Windows File Explorer can irritate the calmest user at times when opening some folders, especially those containing many files. It doesn’t matter if you’re using old hard drives or fast SSDs. The problem is inherent to both storage formats.

And modern versions of Windows have a system that tries to detect every file type in every folder you open to optimize specific features like the default view. This mechanism can cause major performance issues regardless of the type of storage used.

Windows File Explorer

There is a way to avoid this behavior affecting the Windows registry.

• Press the keyboard shortcut ‘Win + R’ and type regedit to enter the registry editor
• Navigate to ‘Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell’
• Creates a new string value named ‘FolderType’.
• Double-click the created value and change its information to “not specified”.

Restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Windows File Explorer shouldn’t slow down that much, especially when opening folders with a large number of files.