.

pacificSurf · Aug 31, 2025

I was going to try testing out the right click load time in Safe Mode, see if it has the same delay, but since I have bitlocker enabled, I get a pop up saying id have to enter a recovery key and go into recovery mode just to get into safe mode. Ehhh. Guessing safe mode is not gonna make a difference with everything i tried thus far....?
Im out of ideas otherwise if anyone has any other things i should try disabling or removing, idk.

Spunk · Aug 31, 2025

You can Disable BitLocker in Control Panel before booting into Safe Mode, so you won't have to give a BitLocker key.

Not much there that would cause a slow down but the download for
Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) has been moved or removed and the program runs from there.
If not using this, you should uninstall it, or reinstall it, then uninstall it or keep it.

pacificSurf · Sep 1, 2025

Spunk said:
You can Disable BitLocker in Control Panel before booting into Safe Mode, so you won't have to give a BitLocker key.

Not much there that would cause a slow down but the download for
Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) has been moved or removed and the program runs from there.
If not using this, you should uninstall it, or reinstall it, then uninstall it or keep it.

oh okay.

I uninstalled the android subsystem completely, this is my latest loading time for right click, the same:

Perhaps its normal/average? Anyone here with a laptop, and has instant right click on their end? Might just be universal for mobile chips for efficiency reasons.

pacificSurf · Sep 5, 2025

So here is an updated speed test, but this is changing back to the windows 11 right click menu, not using the classic windows 10 menu that I prefer. I'd say it's 1 second on average. Is this average for anyone else or should be instant for a new laptop?

The moment you see the blue check mark box on the icon, is when the right click is initiated.

meto85 · Mar 4, 2026

Fix-ContextMenuDelay.bat

Batch:

@echo off

:: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
:: Script: Fix-Win11ContextMenuDelay.bat
:: Description: Fixes the intermittent delay when right-clicking on the desktop
::              or in File Explorer on Windows 11.
:: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

echo Fixing Windows 11 Context Menu Delay...
echo.

:: 1. Disable the "Desktop Slideshow" context menu handler.
:: This handler often causes the menu to hang while scanning for background images,
:: even if you are using a static wallpaper. We disable it by setting an empty default value.
echo [1/3] Disabling Desktop Slideshow shell extension...
reg add "HKCR\DesktopBackground\Shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\DesktopSlideshow" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "" /f >nul

:: 2. Clear the File Explorer Quick Access and Recent Files cache.
:: A bloated Quick Access cache is a common cause for Explorer and context menu lag.
echo [2/3] Clearing File Explorer Quick Access Cache...
del /F /Q "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\*" 2>nul
del /F /Q "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\*" 2>nul

:: 3. Restart Windows Explorer to apply all changes smoothly.
echo [3/3] Restarting Windows Explorer...
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe >nul
start explorer.exe

echo.
echo Done! The context menu should now open instantly.
pause

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