How to Fix File Explorer When Windows 10 is Slow

The File Explorer Windows is a regular program used daily to download files, save, send, organize photos or documents in different folders. A very useful tool until it becomes slow and has faults or crashes. 

If you have tried to open a folder to consult a document and have not succeeded for a while, or you perceive that the computer takes longer than normal to generate the task you have ordered, here are a series of tricks to correct this slowness step by step. 

Remember that the problem may be with the Microsoft File Explorer or with the entire system. Perhaps it is a failure in the performance of the device because it is a somewhat old model. In this list of tips, you will also find help to improve the power of your computer quickly and easily if you notice something heavy. 

Restart File Explorer

The first thing you should do is focus on the problem. If the slow program is the browser, you should restart it to see if it is a specific failure. To do this, it is as simple as following these steps:

• Open the Task Manager from the search bar. 
• You will see the list of programs that you have activated or running in the background.
• Locate the File Explorer, click on it with the right button and press the End task option.

So Windows can close the program that has been blocked, and you can reopen it more agile. If this doesn’t work, you can also try restarting your entire computer or check that you have all available updates installed. Keeping your computer up-to-date helps Microsoft correct any errors that have been discovered and improves system performance.

Free up the workload

When you restart the computer, you may notice some lightness since the computer has closed many of the applications and tasks running in the background, and they assumed an extra load that did not allow it to work well with the other programs you need. If you don’t want to restart, you can do this cleaning yourself.

With the same Task Manager that you have opened before, you can locate all those tasks working in the background and that you don’t need. In the same way, right-click on them and select End task. Your computer will be freer to devote more effort to what you are asking of it. 

Disable Quick Access and Browser History

When you open the File Explorer, it usually offers us directly the folders we have used most recently. This makes your work easier, but it can slow down the system’s performance if it is already very saturated or there is a failure. We explain how to block this function to help the program go faster:

• Open File Explorer and press the File option in the upper left corner of the screen.
• Select Change folder and search options.
• Press the File Explorer in the General tab and open the drop-down menu to select This computer.
• Next, unmark the Show recently used files in Quick Access and Show frequently used folders in Quick Access options.
• Now, press the Clear button next to Clear File Explorer history.
• Press Apply and then OK to apply these changes.

Set up a folder

The problem may not be the File Explorer, but a specific folder that you cannot open and where you have many files and subfolders stored. In that case, the goal is to optimize that folder. For it: 

• Click with the right mouse button on the folder unresponsive and select the option Properties.
• Go to the Customize tab.
• Press the ” Optimize this folder for ” dropping menu and choose General Items.
• Check the ” Also apply this template to all subfolders ” box.
• Press Apply and then OK to apply these changes.

With these tricks, Windows File Explorer should work better.