How do I stop Windows Explorer from logging sub-folders?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fireman1ce
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Fireman1ce

Windows XP, SP3 using Windows Explorer with all folders set to "Detail View."
Hard drive indexing service is turned off.

Suppose you have a parent folder called Alphabet. Inside Alphabet (nested)
are 26 sub-folders containing 50,000 photos each. As long as I choose
Alphabet, Explorer only lists the folders in the right window pane. However,
suppose I want to view the contents of the "M" folder. As soon as I click on
the "M" folder or expand Alphabet (change from a "+" to a "-"), Windows
Explorer logs every file in all 26 folders, even if I only intend to view the
contents of the "M" folder. Obviously, waiting for Windows Explorer to
enumerate, search, list, find, whatever....all files in all the sub-folders
takes an inordinate amount of time, when all I want to list are the files in
the "M" folder. How do I stop Windows Explorer from searching all the
sub-folders automatically? This behavior is hard on the HDD and kills
performance. Thanks.

Fireman1ce
 
Isn't your problem the reason for having and using the Indexing Service?


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Fireman1ce said:
Windows XP, SP3 using Windows Explorer with all folders set to
"Detail View." Hard drive indexing service is turned off.

Suppose you have a parent folder called Alphabet. Inside Alphabet
(nested) are 26 sub-folders containing 50,000 photos each. As long
as I choose Alphabet, Explorer only lists the folders in the right
window pane. However, suppose I want to view the contents of the "M"
folder. As soon as I click on the "M" folder or expand Alphabet
(change from a "+" to a "-"), Windows Explorer logs every file in all
26 folders, even if I only intend to view the contents of the "M"
folder. Obviously, waiting for Windows Explorer to enumerate,
search, list, find, whatever....all files in all the sub-folders
takes an inordinate amount of time, when all I want to list are the
files in the "M" folder. How do I stop Windows Explorer from
searching all the sub-folders automatically? This behavior is hard
on the HDD and kills performance. Thanks.

Fireman1ce
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean by "logs every file"? Do you mean it expands *all*
subfolders (and their subfolders, etc) when you click on the "+"? Do you
have some other sort of indexing or desktop searching tool installed?
 
Gerry,

Thanks for taking the time to help me. I have been on Jury selection all
day and just got home (5p.m. - didn't get picked!!)

I have read to turn off indexing service to improve performance, but I will
turn it on again to see if that makes any change. However, I believe the
reason I turned it off in the first place was for the issue of it checking
all the folders anyway. I will do it as soon as I answer Olórin's message as
well. I will get back to you within a few minutes. It is now 5:10 p.m.
Texas time on Friday, June 26.

Fireman1ce
 
Olórin,

No, the sub-folders do not all expand in the left pane. They remain closed
(the icon of the folder remains as a closed folder), but the sub-directories
are checked anyway. When I first expand the "Alphabet" folder, it lists all
the sub-folders in the left window pane. All the folders (A-Z) have a "+" at
first, even though none have any folders nested below them. However, I say
"at first," because the "+" starts disappearing entirely with each sub-folder
as each is checked for files. When the sub-folder is checked completely, the
next folder is checked. No folders have any "+" or "-" sign, after the
folder is checked. Only Alphabet retains a "-" sign. The order in which
this "checking," or searching occurs is from Z to A. So, I have to wait for
all the folders to be checked prior to continuing any task.

Further, I do not use any third party indexing program of any kind. I am
going to try Gerry's suggestion and turn on the indexing service to see if
that helps. It didn't before, but we'll see. I hope he is right.

Thanks you both for helping me. I am running out of "experts" to ask about
this issue. I will let you know how the indexing service does in fixing the
issue.

Fireman1ce
 
Using the Indexing Service does initially result in slower system
performance for a few days. This fades once the index has been built.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Gentlemen,

Turning on Indexing Service had no effect. The same behavior occurs with
the sub-folders.

Procedure: Turned on Indexing service in Administrative tools, then
rebooted. After reboot, checked properties for C: and D: with Windows
Explorer to "Allow Indexing" to be used for each disk. Rebooted again.
Checked settings. Expanded Alphabet to see each sub-folder being checked
from Z-A. Behavior unchanged.

Fireman1ce
 
As I said earlier it takes 3/4 days for an index to be built.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Gerry,

Thank you for the follow-up message. I will keep indexing service turned on
and keep opening all the folders to speed things along, if that is possible.
Once the index is fully built, I will report back to you. I assume, per your
message, that this will take several days, perhaps a week.

Fireman1ce
 
Gentlemen,

The experiment of building the index for one week did not stop the behavior
I originally described. However, over the course of the week, I noticed the
computer getting slower and slower. In some cases, the slow down is rather
significant! It can be so significant that I would rather put up with the
original problem, rather than deal with the sluggish computer.

Fireman1ce
 
By the way, I did notice that searching for text inside files is FAR faster
with the indexing service turned on. However, I rarely search for text
within a file, and the cost/benefit ratio is not worth it to me. Certainly,
if the trade-off is a sluggish computer, then I am better off turning
indexing service off.

Fireman1ce
 
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