First note: yep Michelle, i know this is no special photography-topic but as lots of people here are having lot's of pictures on their hard-discs i hope i'm not all to wrong in posting this one here? waiting for the paddle Ok, let's try to explain what's happening: Opening the windows-explorer, looking for the images-drive. All is fine. Opening images -> folder 1 -> folder 2 (folders with just subfolders but no images) .. still all fine. Opening folder 3 and bang .. have to wait up to three minutes before i see the thumbs of the images (jpg). And that's a folder with just 20 shots (directly from the cam). You can imagine what happens in big subfolders with 100 or more shots. Deactivating the thumb view does not help, XP still seems to open each and any file looking for its content (or whatever). Does any of you know that problem? If the files are smaller (e.g. the older shots from the IXUS) the waiting-time is a lot shorter which seems to indicate some hardware-related issues but as there's no problem with any other type of files i don't really believe in that. Also, in opening the folders with that PSP file-browser or the image-database i use, there's no problem too .. so i think Windows itself is the reason (but i admit, that may be wrong). Is there some switch in Win XP i accidentally hit? Any possible misconfiguration? Or is it something i have to life with? Tom

I think it's on topic enough.... maybe others are having this same problem? How much RAM do you have in your computer? And do you have other programs open while this is happening? It almost sounds like your system resources are being taxed to death.

Check that you've not switched off thumbnail caching. To do this, browse to the offending folder in Explorer. Go to the Tools menu and hit the folder options sub menu. Then select the view tab, ensure the "Do not cache thumbnails" option is NOT checked! Check that and report back :) :)

This might help too if you're using Photoshop 7.

Right click on an image file and choose properties, then go to the Photoshop Image Tab and uncheck "Generate Thumbnails"

Apparently this will still display the previews, but faster! (Im on PS6, so not seen this problem myself).

I always set my folder views to detail view. I hate that 'intelligent' behaviour like the one you're describing. If you want the same, open explorer, set the folder view to the one you like (in my case details). Then from the Extra menu choose mapoptions (last option). Goto the tabpage appearance(?) it's the second tab. There is a button there called 'apply to all maps'. Then all maps should look the same. ps. I use a Dutch version of windows, so the names might be off :)

@Michelle: thanks for not-paddling g. It seems to be independent of other progs. Happens with lots of programs open but with none of em too. 1 GB RAM should be enough but with Win XP i'm not sure any more. @Wivelrod: that option was turned off already. Did it again and marked "use on all folders" and at least that reloading seems to be gone. I may be wrong but the thumbs are loading somewhat faster now too. Using PS 6.0 myself. Unchecking "generate thumbsnails" provides the same problem as the idea from 3DGuy - no thumbs any more. @3DGuy: details are great on a lot of folders, yep! But as i don't touch my original shots i don't rename them and filenames like 123_4567.jpg are not helpful in finding the pic i'm looking for. Secondly, even without thumbs (e.g. in detail view) i have to wait that 2-3 minutes until all files get there PS-icon. They can be double-clicked before but it's visible, that Win XP is still working on that files. Strange, isn't it? Thanks a lot to you three!! :-)

I use ACDSee to browse image folders. I don't like the Windows interpretation of the image browsing facility.

The most likely cause is not caching the thumbnails ... bot there could be additional issues. Before you begin ... if you feel uneasy about making this kind of change, that is beneficial -- you understand the problem ... after all, you learned Photoshop, didn't you? This stuff is less difficult. That having been said, please have paper and pen/pencil so that you can record all of both the old settings and the new settings. Doing that is a "Good Thing" (TM). Some Windoze "secrets" ... 1. Don't let FastFind run ... ever. 2. Be sure that the swap file area is managed by Windoze 3. If your OS is earlier than XP, performance settings ... Right-click "My Computer" -> "Properties" -> "Performance" under "General", check the installed memory value; under "Advanced Settings" click "File System" ... Under "Hard Disk", set Typical Role to Network Server; set Read-Ahead optimization to the smallest value that works (my W95 machine this is set to 8K). 4. On XP, Click "Start" -> Right-click "My Computer" -> "Properties" ... under "General", check the installed memory value; under "Advanced" -> "Performance". This opens "Performance options". Under "Visual effects", select "Adjust for best performance" Note: your screen appearance will change. BTW, I just made this change and it seems to bring up the windows faster (i.e "good"). Under "Advanced", all of the options should favor the application. In addition, check the size of the swap area. This applies to all of the above ... In a window with tabs (or as the partner I worked for at Deloitte said, "Folios"), make all of the changes before clicking OK ... otherwise click Cancel. Please reply with your experience so everyone can learn.

@3DGuy: yep, i start to dislike this more and more too. But as PS CS is on my wishlist, i hope the browser in there is as good as the one i know from PSP and ACD-See. :) @MGD: yep, i'll try that .. thanks a lot. One question: i've been told more than once, that deactivating the caching is the better way? And to Nr. 1: what is "fast find"? Because not knowing what it is, i may have not used it, but i'm not sure? scratcheshead. And btw.: it's WinXP Pro. Thanks again :)

IIRC, FastFind was part of M$ Office ... in some configurations, people claimed that it used up to 20% of PC resources just so that Office documents opened just a little faster. Typical M$ design ... fix the appearance, not the real problem. Deactivating the XP cache would be a Bad Thing (TM). When you open one of these folders, do you see a file called thumbs.db? That holds the thumbnail images for the folder -- if not there, it has to be rebuilt each time you open the folder. Since it is a hidden file, you need to use this incantation to compel hidden files to become visible ... Open a folder with images, click "Tools" -> "Folder Options" -> "View" ... there, under "Advanced Settings", then "Files and Folders", then "Hidden files and folders" ... click on "Show hidden files and folders" Note: Even though you could "Apply to All Folders" or "Reset All Folders" ... I wouldn't do that kind of global change just yet. ... Instead, simply click "OK" for the current folder.

1. Be sure that the swap file area is managed by Windoze that's the only one I manage myself. I set the min and max size to the same fixed amount. This stops Windows from having to expand the swap file all the time and keeps it in one piece.

Now i know what you're refering to MGD. That's the first i deactivate after installing MS Office :). Slows down startup and uses ressources for nothing .. yep. Windows-Caching is NOT deactivated .. it's set to server as you suggested (good thing that works since Win 3.1 if there's enough RAM). I was refering to that thumb-caching which i deactivated. Still there's that thumbs.db. Try to delete them? Just to see if Windows trys to rebuild them??? They definately are there ... (see hidden files is one of the things i activate always .. i love to see what is really there .. not just what Billy wants me to see). Btw.: no prob with global settings as long as i remember what i've done. :-) @3DGuy: swapfile is set to custom sized 1.5 GB minimum, max 3 GB. Had to do that for Windows assigned to much disc-space to swapping which i feel is absolutely not necessary with 1 GB of RAM. Or am i wrong with that? Thanks again. You're great guys! :-)

I love to see what is really there .. not just what > Billy wants me to see Right. Each time I have Billy over for brewskies, I try to tell him that issues like that give him a negative image ... and all I get back is a sly grin. Oh well.

Not sure right now: do you think i should enable thumbs-caching again?

Yes, you should enable thumbs caching. Explanation ... Just now, I spent 30 miinutes with Google, Micorsoft, and other sites who all claim to be authorities. Some said, "turn it off" and some said, "turn it on". They all agreed that XP would run faster. groan Some nuggets of truth did emerge ... The time (delay) to make thumbnails (e.g. update the thumbs.DB file increases if you add or delete images often. I have a basic question, do you see this problem every time you go to a folder with images ... or just the first time you open such a folder folder with thumbnail view? I know on my PC, when I collect images from the flash card to an XP folder (usually a folder for the specific day and topic), there is a long delay ... but only the first time. HTH

The delay happens only the first time (creating the thumbs i guess) ... doesn't happen when going to that folder later. But it will happen again when going to that folder after shutting down XP. So i'll activate it again .. let's see what happens :)