Explorer very slow in opening text files

[TechnoMax]

My Windows 10 File Explorer is getting slower and slower (not for copy purposes but with file openings). At first I thought this is because I have a slows NAS. I updated to a new NAS, it is the same. Now I made a test with differrent filey types TXT, RFT and DOC, all very small files. I even changed the associated programms to Wordpad for txt and rtf and Textmaker for doc. I copied the folder with these files to an SSD in my PC, even to the boot partition. But is is always the same: Some files open instantly, some take some 20 seconds. Not always the same files but mostly with RTFs and Wordpad.

What can be the reason for this strange behavior and what can I do to speed up things again?

 

[Bighorn]

What are the sizes of the files and exact extension of the file name [name.three or .four]? WordPad is a very lite version of Microsoft Word and can open several formats. Notepad is usually the Default for .txt format.

 

[TechnoMax]

The files are small, some very small:
icons.doc 24KB, license.rft 1KB, Macrium SNR.txt 0KB, Recovers.txt 0KB, Test.rtf 1KB, Test2.rtf 1KB.
I changed the default apps because I thought, that MS Word might be the culprit, but it was not as the errant opening times remain.
The same behaviour with small (up to 400KB) JPG files. In some folders they open instantly in others it takes 20 sec. Even reopening after closing the app (Irvanview) takes another 20 sec.
The same with MP3 and VLC.

 

[Bighorn]

What are your System Specs [hover over mine to get an idea]? Right-click the Start button and choose System toward the top. Processor [CPU] speed is somewhat important but the amount of RAM [Random Access Memory] is also important as Windows loads data in RAM for use while a program is running.

 

[TechnoMax]

The CPU is an i7-6700 with 16 GB RAM running Windows 10 Pro 1809 Build 17763.379.

 

[Bighorn]

That certainly should be sufficient power, I see advertised speeds up to 4.0GHz [Win10 works fine on computers with CPU speeds as low as 1.6GHz]. That leaves a problem with the HDD/SSD or programs having the issue and a guess at this point would be an antivirus program, antimalware program or maybe even a driver update software that is blocking the access while they are running their protection processes.

 

[TechnoMax]

Of course it could be HDD or SSD related. But I rather think it is a software/driver issue. My antivirus program is MS Defender, but malware software could be the culprit. I stopped Advanced System Care as the only obvious malware candidate but it did not help: This time even the opening of the folder on the C SSD took 20 seconds. Most files opened instantly one txt file took 20 seconds.

 

[Bighorn]

I use 2 other diagnostics with difficult situations, one is the Safe Mode and the other is booting to a Linux Mint LiveDVD or Bootable USB Thumb drive. Both get around issues with Windows, Safe Mode by not loading a number of drivers and software and Linux by not running anything Windows. Both Linux choices do not make changes to the internal drives but can open a variety of file types, the free LibreOffice and VLC are included and [ignoring the fact that running from slower media] may help narrow down where the problems are.

 

[TechnoMax]

This tip helped.
At least a bit: I booted a clone of my Surface Go tablet that is realtively "pure" Windows 10. And indeed, all speed issues were gone, all folders could be opened instantly all file types and files too (the apps were different but they obviously are not to be blamed.
This confirmed, that something in my main Windows installation is fucked up. But what??

 

[TechnoMax]

I then made a new user account: The same speedy accesses.
But how can I "heal" my user account that obviously has the problems??

 

[Bighorn]

Usually problems with an account profile requires creating a new one then rebooting into that new one [which you done] followed by deleting the problem one.

 

[TechnoMax]

I will probably go over to this "new" account. This will probably need some adaption but a clean reinstall would be much more annoying. Probably a good time to get rid off some of those seldomly used software anyway.