Windows is slow in deleting files

[Willy2]

From time to time it takes LOTS of time to delete one file. Then a box with the message "Preparing" shows up and takes minutes (sometimes more than 3 minutes) before the system is ready to delete the file.

I tried to GOOGLE a solution it but I didn't find - up to now - no satisfactory solution for this problem. Yes, I can restart my system but it would be great to solve this problem without restarting.

[jraju]

Hi, It is a problem with windows explorer. Does the windows explorer opens slowly?.Then you have to clean, defrag the concerned drives. Effective cleaning of cache everything would speed up the windows explorer. I could not get the link of re registering the explorer dll files. That is short cut method to speed up the windows explorer.
                                     Even some shield in the av program might be the cause for this. anyhow use chkdsk /r to repair file system to see the problem goes . Meanwhile i will try to get the link. I forgot the link, a veryuseful link in solving windows explorer problem

[Julian]

Win_key+r  then type in prefetch select everything in that folder and shift+right click select delete so it will delete it not recycle it. Restart your computer twice so the prefetch gets its usual stuff added in the folder. After you do that do a chkdsk /f /r let it reboot check to make sure no kb in bad sectors let me know how it goes 😃

[jraju]

Hi, Julian,
                      I failed to copy the link, in which reregistering of dll files solved the problem for me. If you know the commands pl share.
                                   It is a kind of deleting the dll and re registering the dll for explorer.exe

[Willy2]

- I must add that it recently happened with *.mp3 files who were on a MicroSD card. So, fiddling with the prefetch folder won't help. Chkdsk didn't help either. "No problems were found".
- And it doesn't happen everytime. It happens in about 1 of 100 times I want to delete a file. And it happens when I have been using my laptop for an extensive period. (say over 2 hours). So, this would assume that Windows gets "entangled" with all the programs running. I tried to solve it by collapsing the "Standby" part of the memory, by closing A LOT OF programs running. But to no avail.

But when I restart my laptop then all is OK (again). Another hint that it's something inside the Windows system itself that got "scrambled up" and delays the deletion of a file.

[Shane]

Who ever MS hired to write that fucntion should be fired. What is taking so long is it is going through getting info on every single file, the size, the number and so on so that it can give you a pretty progress bar while it is doing it. Now try and go and delete a folder with 1 million subitems (I have odne it) and you will be sitting there for hours based on the speed of the drive and the number of files.

I dont care about the size, I dont care about the number I just want the damn files deleted! So since explorer cant do that in a easy way I normally fall back to good ol cmd.exe

Firs I cd to the folder I want gone, I then do a
del *.* /s
To remove all files and in all sub folders. then when that is done I call
rmdir command to remove all the folders and subfolders. rmdir wont remove a folder if it has any files it in, thuse I have to call the first command.

And guess what, they start working right off the bat because they are not sitting there counting things that I want gone in the first place lol

Shane

[jraju]

Hi, Super Shane,
                              Those old cmd commands are quick to bypass anything to do the work allotted to command.

[Willy2]

- The problem is that in normal circumstances it's quite fast but in some odd circumstances it's very slow. I even tried running Windows Repair in an attempt to fix it but was to no avail.

[jraju]

Hi, Just try,
                                It works normal for you for other folders, but not in specific folders. Just right click that folder go to properties. In the customize tab that is shown, Please choose General in the top tab, If music or picture are there . You could click the drop down box and choose.
                                      Unusually, some programs make change in these properties, to either picture or music. So, it takes much time to read the file to delete. Try, I had one such problem and after changing this attribute, my explorer resumed normally.

[Shane]

The times I have trouble using the cmd.exe commands is when the file paths are too long. When that happens I just go to the folders and start renaming them to 1 char each and I go to the subfolders and files and do it as well, this shortens the path length and then the commands can work.

The only time I have had them slow was when the file system on the drive needed repaired with chkdsk, the drive itself was slow or dieing, or the AV was scanning every single thing it was touching and slowing it down.

Shane

[jraju]

Hi, It is mostly the last thing  (Av) in your reply,that is the reason for the slowness of explorer.