OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
through this sequence.
Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
few weeks.
thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
Me

On 4/5/2022 5:12 PM, james moffat wrote:
> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
> through this sequence.
> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
> few weeks.
> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
> Me

Look in Windows Media Player and look at the Preferences for
music media lookup.

See if the network LED is flashing while all this disappearing
and reappearing happens.

If you have any other music cataloging software (iTunes, Groove),
maybe they have similar settings.

Maybe storing materials in the Music folder behaves different
than the Downloads folder.

With my "one CD music collection", I'm not about to set the
world on fire with my knowledge of media lookup. I think
there are a few people here with huge collections.

Paul

james moffat wrote:

> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
> through this sequence.
> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
> few weeks.
> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
> Me

Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
write).

https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/

That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
what used to be inside a folder).

Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.

The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.

Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
change to all subfolders, too.

If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.

In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
than alphabetical (by name)?

On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 at 19:13:06, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote (my
responses usually FOLLOW):
>james moffat wrote:
>
>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>> through this sequence.
>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>> few weeks.
>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>> Me
>
>Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail

Well, listing _can_ - if you've added a column that requires similar
opening. For example, in W7 at least, "Length".
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

He who prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often
creating a fictitious demand for low standards which he will then satisfy.
- Lord Reith

On 2022-04-06, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
> james moffat wrote:
>
>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>> through this sequence.
>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>> few weeks.
>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>> Me
>
> Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
> Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
> content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
> details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
> opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
> inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
> cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
> file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
> depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
> write).
>
> https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/
>
> That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
> cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
> needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
> the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
> progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
> Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
> recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
> the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
> purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
> thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
> revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
> the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
> folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
> sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
> reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
> what used to be inside a folder).
>
> Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
> and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
> don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
> know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.
>
> The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
> complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
> files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.
>
> Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
> check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
> folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
> subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
> change to all subfolders, too.
>
> If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
> in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
> folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
> the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.
>
> In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
> than alphabetical (by name)?

I don't have any problems with my music folders & do not use
windows media player for my music. The music were extracted
in the "flac" format & have 'thousands' of albums/folders. Most
likely you have set the windows media player as the default app
& however your preferences have been setup.

My music file playing is with foobar2000 as the default & now
autoplay was setup. File explorer treats the music files as just
"normal" files for me to do what I want; and still able to use
mp3tag to do any editing on a file or files.

james moffat wrote:
> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
> through this sequence.
> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
> few weeks.
> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
> Me
>

Your problem is probably due to thumbnails, as VanguardLH suggests.
Here's another helpful tip.

I have a large music collection, run WMP and have occasional trouble
with AlbumArt downloads. You can turn the feature off, but I prefer to
keep it on and delete the whole lot when I will.
Use Windows Explorer, do a search in the music folder for "AlbumArt",
wait until it's done, select Details view tab, select all and delete.
Even if you don't delete, it's very revealing how many of the jpg's
you'll find.

Ed

On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 18:47:27 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

>On 4/5/2022 5:12 PM, james moffat wrote:
>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>> through this sequence.
>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>> few weeks.
>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>> Me
>
thanks for the suggestions.

>Look in Windows Media Player and look at the Preferences for
>music media lookup.
>

I do not use WMP for anything. my default player is winamp, and it is
setup to not catalogue anything.

>See if the network LED is flashing while all this disappearing
>and reappearing happens.

although my LED is not visible from computers location my network
monitor is not showing any transfers while the files are being
"scanned".

>
>If you have any other music cataloging software (iTunes, Groove),
>maybe they have similar settings.

I do not use any music cataloging software that I am aware of. if
something is adding it to a catalogue I want to find it and shut it
down.
>
>Maybe storing materials in the Music folder behaves different
>than the Downloads folder.

This is occurring in all folders not just the music folder, in fact I
do not use the 'Music' folder at all. it is currently empty.

>
>With my "one CD music collection", I'm not about to set the
>world on fire with my knowledge of media lookup. I think
>there are a few people here with huge collections.
>
> Paul
any and all ideas and helpful suggestions are welcomed. Something
mentioned may just trigger an idea from someone else. So thanks.

Me

On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 19:13:06 -0500, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:

>james moffat wrote:
>
>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>> through this sequence.
>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>> few weeks.
>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>> Me
>
Wow.... lots of typing... thanks for all the suggestions

>Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
>file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
>depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
>write).

no green bar. View is usually in details format with an occasional
revert automatically to icons, I don't like using Thumbnails.

>
>https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/
>
>That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
>cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
>needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
>the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
>progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
>Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
>recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
>the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
>purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
>thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
>revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
>the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
>folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
>sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
>reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
>what used to be inside a folder).
>

Thumbnails cache has been cleaned with no effect on this behavior.

>Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
>and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
>don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
>know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.
>
Explorer is set to not use thumbnails, and although the always show
icons was not set in properties turning it on made no difference to
the behavior.

>The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
>complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
>files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.
>

The Green Progress bar does not show up until after this behavior is
finished. and only lasts for a split second. I just noticed this, to
me that is kinda odd unto itself.

>Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
>check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
>folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
>subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
>change to all subfolders, too.
>

all folders are set to General , I try not to use any specialized
customizations.

>If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
>in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
>folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
>the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.
>
Although windows indexing is turned on turning it off made no effect
to the behavior. and as far as I know the drive these files are on is
not being indexed.
and turning off indexing for these individual folders does not alter
the behavior.

>In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
>than alphabetical (by name)?

Default is set for alphabetical, I will some times alter that after I
am in the folder but it does not take any time to resort the list.
This behavior only occurs once after I have opened the folder,
anything else I do in there it does not occur again.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.
Me

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 01:33:48 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 at 19:13:06, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote (my
>responses usually FOLLOW):
>>james moffat wrote:
>>
>>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>>> through this sequence.
>>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>>> few weeks.
>>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>>> Me
>>
>>Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>>Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>>content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>>details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>>opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>>inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>
>Well, listing _can_ - if you've added a column that requires similar
>opening. For example, in W7 at least, "Length".
>[]

interesting.
Although I do not use length. the columns that are used by default are
name # title Contributing artist and album.
would any of those cause this, and if so why is it being a problem
just recently?
Me

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 01:17:14 -0000 (UTC), lew
<citrustwosac@google.mailer.company.invalid> wrote:

>On 2022-04-06, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>> james moffat wrote:
>>
>>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>>> through this sequence.
>>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>>> few weeks.
>>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>>> Me
>>
>> Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>> Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>> content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>> details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>> opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>> inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>> cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
>> file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
>> depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
>> write).
>>
>> https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/
>>
>> That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
>> cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
>> needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
>> the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
>> progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
>> Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
>> recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
>> the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
>> purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
>> thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
>> revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
>> the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
>> folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
>> sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
>> reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
>> what used to be inside a folder).
>>
>> Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
>> and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
>> don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
>> know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.
>>
>> The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
>> complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
>> files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.
>>
>> Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
>> check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
>> folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
>> subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
>> change to all subfolders, too.
>>
>> If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
>> in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
>> folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
>> the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.
>>
>> In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
>> than alphabetical (by name)?
>
>I don't have any problems with my music folders & do not use
>windows media player for my music. The music were extracted
>in the "flac" format & have 'thousands' of albums/folders. Most
>likely you have set the windows media player as the default app
>& however your preferences have been setup.
>
>My music file playing is with foobar2000 as the default & now
>autoplay was setup. File explorer treats the music files as just
>"normal" files for me to do what I want; and still able to use
>mp3tag to do any editing on a file or files.

Thanks for the suggestions

My default music player is WinAmp, I never use WMP.
As Far as I know windows is supposed to be treating my media files as
just files as well, and was doing that until recently when this
behavior started up. Nothing was changed on my part (as far as I know)
Which is why I am investigating this behavior.
Me

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 at 12:13:47, james moffat <spam.spam@distributel.net>
wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 18:47:27 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
[]
>>See if the network LED is flashing while all this disappearing
>>and reappearing happens.
>
>although my LED is not visible from computers location my network
>monitor is not showing any transfers while the files are being
>"scanned".
[]
Although not a solution to your current puzzle: if people want to check
network activity, there are network activity monitors; here's the one I
use: http://codebox.org.uk/pages/bitmeter2 - like many of my other
recommendations, this one does what I want and more, so I didn't look
further, so there may be better ones. (Not sure it works under 10,
though the page has a 2022 date at the bottom.) The features I use:
it draws a small autoscaling graph of network activity (incoming,
outgoing, or both), which can be made to go away; it has an audio beep
that can be set to sound at chosen amounts of data (or of course also
turned off). I tend to leave the audio on, as it then alerts me of
significant unexpected uploads or downloads - but if you don't live
alone, you'd probably want to silence it (or turn it or bitmeter off) as
some others may find it irritating. (FWIW I have it set to every 100 kB,
combined in/out.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

he was eventually struck off by the BMA in 1968 for not knowing his gluteus
maximus from his humerus.

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 at 12:46:10, james moffat <spam.spam@distributel.net>
wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 01:33:48 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
><G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
[]
>>Well, listing _can_ - if you've added a column that requires similar
>>opening. For example, in W7 at least, "Length".
>>[]
>
>interesting.
>Although I do not use length. the columns that are used by default are
>name # title Contributing artist and album.

I don't know if it's different in 10 on, but in 7 and before, I think
all of those - unless "name" just means the filename - would have to be
read from each file.

You _could_ experiment with reducing the columns to just (file) name,
size, a date, and type (which comes from the filename anyway), to see if
that changes it when you go away from and then back to a given folder
....

>would any of those cause this, and if so why is it being a problem
>just recently?
>Me

.... But I can't see why it should have happened recently and not before
(unless you've just recently added those columns).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

he was eventually struck off by the BMA in 1968 for not knowing his gluteus
maximus from his humerus.

On 4/6/2022 2:41 PM, james moffat wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 19:13:06 -0500, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> james moffat wrote:
>>
>>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>>> through this sequence.
>>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>>> few weeks.
>>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>>> Me
>>
> Wow.... lots of typing... thanks for all the suggestions
>
>> Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>> Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>> content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>> details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>> opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>> inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>> cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
>> file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
>> depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
>> write).
>
> no green bar. View is usually in details format with an occasional
> revert automatically to icons, I don't like using Thumbnails.
>
>>
>> https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/
>>
>> That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
>> cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
>> needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
>> the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
>> progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
>> Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
>> recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
>> the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
>> purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
>> thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
>> revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
>> the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
>> folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
>> sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
>> reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
>> what used to be inside a folder).
>>
>
> Thumbnails cache has been cleaned with no effect on this behavior.
>
>> Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
>> and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
>> don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
>> know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.
>>
> Explorer is set to not use thumbnails, and although the always show
> icons was not set in properties turning it on made no difference to
> the behavior.
>
>> The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
>> complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
>> files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.
>>
>
> The Green Progress bar does not show up until after this behavior is
> finished. and only lasts for a split second. I just noticed this, to
> me that is kinda odd unto itself.
>
>> Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
>> check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
>> folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
>> subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
>> change to all subfolders, too.
>>
>
> all folders are set to General , I try not to use any specialized
> customizations.
>
>> If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
>> in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
>> folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
>> the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.
>>
> Although windows indexing is turned on turning it off made no effect
> to the behavior. and as far as I know the drive these files are on is
> not being indexed.
> and turning off indexing for these individual folders does not alter
> the behavior.
>
>> In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
>> than alphabetical (by name)?
>
> Default is set for alphabetical, I will some times alter that after I
> am in the folder but it does not take any time to resort the list.
> This behavior only occurs once after I have opened the folder,
> anything else I do in there it does not occur again.
>
> Thanks again for all the suggestions.
> Me
>

The only scanner left, is Windows Defender, and it does not
usually cause visual symptoms. Windows Defender can absolutely
ruin your compute performance, but visually on the screen,
this does not normally show as "glitches" or anything.

As far as thumbnails go, JPG, PNG, maybe PDF if you have it
set up, have thumbnail providers. I don't think all data types
have it. The 64-bit version of Acrobat Reader may register
a PDF thumbnail provider -- if not present then no thumbnails
for a PDF should be available.

[Picture] If frame is blank, right-click and select "Reload"

https://i.postimg.cc/7hnkY59d/acrobat.gif

I neglected to circle the tick box there, but the thumbnail
box is near the middle of the picture.

The reason for mentioning Acrobat, is to show it's a "registration
based" scheme. Acrobat gets to compute thumbnails, via having
told the OS it will do PDFs when asked.

Paul

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 20:36:04 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

>On 4/6/2022 2:41 PM, james moffat wrote:
>> On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 19:13:06 -0500, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>>
>>> james moffat wrote:
>>>
>>>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>>>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>>>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>>>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>>>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>>>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>>>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>>>> through this sequence.
>>>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>>>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>>>> few weeks.
>>>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>>>> Me
>>>
>> Wow.... lots of typing... thanks for all the suggestions
>>
>>> Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>>> Explorer? If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>>> content to provide a thumbnail. Change the view from thumbnails to
>>> details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>>> opening a folder. Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>>> inside them. Listing does not. Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>>> cache, it has to get rebuilt. The thumbnail cache gets reused unless a
>>> file is new or modified (which could mean just opening the file
>>> depending on how the apps opens the file, like for read-only or for
>>> write).
>>
>> no green bar. View is usually in details format with an occasional
>> revert automatically to icons, I don't like using Thumbnails.
>>
>>>
>>> https://gearupwindows.com/how-to-clear-and-reset-the-thumbnail-cache-on-windows-10/
>>>
>>> That mentions how to clear the thumbnail cache. Could be a corrupted
>>> cache is slowing or hanging the checking of whether a new thumbnail
>>> needs to get added to the cache when opening all the media files. Clear
>>> the thumbnail cache, load the folder in Explorer, let the green bar
>>> progress meter complete, unload Explorer, go back to the folder in
>>> Explorer, and check if the green bar starts all over again. As I
>>> recall, there is a means of disabling the thumbnail cache (other than
>>> the following suggestion in settings), plus some cleanup tools will
>>> purge the thumbnail cache which means it has to get rebuilt (if
>>> thumbnailing is enabled, and used for the view) when the folder is next
>>> revisited. For example, CCleaner has a Windows Explorer option to purge
>>> the thumbnail cache when it is ran. I don't have that enabled, but some
>>> folks due for privacy reasons (you could delete a file, erase the
>>> sectors that were used for it, but forensics on the thumbnail cache can
>>> reveal the filename and a snapshot of it, just like shellbags can reveal
>>> what used to be inside a folder).
>>>
>>
>> Thumbnails cache has been cleaned with no effect on this behavior.
>>
>>> Alternatively, go into File Explorer's View tab -> Options -> View tab,
>>> and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" option. If you
>>> don't need thumbnails, like you use descriptive filenames that let you
>>> know what are in the files, then don't have Explorer use thumbnails.
>>>
>> Explorer is set to not use thumbnails, and although the always show
>> icons was not set in properties turning it on made no difference to
>> the behavior.
>>
>>> The green progress bar can take a long time to span the address bar to
>>> complete its interrogation of the media files if there are LOTS of media
>>> files in a folder, or if the media files are huge in size.
>>>
>>
>> The Green Progress bar does not show up until after this behavior is
>> finished. and only lasts for a split second. I just noticed this, to
>> me that is kinda odd unto itself.
>>
>>> Right-click on the folder, select Properties from the context menu, and
>>> check the type of folder under the Customize tab. Change from a media
>>> folder type (music, pictures, or videos) to General. If there are
>>> subfolders under the folder, select the option to apply the folder type
>>> change to all subfolders, too.
>>>
>>
>> all folders are set to General , I try not to use any specialized
>> customizations.
>>
>>> If you have Windows indexing service enabled, and the folder is included
>>> in the path(s) configured for indexing that folder, right-click on the
>>> folder, select Properties, click Advanced under General tab, and check
>>> the "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed" is disabled.
>>>
>> Although windows indexing is turned on turning it off made no effect
>> to the behavior. and as far as I know the drive these files are on is
>> not being indexed.
>> and turning off indexing for these individual folders does not alter
>> the behavior.
>>
>>> In the view of folders in Explorer, are you using a sort order other
>>> than alphabetical (by name)?
>>
>> Default is set for alphabetical, I will some times alter that after I
>> am in the folder but it does not take any time to resort the list.
>> This behavior only occurs once after I have opened the folder,
>> anything else I do in there it does not occur again.
>>
>> Thanks again for all the suggestions.
>> Me
>>
>
>The only scanner left, is Windows Defender, and it does not
>usually cause visual symptoms. Windows Defender can absolutely
>ruin your compute performance, but visually on the screen,
>this does not normally show as "glitches" or anything.
>
>As far as thumbnails go, JPG, PNG, maybe PDF if you have it
>set up, have thumbnail providers. I don't think all data types
>have it. The 64-bit version of Acrobat Reader may register
>a PDF thumbnail provider -- if not present then no thumbnails
>for a PDF should be available.
>
> [Picture] If frame is blank, right-click and select "Reload"
>
> https://i.postimg.cc/7hnkY59d/acrobat.gif
>
>I neglected to circle the tick box there, but the thumbnail
>box is near the middle of the picture.
>
>The reason for mentioning Acrobat, is to show it's a "registration
>based" scheme. Acrobat gets to compute thumbnails, via having
>told the OS it will do PDFs when asked.
>
> Paul
Thanks again for the ideas.
I use Viper antivirus and firewall rather than defender , and have
turned it off for short periods to see if it was causing some kind of
slow down, but it made no difference.
I use Sumatra pdf viewer for my pdfs, but the behavior seems to only
affect music media files..... but I understand the thinking process
here. I will have to run some more experiments to see if there
something else distinctive about it happening.
It may end up being one of those things that solves itself down the
road somewhere, I have had several of those over the years.
thanks
Me

Op 6-4-2022 om 2:33 schreef J. P. Gilliver (John):
> On Tue, 5 Apr 2022 at 19:13:06, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote (my
> responses usually FOLLOW):
>> james moffat wrote:
>>
>>> OK. I am wondering what windows file explorer is doing: whenever I
>>> open a folder with any music in it the file list will appear, then one
>>> by one each of the file names will vanish and I am unable to do
>>> anything in the folder until all the media files are gone, then they
>>> will all come back. I can then do whatever I want to with the files.
>>> Approx time for the vanishing is about 1 sec per media file , so a
>>> folder with 30 songs in it I will have to wait 30 seconds for it to go
>>> through this sequence.
>>> Any ideas on what windows is doing and how to alleviate the 'problem'?
>>> running windows 10 latest and it started doing this with in the last
>>> few weeks.
>>> thanks for your time... if you need anymore info let me know.
>>> Me
>>
>> Is there a green progress bar that creeps across the address bar in File
>> Explorer?  If so, every media file is getting opened to inspect its
>> content to provide a thumbnail.  Change the view from thumbnails to
>> details or list to stop interrogating all the files in a folder when
>> opening a folder.  Thumbnailing requires opening the media files to look
>> inside them.  Listing does not.  Also, if you ever flush the thumbnail
>
> Well, listing _can_ - if you've added a column that requires similar
> opening. For example, in W7 at least, "Length".
> []

Thanks, J.P.,

I had that irritating slow green progress bar in directories with only
Word documents.
Sometimes more than a minute.....
Deleting the column "Afspeelduur" (Dutch for playing time?) made this
green bar disappaer!
The Word doc's open faster now.

Rink