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Finally! How Microsoft’s New “Instant” Fix Solves File Explorer Lag Forever
Microsoft has officially acknowledged a long-standing frustration among Windows 11 users: File Explorer is too slow. In a significant shift to address this, the tech giant is testing a new “preloading” mechanism in its latest preview builds, scheduled for a broad rollout in early 2026.
Unlike previous patches that attempted to rewrite code, this solution focuses on behavior modification—keeping the File Explorer app primed in the background to eliminate load times entirely.
The Core Change: Shell vs. App Preloading
To understand this update, it is crucial to distinguish between the Windows Shell and the File Explorer Application:
- The Shell (explorer.exe): This process always runs in the background. It powers your Taskbar, Start Menu, and Desktop environment.
- The App: Historically, the actual file management window only launches when you click the icon. This “cold start” is what causes the delay.
The New Approach: Microsoft is now decoupling these processes slightly to allow the File Explorer App to remain suspended in memory, separate from the Shell, ensuring it opens immediately upon request.
Performance Impact: Speed vs. RAM Usage
Users are often wary of background processes consuming system resources. However, initial tests suggest the impact is negligible:
- Launch Speed: The “instant-on” feel is a massive improvement over the current 1-2 second delay.
- Memory Footprint: The preloaded instance consumes only a few additional megabytes of RAM. For most modern PCs (16GB+ RAM), this trade-off is imperceptible, though users on 8GB systems may want to monitor performance.
- Navigation: Note that this improves the launch of the window, not necessarily the speed of navigating between heavy folders.
How to Disable Preloading (Step-by-Step)
Microsoft is prioritizing user choice. If you notice performance degradation or simply prefer a leaner system, you can disable this feature easily:
- Open File Explorer.
- Navigate to Options (usually found under the “…” menu).
- Select the View tab.
- Uncheck the toggle labeled: “Enable window preloading for faster launch times”.
New UI Features: The “Manage File” Menu
Beyond performance, Microsoft is refining the aesthetic and functional clutter of the context menu for WinUI 3 apps. A new “Manage file” option is being tested to group related actions, creating a cleaner interface:
- Compress to ZIP
- Copy as Path
- Share
- Rename
This consolidation aims to reduce the visual noise that has plagued the Windows 11 right-click menu since launch.