How do I disable the file scanning in Explorer?

[aceO07]

I want to disable explorer.exe's scanning of media files. It slows down my system when I open a folder with media files. It scans through each file for duration, dimensions..etc and slows down whatever I'm doing. It also stops me from deleting whatever files it has not scanned.. How do I disable this?

 

[fr]

bump because I have a similar question.

 

[corkyg]

It is most likely due to a setting you have in Control Panel/Folder Options/File Types.

This where XP handles all file associations so that it knows what to do when you click on a given file. Many programs automatically link themselves to that list and pre-empt any competition. Microsoft Windows Media Player is perhaps the biggest offender. It tries to take over your media system so that all other players or applications are excluded.

You can change any or all of these - just follow your intuitive nose in that area. I prefer "Take No Action" so that I control my system - not Microsoft.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: corkyg
It is most likely due to a setting you have in Control Panel/Folder Options/File Types.

This where XP handles all file associations so that it knows what to do when you click on a given file. Many programs automatically link themselves to that list and pre-empt any competition. Microsoft Windows Media Player is perhaps the biggest offender. It tries to take over your media system so that all other players or applications are excluded.

You can change any or all of these - just follow your intuitive nose in that area. I prefer "Take No Action" so that I control my system - not Microsoft.

I'm a little confused by what you mean by "Take No Action". I thought the file extensions just tells Windows which application to use when I double click on a file that has a certain extension. So, are you saying that I remove all the extensions cause my system to slow down?

 

[RVN]

Turning off "Use Common Tasks In Folders" might be what you're after.

Right Click My Computer/Properties/Advanced/Performance Settings/Visual Effects ...uncheck "Use Common Tasks In Folders". This turns off the lefthand preview panel and the OS anticipating what you might want to do with a given file type.

 

[fr]

I usually use Windows Explorer in Detail view and if I go into a new folder and there are a lot of video files inside, it will have columns for dimensions and resolution and start scanning each file for their properties. I have to right-click on the column headings and manually off those headings for it to stop. Sometimes the basic columns like size, file type, and date modified are not there by default and I have to turn them on.

 

[NightCrawler]

If your in "Details mode" remove the "Dimension" column, it only looks for the Dimension if that column is active.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: RVN
Turning off "Use Common Tasks In Folders" might be what you're after.

Right Click My Computer/Properties/Advanced/Performance Settings/Visual Effects ...uncheck "Use Common Tasks In Folders". This turns off the lefthand preview panel and the OS anticipating what you might want to do with a given file type.

They like to hide a lot of configurations huh? I think disabling that and almost everything else is a good idea, at least for me.

Any way of stopping it from scanning the file if you click on it and select it? It'll display that some media info on the status bar.. I did manage to remove the floating text box with the info (Folder Options->View->Show pop-up desc for folders and desktop items)

 

[foxkm]

"The obnoxious bug in XP that causes Explorer to read the entire contents of broken AVI
files before allowing any access to them is caused by bad behavior of shmedia.dll. To correct this misbehavior in Windows XP, remove the following registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

This will prevent Explorer from loading shmedia.dll in response to file property queries on these files.
This will not effect your ability to play files, get file attributes, or even view thumbnails. "

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: aceO07
I'm a little confused by what you mean by "Take No Action". I thought the file extensions just tells Windows which application to use when I double click on a file that has a certain extension. So, are you saying that I remove all the extensions cause my system to slow down?

"Take No Action" is one of the menu choices you are offered by XP. IOW, when you put in a music CD, it does not autoplay or take any action. It is then your call.

 

[RVN]

Originally posted by: aceO07


Any way of stopping it from scanning the file if you click on it and select it?

Seems like "not clicking on it" would keep it from scanning. Changing the extension of the files to something like .unk (unknown) would work. A program like ExplorerXP 1.06 to rename multiple files including extensions would allow you to re-rename them back at will. Of course, if they were of various different file types, you'd need to organize them so you could remember what was what.

Btw, why are you trying to do this?

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: RVN
Btw, why are you trying to do this?

Try to save processing power. On a slow computer (laptop) this can make things slow down when I open folders w/ media files or etc.

 

[RVN]

Originally posted by: aceO07

Try to save processing power. On a slow computer (laptop) this can make things slow down when I open folders w/ media files or etc.

I know what you mean, I've got a PIII 600 MHz laptop max RAM and I often have to log off/on to delete things, even if it's empty folder download locations ...it's frustrating. I try to keep media files to a minimum on the laptop.

 

[mhillary]

yeah tell me