Windows Explorer Media File Performance

February 23, 2008

Hi,

I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when

displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder

containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"

for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,

control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed

up the file access.

My PC is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz

MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM

EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO

Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive

Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive

Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

Windows XP SP2 with all updates

nVidia ForceWare v169.28

Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

Shuttle SN45Gv2

Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)

AMD Athlon 3200+

XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP

2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM

1x 120GB IDE HDD

1x 300GB IDE HDD

Plextor DVD / CDRW

Windows XP SP2 with all updates

nVidia ForceWare v169.28

nVidia nForce v5.10

nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

Any ideas?

--

Cheers,

Charles

February 23, 2008

RE: Windows Explorer Media File Performance

I should add that I have a Windows 2003 server, with far less powerful

hardware, that does not have any issues at all, even with AV enabled.

--

Cheers,

Charles

"Charles Crawley" wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when

> displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder

> containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"

> for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,

> control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

>

> This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed

> up the file access.

>

> My PC is:

>

> Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz

> MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

> 2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM

> EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO

> Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive

> Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive

> Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter

> OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

> Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

>

> I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

>

> Shuttle SN45Gv2

> Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)

> AMD Athlon 3200+

> XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP

> 2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM

> 1x 120GB IDE HDD

> 1x 300GB IDE HDD

> Plextor DVD / CDRW

> Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> nVidia nForce v5.10

> nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

>

> Any ideas?

>

> --

> Cheers,

>

> Charles

February 23, 2008

RE: Windows Explorer Media File Performance

Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview . Image files, HTML

pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed. If you have several video

players and more than one are associated as a default player can cause the

crash because each one of the player is trying to make the preview.

Configuring these players so that only one is the default player for avi

files may fix the problem.

Or try a registry hack. Run regedit and find the following key :-

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler Delete

the "Default" value then close. You should now be able to see .avi previews

almost instantly but without the crashes.

Warning: Backup your registry or export the key before proceeding so you

can import it back is something went wrong.

Some other references:

Windows Explorer crash opening a folder with thumbnail view.

http://techsecure.blogspot.com/2006/02/windows-explorer-crash-opening-folder.html

Explorer crashes when folder with avi files is opened (many fixes here)

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1061425126

--

Rey

"Charles Crawley" wrote:

> I should add that I have a Windows 2003 server, with far less powerful

> hardware, that does not have any issues at all, even with AV enabled.

> --

> Cheers,

>

> Charles

>

> "Charles Crawley" wrote:

>

> > Hi,

> >

> > I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when

> > displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder

> > containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"

> > for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,

> > control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

> >

> > This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed

> > up the file access.

> >

> > My PC is:

> >

> > Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz

> > MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

> > 2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM

> > EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO

> > Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive

> > Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive

> > Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter

> > OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

> > Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> > nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> > Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

> >

> > I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

> >

> > Shuttle SN45Gv2

> > Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)

> > AMD Athlon 3200+

> > XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP

> > 2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM

> > 1x 120GB IDE HDD

> > 1x 300GB IDE HDD

> > Plextor DVD / CDRW

> > Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> > nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> > nVidia nForce v5.10

> > nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

> >

> > Any ideas?

> >

> > --

> > Cheers,

> >

> > Charles

February 23, 2008

RE: Windows Explorer Media File Performance

Rey,

Many thanks, the Registry hack is perfect. I'm not in the slightest bit

bothered about previewing video files in Explorer, so if this has stopped

that, that is fine.

--

Cheers,

Charles

"Rey Santos" wrote:

> Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview . Image files, HTML

> pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed. If you have several video

> players and more than one are associated as a default player can cause the

> crash because each one of the player is trying to make the preview.

> Configuring these players so that only one is the default player for avi

> files may fix the problem.

>

> Or try a registry hack. Run regedit and find the following key :-

> HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler Delete

> the "Default" value then close. You should now be able to see .avi previews

> almost instantly but without the crashes.

> Warning: Backup your registry or export the key before proceeding so you

> can import it back is something went wrong.

>

> Some other references:

> Windows Explorer crash opening a folder with thumbnail view.

> http://techsecure.blogspot.com/2006/02/windows-explorer-crash-opening-folder.html

>

> Explorer crashes when folder with avi files is opened (many fixes here)

> http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1061425126

> --

> Rey

>

> "Charles Crawley" wrote:

>

> > I should add that I have a Windows 2003 server, with far less powerful

> > hardware, that does not have any issues at all, even with AV enabled.

> > --

> > Cheers,

> >

> > Charles

> >

> > "Charles Crawley" wrote:

> >

> > > Hi,

> > >

> > > I am continually having problems with the performance of Explorer when

> > > displaying folders full of video files. Simply, if I select a folder

> > > containing, for example, 20 AVI files of around 350MB each, Explorer "hangs"

> > > for ages, even if I have the folder View options set to "List". Usually,

> > > control eventually returns but sometimes I have to kill off explorer.exe.

> > >

> > > This occurs even if I have disabled my anti-virus software, to try to speed

> > > up the file access.

> > >

> > > My PC is:

> > >

> > > Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz

> > > MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

> > > 2x 1GB Crucial DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX RAM

> > > EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB KO

> > > Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive

> > > Western Digital 500GB SATA Drive

> > > Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter

> > > OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

> > > Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> > > nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> > > Intel INF v8.3.0.1011

> > >

> > > I also see this problem on a completely different PC:

> > >

> > > Shuttle SN45Gv2

> > > Upgraded SilentX PSU (300W IIRC)

> > > AMD Athlon 3200+

> > > XFX GeForce 6800GS 256MB AGP

> > > 2x 512MB Crucial DDR RAM

> > > 1x 120GB IDE HDD

> > > 1x 300GB IDE HDD

> > > Plextor DVD / CDRW

> > > Windows XP SP2 with all updates

> > > nVidia ForceWare v169.28

> > > nVidia nForce v5.10

> > > nVidia nForce Audio v4.62

> > >

> > > Any ideas?

> > >

> > > --

> > > Cheers,

> > >

> > > Charles

February 25, 2008

Re: Windows Explorer Media File Performance

Windows Stops Responding When You Click a Large AVI File in Windows Explorer:

http://bink.nu/Article709.bink

TweakXP.com - Clicking AVI Files on explorer causing 100% CPU Usage:

http://www.tweakxp.com/article36990.aspx

Speed-up Access to AVI Media Files (Windows XP) at Registry Guide for Windows:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1209/

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