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Explorer 100% utilization in Windows XP

Posted by Steven Parker on 26 April 2003 - 17:16 · 95 comments & 5853 views

Thanks to prozak for posting this in BPN on our forums.

Although on Bugtraq a better workaround has been posted: Go to: Control Panel > Display > Appearance Tab > Effects Button and *disable* (uncheck) the transition effects.... Credits to Lex Croes who found this workaround!

Screenshot: Right click select causes 100% CPU load and left click then right click @ 0% CPU load

News source: Explorer 100% utilization in Windows XP Posted @ BugTraq

View: Proposed workarounds

To check if you have this patch installed:

Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
Look for an entry called Windows XP Hotfix (SP2) Q811493
If you have it and notice poor system performance, remove the patch.

Not all systems appear to be affected but its significant enough for Microsoft to remove it from Critical Updates.

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Full name: Steven Parker
Forum name: Neobond
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(6 replies) #1 Posted by m0 on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:20: It appears to occur on Athlon XP's as well m0.

(4 replies) #2 Posted by JaggedFlame on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:21: I don't get it. Does this really cause any problems? I get 100% CPU usage, but it doesn't slow it down or anything.

(1 reply) #3 Posted by memoryx on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:22: it happens on my AMD Duron "Morgan" 1.2Ghz CPU as well

(1 reply) #4 Posted by tickLemeD on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:23: yea i've tried it and it does it......... but what problem is this? is this going to affect security and performance?

#5 Posted by Fubar on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:27: i found that windows task manager lies ..... both on cpu and mem usage i use winbar now and i dont get any 100% cpu usage heh must be the task manager as ive tried it with a few other monitering tools

#6 Posted by JiggyTom on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:28: Athlon XP2000 here and the problem occurs.

#7 Posted by Tartan on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:29: I get it too, not sure what it means, but it does seem strange that so simple a task uses up 100% of the CPU. :/

(4 replies) #8 Posted by xStainDx on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:34: How long to you actually keep the right-click dialog open? a sec or 2? this isn't such a big deal.

#9 Posted by Gweedo on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:34: My P4 3.06 doesn't do it, on either CoolMon or the task manager.

#10 Posted by Chipi on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:37: I don't have it. But maybe it's because it tweaked explorer.exe and the right click menu alot

#11 Posted by freeza on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:38: i don't use transition effects anyway ;D

#12 Posted by jkuy9 on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:42: Happens to my system (700Mhz P3) and the workaround fixed it. However Explorer was jumping in the 30-40% range on CPU process when just navigating folders

#13 Posted by dduardo on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:46: It happens on my 1.4Ghz Athlon Thunderbird and the workaround works. This bug really doesn't effect the proformance of the machine, it just the taskmanager displaying the wrong value

(3 replies) #14 Posted by aleni on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:51: i dont have this problem. right click only uses up to about 14-22%. i think it occurs because u have load of craps in your context menu

#15 Posted by Afroman on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:54: wow.. it did it on mine to.. XP2100 here.. thats a freaky bug.. doesn't slow anything dow but yeah def.. needs a fixin.

(2 replies) #16 Posted by ALLcoHoLL on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:55: Task manager isn't accurate when it comes to this. Take a look under Processes, and look at the system idle process. A lot of people go nuts when they see that it never stops taking up 99% of the CPU, although it takes up hardly anything at all. Even if it were to be taking up 100% of the CPU: it does it for maybe a millisecond, if you think about it. I have never noticed it taking any longer than that. And if the huge green bar going up in the system tray or when task manager is up (I have it minimized to the system tray: Options > Hide when minimized) and it bothers you that much, then use the classic windows interface, then you most likely won't have that problem anymore. I would test it, but I would rather not waste my time on some crap like that.

(2 replies) #17 Posted by drum0r on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:55: Check out [URL=http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=11&t=38748]this post[/URL] by me on July 19, 2002.

Last edited by 6434 on 27 Apr 2003 - 04:55

#18 Posted by EnIgMa-PenGuIn on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:56: nope im running an athlon xp 1900+ ... optimised with various tools... unnessesary tasks and services not used ....... and my context bars are very small. and its not just task manager its other monitoring apps....... it may be small now however it could lead to some bad problem down the track too its gotta be the windows updates

(1 reply) #19 Posted by pylesj on 26 Apr 2003 - 17:59: isnt prozac a pill? Some sorta medicine? Josh

#20 Posted by gameguy34 on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:02: this is kinda weird.... it happens to me too, but i wonder if it's just the extra crap i put in the context menu, like aleni said above (#14)

#21 Posted by darkmatter on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:13: I have been having the problem too for awhile, though I just had allot of stuff in the folder.....but I guess not

(1 reply) #22 Posted by tjay on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:17: this happened on my old installation of winxp it taked around a second to open the "right-click-menu" on a .txt file and some others. on my new installation some winprograms starting very slow (mplayer and notepad) i've got a PIV 2.4Ghz

#23 Posted by Germano on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:19: Same in W2k3.

#24 Posted by longwilli on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:19: good job im not using xp anymore

(4 replies) #25 Posted by JediXAngel on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:22: I think THAT MAY BE IT!!! God, my computer has been Frozen up all the time, maybe this will stop it? I will try it and see what happens Hope it's Why!

#26 Posted by JediXAngel on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:23: I also damn agree Windows XP has a problem with browsing folders, it somehow is SO SLOW!!!

#27 Posted by obscure_detour on 26 Apr 2003 - 18:55: Occurs on my P4 with Win2k3 Enterprise also.. and if you left click I watched explorer use about 50% CPU usage then you right click and it goes back down. So it still uses half of your CPU usage even if you left click first. This sucks

(1 reply) #28 Posted by DogChow on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:00: What programs are those that put the "Create .SFV File", "Copy Path to Cilpboard," and "Properties Plus"...? Thx!

#29 Posted by Fenris on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:09: Same here AthlonXP 2400+, come on M$ surely with all your OS experiance you can make at least one OS that is not full of bugs. Here's looking toward Longhorn, please learn Redmond guys.....

#30 Posted by mrk on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:34: I just experimented with this and In the below screenshots you will notice I also have a DiVX film playing (purely for testing purposes). Notuice that left clicking THEN right clicking gives no extra cpu usage and turning transitions off = 0 usage but nrormal clicking = 100% usage no matter where you move the mouse while the right click menu is open. I believe on large media files this can cause a slowdown especially mpeg/avi files where windows is also trying to load a preview in teh left side bar normal right click - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robbiekhan/root/mrk/temp_rightclick.jpg left click then right click - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robbiekhan/root/mrk/temp_leftclickthenrightclick.jpg transitions off right click - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robbiekhan/root/mrk/temp_withtransitionsOFF.jpg

#31 Posted by mrk on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:40: Also its better to have transitioning off anyway, you get a faster menu popup (granted its only a few milisecs difference but its still .....faster!)

(1 reply) #32 Posted by tkyoshi on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:42: This affects laptop's more. It'll run the battery down faster plus if you ever have the power management on the computer becomes extremely slow and crappy.

#33 Posted by mrk on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:52: after further testing its a bug in the menu animation and menu fading options so if you have TweakUI then just turn off menu animation and menu fading under the "General" tab and that will fix it

#34 Posted by DaCypher on 26 Apr 2003 - 19:56: What I find to be somewhat wierd is how long it has taken for this bug to surface. I've experienced this for quite a while but I figured that it was just my poor hardware (Celeron 566 overclocked to 862). Thanks for the tip for disabling the transition effect, works very well.

#35 Posted by EnIgMa-PenGuIn on 26 Apr 2003 - 20:03: lols thanks..... for those that dont use tweak go into your advanced settings and visualisation effect in my computer and disable the effects there (properties section)

#36 Posted by Avenger on 26 Apr 2003 - 21:43: Interesting bug, but not a major problem. Simply turn off transition effects and it won't be a problem anymore.

#37 Posted by daveoc64 on 26 Apr 2003 - 21:43: I don't get any problems with my Pentium 4 2.53 GHz and Windows XP Home SP1. Even though it shows 100% my PC isnt any slower than before I right clicked. Also might be useful to add - I don't have anything extra on the menu. I have all effects and cleartype on also this is a clean install done on Tuesday.

Last edited by 24429 on 27 Apr 2003 - 10:18

#38 Posted by Tikimotel on 26 Apr 2003 - 22:02: Nope doesn't happen here? (stays 0 - 1 %) I have a 3.06Ghz P4 with HT enabled. Transition Effects (Fade Effect) ON, Font Smoothing (Cleartype) ON... So what's all the fuzz all about???? Did I install some more SP2 pre-fixes than anyone else? I did install the 1GB Hybernation fix...

#39 Posted by xpablo on 26 Apr 2003 - 22:11: Hmmm.. I've never had this problem, my CPU is a P3 - 850 But I also never had transisition effects turned on either.

#40 Posted by Tikimotel on 26 Apr 2003 - 22:15: It only happens with certain TYPES of files not ALL kinds of files!!! I tested it with an TXT file, 0%. renamed the TXT to LOG (EXE,ZIP,other stuff) nothing happens stays, 0%. right mouse click on a REAL EXE-file bang 50% CPU load... It has something to do with scanning the files internally, and linking them to the "rightclick menu" and some how the "effect" causes a process to hang inside the CPU..

#41 Posted by korbendallas on 26 Apr 2003 - 23:31: can't reproduce this "bug" either. have transition effects enabled and cleartype on (well, every visual effect is on;-) ) p4, I845e, radeon9500pro...

#42 Posted by TheBlackJawa on 26 Apr 2003 - 23:37: lol, this bug occurrs on my AMD Athlon T-Bird 900mhz It doesnt seem to cause a slow down though. Quite a strange little bug indeed

#43 Posted by bilemke on 27 Apr 2003 - 01:33: I really wonder if this simply problem with windows or some ohter program installed in it. I do not have this problem at all on any of my 4 machines. I isntalled xp on 2 of them just to test this. Does anyone have this problem with fresh installs? The screenshots show a lot of program add ons to the contextual menu. In particuair many that I believe access the file momentarily like anti virus (NAV) and compression software. I will not denie the existance of a problem with avi files, man that was annoying. But this.. I dont know.... Can I get a pole of who here has tried this with a fresh install of windows?

#44 Posted by LurkerHere on 27 Apr 2003 - 01:57: i have this problem also.

(1 reply) #45 Posted by kioria on 27 Apr 2003 - 02:28: Get rid of your external context menus from other programs such as WinRAR VS. NET Macromedia Adobe EditPlus2 Verifier Etc....

(2 replies) #46 Posted by scoult01 on 27 Apr 2003 - 05:26: ive got a good bug too, say you have a directory full of 700meg od files (mpegs, avis etc), and you click and drag to select them, after you select about 7 of them, your cpu usage jumps to 100%, and your machine grinds to a halt until explorer has finished selecting the files. Its a real pain in the ass, and im not sure how to fix it. Has anyone else had this problem? Running WinXP, SP1 Amd 2100+

#47 Posted by = Darthis = on 27 Apr 2003 - 06:34: I've also had this problem for awhile and could not find a workaround for it so I just downloaded the free powerdesk version and used that. Note: it is specifically linked to the [B]System Properties[/B] -> [B]Performance Options[/B] -> [B]Advanced[/B] -> [B]Visual Effects[/B] -> [B]Fade or slide menus into view.[/B] I think the soultion posted turns off more then just that one which isn't really necessary. Another thing to note is that depending on the setting [B]Tools[/B] -> [B]Folder Options[/B] -> [B]View[/B] -> [B]Launch folder window in a seperate process[/B] will depend on how severly it affects windows. If you have that option ticked and right click files and just keep the right click menu open, windows will literally freeze everything, from playing media, music files to freezing any data coming thru and going out of your modem, that's how severe it can get (I suspect this can't be good if you do it while burning a cd . If you don't have the option ticked then it just chews up your cpu and slows things down instead of freezing it. With the above experiment (launching in a seperate process), if you change the setting whilst explorer is open, make sure you close and then reopen explorer otherwise explorer will still be running in the same process.

#48 Posted by jwjw1 on 27 Apr 2003 - 06:43: XP 2400 here...and I dont have that problem....I just get 2% CPU....but thats from other task running..........I also don't use the Transitions or fade/slide menus...but I do use the option to open in seperate windows.....

Last edited by 5417 on 27 Apr 2003 - 06:55

(1 reply) #49 Posted by naap51stang on 27 Apr 2003 - 06:47: A. I don't use windows explorer ( I use powerdesk 5.0) B. I never have used transitional effects. I like SPEED over eye candy.

#50 Posted by RanCorX2 on 27 Apr 2003 - 08:59: hmmm .........more 100% cpu usage. i hope m$ got my bug reports... cus they were also todo with 100% cpu usage + 3 other things. right clicking, search for files & explorer.exe reloading.

#51 Posted by 505 on 27 Apr 2003 - 14:12: You can also do such a thing in Windows 2000 (sp3). eg. Click on the desktop with the left mouse button, don't release it, and drag your mouse over the taskbar. As soon as you go over the taskbar, cpu goes to 100%

#52 Posted by riff on 27 Apr 2003 - 16:08: eeeeee here p3@550 both left and right click uses about 45%

#53 Posted by bilemke on 27 Apr 2003 - 18:32: scoult01.. try this.. delete this from the registry.. hope you understand the layout of what follows. it is a explort from regedit btw.. [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSystemFileAssociations.avishellexPropertyHandler] @="{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}" update.. see these two links: http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=841 http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=1486

#54 Posted by zipgenius on 27 Apr 2003 - 18:40: I found that this happens when certain applications put their shell extensions in the context menu; if those programs has the chance to show cascaded menus (ZipGenius, WinRAR, WinZip for sure), use them and this bug won't pop up. Bye.

#55 Posted by nacs on 27 Apr 2003 - 19:02: I have a Celeron 1.6Ghz in my laptop and this bug exists. It's so funny to see the processor meter shoot upto 100% the second you right click and then stay there till you close the right click menu. I can't believe MS hasn't already fixed such a simple issue.

#56 Posted by djtaylor on 27 Apr 2003 - 20:14: Wouldn't have said it was Task Manager displaying the wrong values - I can hear my CPU fan speeding up if I leave the menu open for long enough, and then slowing down after I close it. CPU and MB temps increase too... I have an Athlon XP 1700+

#57 Posted by intensityx on 27 Apr 2003 - 22:45: Removing menu fading and animation solves the problem here.

#58 Posted by scoult01 on 28 Apr 2003 - 05:36: bilemke: thank you soooo very much! that solved the problem instantly. Cheers bro

#59 Posted by jimmlah on 29 Apr 2003 - 08:08

#60 Posted by cloakedpegasus on 09 May 2003 - 19:56: these workarounds are great but i don't think i should have to sacrifice my transitions just so my cpu speed doesn't reach 100 max. This problem shouldn't have been in XP in the first place, considering that the features such as fading transitions are a great part of the desktop environment.

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