Complaints about Windows 11's fix for File Explorer sluggishness are overblown – but they underline a fundamental problem with the OS

• Windows 11 recently received a fix for File Explorer sluggishness
• The cure is in preview, and tackles the overly slow opening of folders by using preloading
• Based on initial testing it seems to work well enough, although some folks still aren't happy

Windows 11 has a fix for the slow initial opening of File Explorer in preview right now, and some early testing indicates that it works – although that doesn't mean it's ideal, and this whole affair still highlights a major shortcoming for Microsoft.

File Explorer is the app that kicks in to power your folders every time you open one on the desktop, so it's a fundamental piece of the interface machinery in Windows 11.

Ever since Windows 11 arrived, there have been complaints about it being way too slow the first time you open a folder or drive (and other grievances besides). Microsoft finally came up with a solution in a recent preview build – involving preloading File Explorer when the PC first boots up – and Windows Latest just ran this fix through its paces.

We get some neatly compiled video evidence showing the difference between Windows 11 opening File Explorer (in a virtual machine) for the first time as it stands, and then with the preview fix applied to compare and contrast.

The result is that Microsoft's cure clearly makes things a good deal faster for the startup of File Explorer. Without the fix, it takes around two full seconds to open and get to a fully finished state (with all icons manifested, ready to go). With the fix, that's reduced by about two-thirds of a second (based on some rough stopwatch timing).

It might even be closer to a full second, but whatever the case, there's no doubt that it's a good deal snappier, and that's with nothing much running; a second test, with the system more bogged down with other tasks, shows File Explorer opening way faster with the fix.

Windows Latest also observes that the preloading fix does take up some RAM, though – making File Explorer use 67MB rather than 32MB of system memory – which is a slight drawback (I'll come back to that).

Still, overall the website concedes that "preloading does make the File Explorer faster" and notes that "the 35MB RAM usage is actually worth it here" as a result.

Analysis: Windows 11 needs some different tins

Despite that overall positive conclusion, Windows Latest complains that File Explorer still isn't fast enough, away from its startup time – and that's true, but Microsoft only promised to fix the initial speed of it opening in this recent preview build, not anything else. So, leveling a criticism at a solution that didn't do something it didn’t promise to do seems unfair when it's clearly successful at achieving its aim (addressing the slow startup).

Mind you, it's not as unfair as some of the other flak that's been fired at Microsoft over this, such as Tech PowerUp which proclaims: "Preloading File Explorer in Windows 11 doubles RAM usage, offers minimal speed boost".

A minimal speed boost? In what way? It's a decent speed boost at worst, certainly worthwhile, and a really good performance boost in some scenarios (heavy loads), at least based on this initial testing. (I suspect that some PCs will find even more of a performance gain here, too – but that's just speculation, of course).

And yes, the fix doubles RAM usage, but it doubles the consumption from a very tiny amount to a tiny amount. In the grand scheme of things, is an extra 35MB all that much? No, it isn't really, and a lot of the potshots being taken at Microsoft's solution here feel overblown and cynical. And don't get me wrong – I can be cynical about the software giant with the best of them.

So, with all that in mind, it's worth pausing for thought here, as I agree that the extra RAM usage isn't ideal, but moreover it's symptomatic of a wider problem with Windows 11. What Microsoft has done here is to preload File Explorer, as noted, so that means getting the app going in the background automatically when Windows 11 starts up. Then, because it's already there, and not being loaded when you click to actually open a folder, File Explorer loads more nimbly.

However, if Microsoft were to preload more and more apps and system components in Windows 11, those small drips of extra RAM usage would slowly add up to a more appreciable drain on system resources – so yes, this isn't ideal from that perspective.

It underlines a bigger problem with Microsoft's attitude to Windows 11 – we get a quicker fudge rather than a proper fix. It works, but it's far from ideal in its implementation.

An entirely smoother incarnation of File Explorer is what we really want, resolving not just startup woes, but the overall performance pain points that Windows Latest points out. Is that going to happen? I hope so, eventually, but it seems that Microsoft is happy to patch things as it stumbles along in a haphazard way, rather than having a cohesive and overarching plan to tackle Windows 11's performance troubles (which aren't confined to File Explorer, it should be noted).

Is this the way to run a flagship operating system, the reigning monarch of the desktop OS world? I'd suggest it isn't; and more to the point you've got to wonder how, way back at Windows 11's launch, did File Explorer end up shipping in the state it did to begin with? It feels like Microsoft wanted to cram in extra functionality (cloud syncing elements for one thing, along with underlying interface tweaks), and did that at the expense of performance on a rushed timeline.

At any rate, what we can't say is that this new fix doesn't work. As an individual piece of Windows 11 tweaking, it delivers a nice speed boost, with a light enough trade-off RAM-wise, judging from this round of testing (the caveat being that we could find differently with wider usage). Still, right now, I don't think you can argue with the fact that this preloading fix does what it says on the tin – I just wish Microsoft had some different tins in the first place.

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