I’ve been following Microsoft’s tweaks to File Explorer closely, partly because it’s one of those tools I live in every single day. When I saw the news that Windows 11’s new “preloaded” File Explorer was supposed to speed things up, I thought, finally. But according to recent reports, the plan has backfired—Explorer is still slower than Windows 10, and now it’s chewing up double the RAM.
Why this matters to admins like me
File Explorer isn’t just a casual utility. For admins, it’s the gateway to logs, scripts, and quick file moves when you don’t want to spin up PowerShell. I’ve tested the preload feature myself on Insider builds, and while it does make Explorer feel slightly more responsive, the trade-off is obvious: higher memory usage. On my Hyper-V lab running Windows 11, Explorer was sitting in the background like an uninvited guest, hogging resources even when I wasn’t using it.
Step-by-step with commentary
Here’s what happens:
- Windows 11 preloads Explorer into memory.
- The idea is that when you click it, it should open instantly.
- In practice, the launch time is marginally better—but not enough to justify the RAM hit.
Most guides say preloading should make things faster, but I found Explorer still lagging compared to Windows 10. The irony? My old ThinkPad running Windows 10 with 32GB RAM still opens Explorer faster than my newer Windows 11 VM.
Unexpected issues
The surprise wasn’t just the speed—it was the resource drain. Explorer now eats more RAM than before, which feels counterintuitive. It’s like Microsoft traded one annoyance (slow launch) for another (background bloat).
Workarounds and lessons learned
My workaround has been leaning harder on PowerShell. Ever spent an hour debugging a typo in a Get-ChildItem path? Welcome to my world. At least scripts don’t sit there silently, mocking me with a blank window.
Another trick I’ve used is pinning common directories in Quick Access. That way, even if Explorer takes its sweet time to launch, I’m not wasting extra clicks once it’s open.
Final thoughts
It was a muggy evening in Bengaluru when I realized Explorer’s speed wasn’t the hill to die on. Microsoft’s preload trick is clever, but it doesn’t solve the underlying inefficiency. If anything, it’s a reminder that sometimes the old ways (Windows 10 Explorer) were better.
