The (now locked) previous thread was:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/f9ab40a8-6681-4c66-bdbd-9de7b2fb021f/action?threadDisplayName=windows-81-gradually-slows-down-after-hours-speed-returns-normal-if-restart

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I don't know why it is locked anyway, as EMKOEMKO was one of the "founders" of that thread months ago.

So... to summarize:

Explorer.exe has some sort of problem in windows 8.1, the system UI gradually becomes more and more unresponsive/jerky. Most notably DWM related funtions. As soon as you relaunch explorer.exe the problem dissappears and gradually comes back after a few hours.

• Edited by SaccoSVD Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:44 AM

Actually the problem also goes away if I unload dwm.dll

The screen goes black, then Win8 restarts it automatically and the UI works smoothly as expected again. So the problem is caused either by explorer.exe or dwm.exe

At least i know I can kill dwm instead of explorer and keep my tray icons.

• Edited by SaccoSVD Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:56 PM

Hi,

Have you checked this issue in anoter user account? What is the result?

To better know what happene with explorer, we can aso use process moniotr to view the detailed process, filter the explore.exe in process monitor.

Here is the download link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

Hi.

I'm gonna try.

I already have process monitor, what should I check there specifically? CPU usage and RAM in this case are not a problem. Maybe the amount of threads, calls?

I pinpointed this problem to these two, either explorer or wdm.exe

I'll try and report.

In the meantime, did you read the info in the other thread (top)?

• Edited by SaccoSVD Wednesday, October 01, 2014 12:22 PM

Hi,

Process Monitor is always useful to trace the process\thread activity. I paste it again here in order to catch the attention, meanwhile, have you tried the WPT tool mentioned by Zigzag, any result?

This is weird that the explorer is gradually slowing down, not crash, so what we can look for in process monitor is finding the exception according to time, both explorer.exe and dwm.exe needs to be filtered in Process monitor, I admit that it's a hard job to find any exception in this way.

Not sure if you have used any malware remove tools, but worth a try to fix this issue.

By the way, what is the result if we test the performance of explorer in cleanboot mode, please follow the link below to enter into cleanboot mode

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

1) Here are two logs from Process Monitor showing explorer.exe

https://www.sendspace.com/file/b7vl6u

With the problem.PML: This is when the issue is present and noticeable

Without the problem.PML: This is after restarting dwm.exe and explorer.exe

I cannot say if there's a problem, both look quite the same to me.

Also "dwm.exe" or "RocketDock.exe" don't return too much data, just sporadic thread creations or rare access to registry.

Explorer on both cases is constantly accessing the registry but it seems normal.

2) I also tried with a new blank user account and the problem doesn't seem to come up which suggests something else might be at work here but the system traces don't show anything abnormal and the fact the issue is temporarily fixed only when restarting explorer or dwm.

• Edited by SaccoSVD Thursday, October 09, 2014 11:22 AM

Hi,

Compare the two process monitor logs, the log with the problem shows that the explorer.exe access the shellex more frequently and last a longer time than the log without problem, explorer issue can usually caused by imcompatible shell extensions, we can use ShellExView to check if it is the culprit, run ShellExView, in the pane sort the entries with manufacturers. Disable all non-Microsoft *.dll files, and check the result. If the issue does not occur, one of the files can be the culprit. We could narrow down it one by one.

You can find more information about ShellExView in the link below

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.06.toolbox.aspx

NOTE: Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is  independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's  performance or reliability.

Thanks! :) I'll report as soon as I have some info.

ShellEx doesn't seem to effectively disable shell extension entries.

I tried:

1) Disabling the non window extensions, opening explorer and right clicking on a folder to bring the context menu.

2) Restarting explorer, and right click on a folder to bring the context menu. (shellex even has CTRL+E to restart explorer)

Either way the extensions are still there, for example the avast antivirus, 7zip or the picture resizer. In other words, they just won't go. Maybe shellex is not yet compatible with W8?

I also tried opening shellex with admin privileges and it doesn't seem to work.

Hi,

I tested the ShellExView in my Windows 8.1, it works fine, it successfully disabled the non-microsoft shell extension entries, Please note that when you have disabled the third party shell extensions, please restart explorer.exe to make it take effect.

It's been a while since anything was posted here - did anyone find a solution to this problem?