Need help w/ strange XP performance problem

[Zephyr77]

Hello,

I installed two new hard drives (Maxtor 80GB 7200's) on the Primary IDE Channel and after completing a fresh install of XP Pro and all updates/patches, I'm having a problem when I open folders that have .jpg images in them. It takes a lot longer for the files to be listed.

I have one folder with 15 .jpg images (total of 46MB) and it takes about 20-25 seconds for them to show up in the folder. If I go to a folder with .pdf files totaling 40MB, they "pop-up" in the folder almost instantly. In folders with .tif files or .psd files, they also show up very quickly. It seems it's just the .jpg files.

I didn't have this very noticeable slow down prior to the reinstall. Anyone have any suggesstions on why this could be happening?

I'm running a P4 2.66GHz processor with 1GB RAM.

Thanks!

 

[bcastner]

This is likely due to the size of the .jpg images. Explorer has to read to the end of each (average 3 MB) file to read the property information.

If you have a lot of image files the entire process of associated viewer file and registry patches can be done. But start here and see if it offers sufficient relief without getting too drastic:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize.
3. In "Details" mode right click the bar at the top which displays the names of the attribute columns.
4. Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded.

Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary attributes will not be displayed.
Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer.

 

[Zephyr77]

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried it but it didn't work.

After reading a couple of post's here related to file associations, I ended up un-installing Photoshop 7 and re-installing without changing file associations (.jpg's were associated with PS). Now everything is working much better.

 

[bcastner]

Good,

The file association issue can be a bear.

That was going to be step #2.

Best.