Slow folder browsing

[PaulMThomas]

Overview:

Windows XP Pro clients on A/D network. Some of the XP clients are very slow to display folder contents when browsing (Min 6 secs to show folder contents even if only a couple of files). As the file server is 4 yrs old I have purchased a new one and have been running tests with it.

Discoveries so far:
One the PC's that are slow, they are also slow for local drives so probably not a network issue as such.
If I take a laptop that is slow and login as a new user which creates a new local profile then browsing is quick for both local and network drives

Any suggestions where to go from here? I asuume there is something in the profile slowing it down.

 

[cmeagan656]

Try going to My Network Places and deleting anything in there related to network drives. I've found that if too many "network places" accumulate in there then it slows down the browsing, even for local drives.

Leave the Add Network Place, the wizards, and the Entire Network entries but delete anything specific to network files or folders.

Cheers.

 

[linney]

A new profile will not be burdened with a large amount of user profile data, maybe that could explain why it works quicker?

What is your speed like via "Safe Mode with Networking", both local and networking?

Some previous problems and solutions.

Slow Network Performance
thread779-1436046

Speed up Network Browsing
Thread96-664508

Please help - no one seems to know
thread779-494796

 

[PaulMThomas]

cmeagan656: I have already tried this but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have made any difference. I only had 6 entries in there, I also changed the reg entry to stop it recreating them.

 

[PaulMThomas]

linney:

Thanks for the post, I have followed all of the links you provided, plus th elinks off those as well. Unfortunately nothing seems to have made a difference.

Most of these suggestions are PC-wide settings and not individual user profile settings.

I appreciate my profile is now almost a year old and will have a lot more stuff in it, but I am suprised that this should affect general browsing in windows explorer.


Any other suggestions or avenues for me to explore?

Thanks in advance

Paul

 

[PaulMThomas]

Update:

I have tried loging into the laptop off the network and the local c: drive is still slow to browse.

Windows XP SP3 has been installed and made no difference.

 

[PaulMThomas]

Further update:

I have used a utility from Belkasoft to examine all plugins for Windows Explorer(WE), I have run a report of these from the original users profile and the new user on that PC and both are identical so I don't believe it's a plugin in WE causing this.

 

[linney]

Are you pursuing this problem in the Server Forums too, might be a good idea to broaden the "Net"?

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=931

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=1674

Concentrating on the Laptop when not connected to the Network.

What is that like from "Safe Mode with Networking", or just Safe Mode, is there any improvement in performance?

Any strange messages in the Event Viewer, look in there before using Safe Mode as that (Safe Mode) generates some not real error messages.

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

FAQ779-4784 may help.

windows XP running very slow
thread779-796508

Disable, not uninstall, any unused network adapters

 

[PaulMThomas]

I have found the PC I am testing with to be almost back to normal now, last thing done was SP3 for XP.

I hope to have the main problem PC back in the office next week to have a look at, I will post further comments once I have more info.

Thanks to all for assistance offered so far!

 

[Ferriciean]

I mentioned this on another thread just a minute ago, but it applies to this as well.

Make sure "HP Imaging Monitor" isn't running... this "beautiful" piece of software causes all sorts of grief for network shares.

XP SP3 may have fixed your issue on the other machines due to suppression policy fixes which were inherent in the service pack.

 

[PaulMThomas]

Ferriciean:- What suppression policies are these?

 

[Ferriciean]

Check out

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829700

 

[linney]

Here is the other link mentioned by "Ferriciean".

Slow DNS, Logon Script Processing and Access to Mapped Drives.
thread779-1504452