Why does Windows Explorer take so long to display sometimes?

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Same issue here and it was fixed by removing spybot's latest version. Weird. THANKS TO PAUL who posted this fix here.

I found that the biggest delay on my system was from a windows "feature" I never use - "My Network Places." After using my work computer for a year or so, opening windows explorer was taking close to a minute. I tried getting rid of all mapped drives, etc, without any significant decrease, however, after I deleted the shortcuts (69, if I recall correctly) that windows had put in "My Network Places" by default, windows explorer now opens instantly. I'll be deleting these on a regular basis now.

And to add to the "My Network Places" debacle... Windows automatically searches and adds stuff to this list...

You can safely delete any of the icons that represent shortcuts to network shares in "My Network Places", and you can also disable the automatic search for network shares, using the following steps:

1. Open any system folder (My Computer, My Network Places, or Windows Explorer) and choose Tools, Folder Options, to open the Folder Options dialog.

2. Click the View tab.

3. In the Advanced Settings list, click the check box next to Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers check box to clear the check mark.

4. Click OK.

That takes care of the "automatic" ones... to stop it from adding shortcuts for drives you browse to:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242578

I had this same problem on one of my production Windows 2003 servers and resolved it by removing a CD that was left in the CD-ROM drive. The disk was in there so long that it became covered with dust and was unreadable.

Leo,
Thanks a MILLION for your article; it saved me a MAJOR pain!

"The most common cause of a delay in opening Windows Explorer is that one or more of the drives listed have become inaccessible."

I followed you advice and was able to identify a network drive which was "dead", upon removing it from the mapped drives: ¡VOILA!

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