I have a really odd problem that I just can't figure out. When I try to browse and organize folders that contain alot of information, my system lags up alot. It usually takes about 15-20 seconds to open this specific folder. I notice that the problem is worse with larger folders. With the folder that takes 15-20 seconds to open and navigate, the folder has about 25 gigs of stuff in it and god knows how many subfolders.. probably about 15-20 atleast. What is causing this problem? I can't get down to the bottom of it. Occasionally when trying to load the folder and display the files (they are set to details mode so there are no thumbnails), the explorer will go (not responding). Now this makes me want to believe that its only a problem that has to do with the explorer loading all the thumbnails and details for all the files, but my system occasionally will run really slow even on certain programs. This is much more rare than when browsing these large folders though. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might try.. I'm getting my new motherboard in either on tuesday or wed (14 or 15) so Ill be able to swap that in and make sure its not an I/O defect and I'll switch cables to make sure its not a bad cable issue. Are there any settings I can undo or change, possibly registry, that will allow my system to browse these folders faster and allow me to organize them? -BornChaos

You might need to set up a performance monitor to log the system settings that you choose. Run perfmon. Also might look at event viewer for ideas and taskmanager. XP has most the tools you need to see what your software is doing.

I've tried the task manager and watching the "Cpu" heading and watching which number consumes the most cpu processing power.. but when browsing the folders and as it loads really slow, it doesnt show anything taking up the cpu.. could this be a hardware problem? because this problem happens on both my 120 gig internal drive and my 160 gig external (ive got 2 copies of everything). I know it can't be a primary/slave drive issue because i want to organize the files in the folder, not move them between drives. Thanks for the help ! -BornChaos