Super slow opening my downloads folder

I have an exe file in my download folder that I half downloaded through utorrent (it's not piracy, a legit file from people who use bittorrent to distribute large files). I think I tried to open it while it was still sharing, that is, did not stop the upload. That actually froze my computer. When I restart in utorrent I set the file to be deleted. Unfortunately even though utorrent doesn't see that file anymore, it's still visible in my download folder.

Whenever I try to open my download folder it literally takes 10 minutes or more. It opens, but is empty and the blue progress bar needs a long time to complete.

After completion I can use the download folder normally, but opening and closing things in that folder takes a long time. I see the exe that I tried to download. I tried to delete it. But it was taking so long 30+ minutes that I eventually just hit cancel. That doesn't even work, and it was slowing down the computer. Couldn't figure out how to stop the delete so I just pulled the plug.

Should I just forget about that dl folder and set a new one? Is there something I can do?

Thanks.

Mark

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 423

I have a freeware tool called Unlocker installed -- It lets me just right click a file and press "Unlock", and it tells me what processes have it locked and allows me to kill them or failing that allows me to schedule a file delete/rename/move/copy on reboot. -- First thing's first though, close uTorrent, run chkdsk.

– BrainSlugs83 – 2014-07-13T20:59:04.037

Have you defragmented to see if it helps? Or tried moving the files in that folder to another to see if the issue persists with the same folder? – Ciaran – 2011-02-01T21:50:54.783

@ciaran the culprit is that one exe i can't delete it though. i've moved all the other files out. – Mark – 2011-02-01T22:20:35.920

1Run a check disk, that should clean up any issues on the drive. – Supercereal – 2011-02-02T01:22:26.313

Answers

I would delete that folder and create a new one.

If it will not delete, use this trick:

Open an elevated Command Prompt and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE.
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and navigate to the the folder (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the Command Prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.
Run a chkdsk when this is done.

Moab

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 54 203

Sometime ago I had the same problem, these steps worked for me:

open your download folder
right click in a white space and go to properties
select the tab "Customize"
in the dropdownlist of "Optimize this folder for:" select "General Items"

mjsr

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 5 577

2This has plagued me for so long. Thank you mjsr. And this really should be marked as the answer. – kmort – 2014-09-13T03:13:09.137

This should be marked as answer (source: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/download-folder-ultra-slow-refresh/8b388a0c-de0a-45f1-90fb-68fc945565bc ) I would imagine that when recreating the folder as described in Moab's answer the folder defaults to being optimized for general items.

– joelmdev – 2013-07-16T00:25:58.747

Open Windows Explorer. On the left, right click on Libraries, select New, Library, name it "Downloads".
Right click on the new Downloads library, go to Properties, select Include a folder...
Locate and select the original Downloads folder from "My Computer, C:\Users\<your user profile>, find the Downloads folder, select it, click Include folder.

From now on, whenever you click on the Downloads folder, it will open instantly.

Z E E M

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 21

On Win8 or Win7, to display "customize" tab, you have to do folder properties on downloads folder profile (C:\Users\user\downloads), not on the shortcut.

Extracted from: http://www.sysadmit.com/2016/07/windows-carpeta-descargas-lenta.html

Fidonet

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 1

This is really a comment and not an answer to the original question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Please read Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?

– DavidPostill – 2016-07-17T11:02:21.770

It may be that the file is massively fragmented, as files often are through bittorrent, particularly as they get added to by multiple nearly simultaneous threads.

A couple of points to try:

(1) make sure you have enough free space on your drive. Windows bogs with full filesystems.

(2) make sure you've deleted utorrent's temp files. Try

c:\Users\{yourname}\Local Settings\Temp

and maybe the "Application Data" folder.

(3) let Windows take its time deleting that file, following the comment from Ciaran

Charles Lindsay

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 271

I have enough free space. I looked in temp, i don't see a folder called utorrent. I'll try defragging and letting that folder be deleted. – Mark – 2011-02-01T22:44:25.943

I also know this is a bit late to chime in but here is what I did to fix the program. I created a folder and added all the short cuts in and they open up just fine no issues

scott

Posted 2011-02-01T21:40:38.233

Reputation: 1