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Microsoft To Preload File Explorer in Background For Faster Launch in Windows 11 69

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
In the latest Windows Insider beta update, Microsoft has announced that it is exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to improve launch performance. The feature will load File Explorer silently before users click on it and can be toggled off for those who prefer not to use it. Microsoft introduced a similar capability earlier this year for Office called Startup Boost that loads parts of Word in the background so the application launches more quickly. The company is also removing elements from the File Explorer context menu in the same update.
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Microsoft To Preload File Explorer in Background For Faster Launch in Windows 11 More

Microsoft To Preload File Explorer in Background For Faster Launch in Windows 11

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  • This feels like a band-aid solution (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nicc777 ( 614519 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:12AM (#65816959) Journal
    Seriously. My current instance on my work laptop uses just over 500MiB of memory. Just why? My gut feeling is that they will be able to boost performance by just focusing on the application optimization itself. Goes for basically every MS product.

    • Maybe Microsoft AI is incapable of optimization and they fired all the people who were capable of doing it.

      Seriously, file explorer is not that much different (from the user perspetive) from the one in Windows XP, but uses vastly more resources.

      • Re:This feels like a band-aid solution (Score:5, Insightful)

        by taustin ( 171655 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:28AM (#65816995) Homepage Journal

        XP didn't spend as much time going through all your documents and data files and sending its "telemetry" off to Microsoft for AI training (and sale to advertisers for "targeted ads").

        And now, file explorer will be running all the time, so make certain they don't miss anything.

        • Open your task manager. Look for explorer.exe. It is running all the time already. It has to, it's your desktop. Open file explorer and check to see if there's a new instance of explorer.exe. There won't be, unless you're on a rather old version of Windows.

          The Windows search indexer was added in either XP sp 2 or 3. It slowed things down quite a bit since indexing on a PATA HDD gives the I/O scheduler fits.
          If you have telemetry concerns, you should probably turn the telemetry off.

        • MS should reduce the number of background processes, pre-loaded processes, COM+ invoked code, services, .....

          NT 4.0 could run reliably with under 10 background services with a GUI and networking in the 1990s. Since then, MS has and is allowing third party vendors to add more and more background processes and for the services to run with elevated security level.

          And, the pre-loading processes which sit idle is a hack from the much more ancient operating systems which have very long process start up times.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I'm guessing it's mostly due to add-ons installed by third party software. There are APIs that let third party stuff hook into Explorer, and the current situation is an absolute shit-show. Because there are so many old and broken ones, Explorer loads them to see if they crash, and if they do it loads them again in compatibility mode, and if they still crash it gives up. Once loaded there are no limits on how slow they are to start up or operate.

    • It uses that much memory because it's your entire desktop. Explorer.exe is both your desktop and the file explorer. Look at the process tree in something like Process Explorer and it'll make a little more sense. Then look at how little the memory usage changes if you have a file explorer window open.

      And it's why I don't really understand what they're talking about. Explorer.exe is always loaded.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by allo ( 1728082 )

      I remember when Open Office had such a quick launcher. Without it, it took like two minutes to start. With it, you had all your RAM filled to be able to start office programs faster.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      More like an anti-solution to me. I almost never use File Explorer. On those rare occasions, it does not bother me to wait for a few seconds while it loads.

      Me thinks that the real reason for making it resident is the greater convenience of Microsoft. Probably for some secretive tool that is harvesting my PI for Microsoft's greater glory and profit. Not visibly, of course, but using File Explorer in the background. (Any other comments along such lines?)

  • not sure what is sadder (Score:4)

    by Big Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:13AM (#65816961)
    that this is news
    or
    that the file explorer in MS is so bloated it need to be pre loaded

  • They will preload everything based on your daily habits and sell it as a copilot, when in fact it is a shitty captain.

  • Who uses MS file Explorer? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:30AM (#65817005)

    I use Directory Opus, and have done for 36 years.

    • Re:Who uses MS file Explorer? (Score:5, Informative)

      by tsqr ( 808554 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @11:01AM (#65817081)

      I use Directory Opus, and have done for 36 years.

      Directory Opus for Windows was first released 24 years ago. [wikipedia.org] Were you using it on Amiga before that?

      Who uses Windows? I use Linux, and have done for 32 years, starting with Caldera Open Linux.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        Caldera Linux was first released in 1997, which is 28 years ago. Slackware Linux goes back 32 years. Red Hat Linux was 30 years ago now. Hard to believe. I first used Red Hat 5.1 28 years ago during the libc to glibc transition. KDE 1.0 came out about that same time and was a huge leap forward in Linux desktop usability for new users. Also StarOffice 5. Memory lane.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

        As much as I love Linux (I have been using it exclusively for the past 20+ years), I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t very computer-savvy. It requires a fair amount of maintenance. Graphics performance has improved dramatically, but it’s still miles behind macOS and Windows. It’s just not for the masses.

        • Bullshit, that is entirely dependent on what distro you use. I highly recommend Linux to anyone that isn't computer-savvy because (depending on distro) it's so much harder to fuck it up, install a virus, let a scammer talk you into connecting them so they can clean out your bank account, etc. Put on a theme that looks like whatever version of Windows they're used to, put their shortcuts in the same place, and a person that isn't computer-savvy won't know the difference - plus they'll still be able to safely

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

            Just try to configure a 4.0 surround sound setup. On windows it's just a couple of clicks. On Ubuntu it's at least a couple of ChatGPT questions involving a new software to install and obscure settings to define.

            No, it's nowhere as complete and polished from a personal computer peripheral point of view.

            That said, printing on my epson network printer required no download whatsoever, so I guess YMMV

            • People that aren't computer savvy aren't configuring a 4.0 surround sound setup on a computer. Personally I don't use ChatGPT and wouldn't trust it to give me instructions to do anything to my computer. But thank you for giving an example of how you had to figure out how to do one very specific thing on one distro - something that you do once and then it's done, at that - and judge all of Linux for it.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

                If only I had to do it once. But no, most updates (especially dist-upgrades) have me do that all over again time after time.

                Also, the fact that I gave only one example doesn't necessarily mean there is only one. I could talk about having to troubleshoot grub in busybox because an update borked the config. I can imagine my father in front of the busybox shell all day long. He'll just buy another computer.

                • People that aren't computer savvy don't post on Slashdot, and don't troubleshoot grub in busybox. But if you're repeatedly configuring a 4.0 surround sound setup and having to ask ChatGPT how to do it again every time, I would recommend talking to a doctor, because that genuinely sounds like some kind of mental issue. Maybe this issue is also what made you take "I highly recommend Linux to anyone that isn't computer-savvy" to mean I wanted to hear about the struggles of someone that is computer savvy doing

        • I just recently switched my laptop from Windows 11 to Ubuntu.

          Almost everything I have seen is that Ubuntu is more streamlined than Windows. Installing software was a piece of cake! Settings are much easier on Ubuntu than Windows purely because there are fewer settings to deal with.

          My switch to Ubuntu has mostly been successful. The only issues I have are regarding the laptop hardware- trackpad click sensitivity (cannot find that setting) and the fact that Ubuntu will not keep my setting to not use the f

      • "Directory Opus for Windows was first released 24 years ago. [wikipedia.org] Were you using it on Amiga before that?"

        Yep, It was on Fish dusk 212 I think

        But I did purchase v3.49 - it actually came with a printed manual in a binder

        Sadly I didn't bring any of my Amigas with me when I moved to USA from NZ

        I can't remember which version I first bought for the PC, but it ran on Win XP

  • All these preload hacks will waste RAM when RAM prices are high, with every app wanting to preload themselves it will just lead to swapping which will destroy the point. Remember that Windows XP worked on a 16th of the amount of ram as modern Windows before rust-electron-javascript vibecoded slopware was a thing.
    • Well, I just checked to see what the difference in memory usage was between explorer.exe with file explorer open and without (it's the same process for both). The difference was not significant.

  • and then claim File Explorer loads faster /s (Score:3)

    by Mirnotoriety ( 10462951 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:43AM (#65817031)
    Same thing being used with msOffice and iExplorer. Most of their bits are loaded at boot. Besides, file Explorer and the Search Box are next to useless in finding a file. I use Everything from voidtools.com

  • So the boot/login process will now be slower and you won't have as much usable memory. This is the last straw reason that I'm ditching the last of my Windows machines--boot/login is too slow.

  • But it's already loaded! (Score:3)

    by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:52AM (#65817055)
    What process provides the Windows desktop? Explorer.exe
    What is File Explorer's executable? Explorer.exe

    Am I missing something?

    • This here! What the hell? Explorer.exe is running permanently. File Explorer should just be an additional window. It's also loaded for literally every application (not written in Java) since it is used to display save as and open dialogues boxes.

      Something about this announcement isn't right.

    • Without knowing precisely how Explorer is structured, it's conceivable that there may be different dynamically-linked libraries and/or execution points for running the desktop and for the file explorer, in which case just having explorer.exe running in and of itself doesn't mean that new modules have to be loaded if explorer.exe process fires up. The solution could very well be to load the libraries involved in file browsing when the desktop opens.

      Just guessing here. There was a time when there was a lot mo

  • My 486 took three minutes to boot. (Score:3)

    by eggstasy ( 458692 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @10:59AM (#65817075) Journal

    My new PC boosts instantly. What are they trying to improve? With oodles of RAM and absurdly fast SSDs there is nothing slow about a computer these days.

  • uh (Score:2)

    by invisik ( 227250 )

    This is news? Why wouldn't parts of File Explorer be preloaded? It's integrated to the operating system. har har

    But I agree, how big and heavy does a file management program need to be? hmmm...

    -m

  • Windows explorer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ZERO1ZERO ( 948669 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @11:30AM (#65817131)
    Windows explorer im convinced is design and programmed by people who dont manage files. Its useless at its core functions. Explorer has been on downward trajectory since win7

  • That, on modern hardware, they have to preload a fucking file browser so that it pops up faster is just an indication of what a steaming pile of garbage MS is. They had sweet spots with Win2k-WinXP and with Win7, but their incoherent need to be a whole bunch of contradictory things --- with AI! has led what was a rather iffy OS and UI experience to begin with to become a cluster fuck of incoherence.

    I do most of my day to day work on MacOS and Gnome, and fortunately the Terminal services version I have to RD

  • We have the fastest computers ever, fast processors, fast memory, fast solid state storage, fast buses. But our software is such garbage that we need to preload it all. Its not like we are reading File Explorer from a floppy. There really is no excuse we just stopped building efficient software in exchange for being faster to market.

  • Load everything in memory, so there's no loading time! It'll all run from memory. You'll need 256 GB RAM, but won't have to worry about disk access times.

  • Needs More Edge (Score:5, Funny)

    by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @01:42PM (#65817373)

    There's only 7 or 8 instances of Edge pre-loaded. They need to up these rookie numbers.

  • Old (Score:3)

    by eneville ( 745111 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2025 @04:47PM (#65817673) Homepage

    This is what they did with MS Office to make it feel like it loaded faster than Corel/WordPerfect/Lotus.

    Every boot windows took longer, even if you didn't ever start it. Seriously, how many people use a file manager during their day? Most people won't go to the file manger, so it's a drain on the battery and makes some early start tasks a little slower.

    Thanks!

  • What The? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Explorer starts almost instantly. Go to Task Manager, kill explorer.exe and watch your desktop and task tray disappear. Now run explorer.exe and it will be up and running before you can count to 1. If they want Windows to boot quicker they should work on optimizing all of the antivirus scanning, indexing and telemetry going on in the background.
  • On the plus side, most of File Explorer is already loaded. But why pre-load the rest? Since MS is currently fixated on training AI, the simplest answer is, so MS can commit more data theft.

    Another effect is, Windows adopts the 'always on' paradigm of iOS or the Palm Pilot: Applications remember more than traditional UI settings/history list. Current applications are designed around the OS 'clean slate' paradigm where memory is divided into 'fast' and 'slow' usage. Many applications pretending that ha

  • It tries to do too many things.

    If you've ever written software that hooks into the Explorer API (such as to show contents of Zip files), you find out that Explorer calls your API *incessantly*, often hundreds of times just in the process of showing a list of files. It wants to know about icons and descriptions and content previews and such. You have to implement some serious caching to make sure you don't reduce it to a crawl.

    It's no wonder it takes a long time to load.

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