explorer.exe and large mp4 files

[sofasurfer]

Hi there

need some help here...

Just recently my PC has decided that when I open a folder with large mp4 files in it, it will use a large proportion of my CPU power running explorer.exe. This can use up 100% of my PC's CPU and slows the whole machine down for about 30 seconds.

This only happens on mp4 files and large avi files do not cause this to happen.

Googling the problem seems to suggest that explorer.exe is scanning these files every time I open a folder with them in. Is this normal and is there anything I can do to stop it happening.

Many thanks

[abigsmurf]

Check for a corrupt video file, some codecs will cause explorer to crash if they come across a dodgy file.

Also, could be a codec conflict. If you have more than one codec trying to play a file it causes all sorts of weird issues. If you've installed a codec pack on anything other than a clean install, this happens quite a lot.

[randombs]

Are you using ffdshow?

If it's every folder with mp4 files, is your folder view set to thumbnails? Try setting it to details or icons, and on the left pane at the bottom, hide the details bit as that also brings up a thumbnail. If you show hidden files/folders (in the folder options bit at the top), try deleting the thumbs.db file which is where all the thumbnails are kept.

A quick Google found me this site. See if that helps you. Of course, it turns off the functionality completely, which you may not want, but I'd try it just to see.

At the very least, see if it stops the slowdown and then reenable it. Follow abigsmurf's advice up there about codec packs, too. Some people swear by them, personally I can't stand the things.

A mate had a similar problem, where explorer would crash whenever he went into a folder with avis in. Turned out it was one of those K-Lite codec packs and when I removed it and just installed regular old DivX it fixed the problem.