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Thread ID: 69219 2006-05-25 23:13:00 20 Second Delay when opening files roddy_boy (4115) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
457753 2006-05-25 23:13:00 Hi all,

Recently my laptop has developed a problem. Often when I try and open a file, either on my C: (primary partition), D: (secondary partition), or Z: (external USB HDD), I experience a delay of approximately 20 seconds. The explorer window from which I attempt to open the file freezes up, but all other windows open fine. It seems to happen to all files; .txt, .avi, .nfo, .rxx, .exe, etc. Also, it seems that if I open one file, after that file has opened, the system is fine with opening files for quite awhile, and will happily open files without delay. Then all of a sudden a file will take forever to open. It also happens if I try and right-click a file.

Running XP Home SP2 on an Acer laptop.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to what might be causing this?
roddy_boy (4115)
457754 2006-05-25 23:39:00 Try defragging HD.

Trevor :)
Trev (427)
457755 2006-05-25 23:41:00 Try a different login account, you may have a corrupted profile! SolMiester (139)
457756 2006-05-26 02:44:00 Analysis of the Windows install drive indicates defragmenting is not necessary...

SolMiester - That worked... How do I un-corrupt my current profile?
roddy_boy (4115)
457757 2006-05-26 03:56:00 Do you have Zone alarms security suite installed? Have noticed this problem with some files most notebly avis Big John (551)
457758 2006-05-26 05:22:00 Did you notice any unusual HDD activities? Try observing the HDD LED light for a period of time and see if it indicates any activities even when you are not doing anything with your computer.

It might also be a good idea if you give your computer a full anti-malware scan.

Cheers :)
Renmoo (66)
457759 2006-05-26 06:03:00 No I'm not using ZA, I run NOD32.

No unusual HDD activity, my system is virus and spyware free.

Creating a new profile seems to have fixed the problem, however I wish to keep using my present profile, is it possible to fix this one?
roddy_boy (4115)
457760 2006-05-26 08:05:00 i would just create a new profile and copy my data over,
thats what i would do to get it working again.
dconline (9267)
457761 2007-06-05 11:11:00 Hi, I had the exact same problem for several months.

I decided to get to the roots of it and found that it was caused by an application on a network drive which no longer existed.
Everytime I tried to access a file it would try to locate the application.

The error was found in the registry in this category:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\
I removed the folder under this path and the problem was gone.
Hope it works for you too!

Regards,
remaster
remaster (10455)
457762 2007-06-24 13:44:00 Hi,

I have had this very annoying problem for about a year and a half. I had grown used to mind numbing delays as part of my windows XP experience.

But I've just fixed it! Files open like lightning! I feel young again!

Anyway - the problem was that once upon a time my girlfriend ran an application on the laptop from this desktop machine. It then wrote into the registry on the desktop machine. From that moment on, windows explorer would make it it's mission to check the laptop for icon information every time I wanted to open any file. If the laptop wasn't on then there is a long delay.

So the trick is to search the registry to find a network file path, and then remove the offending stuff from the registry.

Full instructions are here:

windowsxp.mvps.org

Oh happy day! :)
minsk (10456)
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