Icons taking forever to appear in certain folder

[firebirdude]

I have a large 7200RPM hard drive that I use for storage. Some stuff is in folders, some is not. When I click on "My Computer" -> "D: -> the window pops up and gives a quick 1/2 second flash of all that's on the D drive, but then quickly goes blank. It sits there for a solid 10 seconds and then all the icons pop back up and I can navigate as usual. I think it does it more if I have more files that are larger (1G+) in size sitting right on that front page of the hard drive. I think if I pull the files into folders, the wait time is decreased or sometimes not at all. Not positive of this, but think it's something I've picked up on. Now, I've tried a defragment, but it told me it was not needed. I did it anyway and it was no help. I have not seen this on ANY other screen/folder/menu/etc. Once I initially get into the D drive, I can navigate any through it without problems. Ideas on how to stop this?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are those media files? Perhaps Windows Explorer is trying to generate preview thumbnails.

 

[RebateMonger]

I've a case where certain large files in a folder slowed down file browsing horrendously. In that case, it was being caused by the AntiVirus software.

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Are those media files? Perhaps Windows Explorer is trying to generate preview thumbnails.

This sounds the most plausible. You could try changing the view to icons, list, or details and see if that fixes it. Also, make sure it finishes loading the images before you navigate away from the window. One other thing to try is deleting the hidden "thumbs" file in the directory in which you are having load problems. That will cause Windows to create a new thumbs file in case there is an irreversible problem with the old one.