- Microsoft fixes an error that makes File Explorer very slow to close
- However, there are a lot of other complaints that it is sluggish elsewhere
- Furthermore, other problems with file explorer are reporting going down and it is time for Microsoft to get on top of fully fixing this part of the interface
Microsoft finally solves an annoying problem, as File Explorer is slow in Windows 11, but there are still many complaints that this central part of the interface is overly sluggish.
For the uninitiated, File Explorer is the app that shows you the files and folders stored on your PC – and that is the medium by which you review the mentioned files (hence the ‘Explorer’ name).
The mentioned solution is a solution for File Explorer, which is “very slow to close” when the “X” button (upper right) is clicked to close it and Microsoft has announced that this remedy will be used for Windows 11’s test buildings soon .
So at least this cure is in pipeline, but as Windows latest points out, there are a whole lot of other niggles with File Explorer along with some great frustrations.
It includes a whole pile of users in the feedback hub for Windows 11, which has a serious beef with the time it takes the entire File Explorer’s interface (all the different small menus and settings) to load. According to some reports, users can wait for up to 10 seconds to see everything appears after the first opening of a folder.
One of the posts in that hub observes: “Windows 11 File Explorer is the slowest since I started using Windows in the early 90s. I was very excited to finally have a multi-fan discovery traveler, but it’s so slow. Opening new tabs or new Explorer windows do not speed up. I have to see the navigation pane, then the tape, then the folders and then finally the tabs appear in slow motion. It doesn’t matter what the system specifications are. It doesn’t change. The fastest it opens is approx. 2 seconds. “
On modern PCs with a healthy allocation of memory and fast SSD storage, that kind of delay should definitely not happen.
There is no lack of evidence of the frustration level that some users experience on Reddit, either. Like this post from someone who has just switched from a MacBook to a Windows 11 laptop to complain: “I switched from a MacBook Pro to Thinkpad to work and archives Explorer is so slow that it drives me nuts. I do not understand why it takes 5-10 times as long to open a folder, to search in a folder or to do literally something. “
Or how about this comment that observes that File Explorer has an ugly habit of going down with a certain regularity when working with tabs (and right -clicking the context menu is slow to appear originally). Other reports of File Explorer crashing on Reddit, and general jankiness around this part of the interface are not exactly difficult to get by.
Analysis: Critters in the works for too long
To be fair to Microsoft, the fundamental cause of some of these reports may not be down to archive Explor or other way is wrong.
But like Windows’s latest highlights, there is so much material on the feedback hub that it is clear enough that Microsoft has further work to do with making File Explorer work better.
Since it is undoubtedly the central gear in Windows 11 interface – these are the very files and folders you work with on the desktop probably on a daily basis – this is not part of the operating system that needs to underpoint for what seems to be a whole lot of users.
After all, Windows 11 has been around for a long time now, well over three years at this time, and File Explorer has not yet been fully knocked in shape, at least by going for this recent feedback. In fact, Microsoft has sometimes taken steps backwards, especially with the latest update to Windows 11 24h2, which has largely Broken File Explorer for some people (or it’s the claim).
It’s long too late for File Explorer to become more reliable under Windows 11 – which, after all, has to be an upgrade to Windows 10, which doesn’t suffer from the same discovery journeys – and Microsoft needs to focus more resources on getting these lingering performance -Related bugs sorted out.
