Recently I ran into a very strange problem. For one particular folder, Windows Explorer, Word, Excel, and other programs that use the explorer shell take minutes to read certain directories (e.g. WINNT, My Document, or any other directory with a large number of files and folders). It is so slow that at first I thought the machine crashed. In fact program manager says the program isn't responding, although if you let it run, the directory is eventually read. Once Windows reads the directory, you can load programs or files from the directory as normal. Moreover, if you go to a command prompt window, you can read the directory normally. Any suggestions would be helpful. I am running a Dell Dimension 4400, Win 2000 Pro, McAfee Antivirus, and some CD-R software in the background. Nothing has changed on the machine in months.

Had exactly the same error on a DELL Optiplex GX110 with Win2k pro SP2 Symantec and Nero - only solution I found was a reformat/re-install sorry It is raised as an issue fixed by SP1 but as usual didn't work for me!