Microsoft is tackling File Explorer's sluggish launch times - not by stripping out the bloat or optimizing code, but by preloading the application in the background.
The update to File Explorer arrived in a Windows Insider build for the Dev and Beta Channels, alongside the Xbox full-screen experience for PC and a point-in-time restore feature for recovering from failed updates.
File Explorer has ballooned over the years. In 2018, Microsoft open-sourced the original Windows File Manager, a lean, mean file-wrangling machine.
Clocking in at just over 700 kB, the venerable application allowed users to perform file system activities, both on and off the network. It shipped with Windows 3.0 and was eventually put out to pasture with Windows NT 4.0 (although Windows Explorer had arguably superseded it in Windows 95 and beyond).
Windows Explorer eventually became File Explorer, and the application's utility increased, as did its weight. Performance suffered and - rather than reversing the trend of recent years - Microsoft's solution is to preload File Explorer in the background.
"This shouldn't be visible to you, outside of File Explorer hopefully launching faster when you need to use it," said Microsoft
Because despite pushing AI features onto user devices, there must be spare CPU cycles and memory for preloading File Explorer, right?
The change is experimental and rolling out gradually. Users can disable it via "Enable window preloading for faster launch times" in File Explorer's Folder Options, under View," said Microsoft.
It is hard to avoid the expansive tendencies of Windows as the operating system has aged. Yet preloading an application rather than examining what's slowing it down feels like treating symptoms, not causes.
Still, Microsoft has acknowledged the problem. That, at least, is a start. ®
Source: The register