Windows Explorer Behaves Like Memory is Swamped

I usually don't see this until it's been ...oh, two days since a restart, but today I saw it happen almost immediately after a restart: Viewing the contents of a Windows Explorer tab, if I make changes to the directory such as pasting a copied or cut file in, deleting one or more, or making filename changes, those changes aren't displayed until I either (friggin' show more options; why the Hell did they have to make the most common and simple operations more complicated?) Refresh or switch to another directory and back. In the event someone doesn't see the practical problem here, let me make it more clear:
I have a directory full of images with what I feel to be inappropriate filenames, so I run a batch operation renaming all the files to my satisfaction. Now, even though the thumbnails of the image contents are displayed, when I attempt to open one of those images with my default image viewer [without refreshing or switching directories], I immediately get a fatal error message: Can't read file header, ETC, ETC...which is fixed once I refresh....
...Which I shouldn't have to do. The memory is not swamped, and I have more space free on my OS drive (Crucial NVMe M.2 2 TB SSD @2400 MB/s) than I have used, signifying page file's not choking, et cetera. So, what could possibly be going on that has Windows Explorer performing so damned sluggishly? I mean, I routinely might not perform a restart for over three days (although I do Sleep or Hibernate more than once in that time) and I run memory-intensive applications (more than one at the same time) without adversely impacting Windows Explorer's performance, but...what the bloody Hell, now that I am not running high-demand ops?

Are you able to get to task manager while this issue is ocurring? If so, is it showing anything out of the ordinary. The first thing I would try is a clean boot to eliminate some software causing the problem. 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

Oh, Task Manager is friggin' useless, so I use Process Explorer; it's more detailed and specific for the things that I tend to look for. Okay, so it shows that 12.4 of 16 GB physical memory is being used, which makes no damned sense whatsoever (I'd just come back from a grocery run with two apps idling in process). CPU shows brief momentary spikes at 5%, system commit is 13.7 GB, and I/O shows no activity. There isn't any one process shown hogging memory.

...and checking on how to perform a clean boot on this platform (it's been forever since I needed to do on, so I had to check for changes), and the instructions don't make a lick of sense, saying to enable everything I'd disabled before...huh? First, the only thing I've disabled are those stupid widgets, and secondly, put a heavier demand on system resources? That seems pretty counterintuitive...but, those were the instructions that I dug up.

...Tell ya what I'll do: I'll review the instructions that you referenced, and see what happens. I'll keep readers posted.

gremlinkurst said:

Oh, Task Manager is friggin' useless, so I use Process Explorer; it's more detailed and specific for the things that I tend to look for. Okay, so it shows that 12.4 of 16 GB physical memory is being used, which makes no damned sense whatsoever (I'd just come back from a grocery run with two apps idling in process). CPU shows brief momentary spikes at 5%, system commit is 13.7 GB, and I/O shows no activity. There isn't any one process shown hogging memory.

...and checking on how to perform a clean boot on this platform (it's been forever since I needed to do on, so I had to check for changes), and the instructions don't make a lick of sense, saying to enable everything I'd disabled before...huh? First, the only thing I've disabled are those stupid widgets, and secondly, put a heavier demand on system resources? That seems pretty counterintuitive...but, those were the instructions that I dug up.

...Tell ya what I'll do: I'll review the instructions that you referenced, and see what happens. I'll keep readers posted.

Click to expand...

Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 Explorers could encounter severe memory leaks if poorly behaving apps didn't release the memory they no longer needed. I've had that problem with some Adobe products and other apps too. The system would just slow down until it became unusable.

I just had to use some trial and error to find the apps that were resulting in memory leaks. And then I just found alternative apps for those.

Another related thread: Windows 11 not refreshing

There appears to be no consistent fix.

It appears to have nothing to do with memory leaks.

Maybe Microsoft would call it a feature, not a bug. It has been around for a long time.

bobkn said:

Maybe Microsoft would call it a feature, not a bug.

Click to expand...

If MS calls them a feature long enough, people will eventually believe it. Gas Lighting does work on some people.