mp3 file icon causes slow browsing with Explorer
 

I've researched this problem from time to time without finding any good answers. I'm no computer expert but I do a pretty good job of researching problems and solving them on my own. I've had this problem for years and I've just assumed it was a shortcoming in Windows. I've discovered that the problem is Winamp, so I'm looking for some suggestions (or a fix).

I probably never realized that Winamp was the culprit because I've always used Winamp (since version 1). I skipped Winamp 3, of course, just like everyone else. :)

So here's my problem. I open up a folder with lots of music. I am greeted with two columns of music and just the plain file icon for something that Windows doesn't understand. After a short delay (maybe 1 second) the icon changes to the Winamp icon. During this delay I can't do anything with the window.

So now I start to browse. I press the right arrow a few times and the columns scroll to the left to give me a new column of music. When the new column appears it too is missing the icons. There's another 1 second delay and then I have use of my window once again.

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/701/musiccq0.gif

If I want to scroll through the music it takes about 1 second per column, which is extremely slow. This happens if I use the scroll bar or simply type the name. For instance, if I press "R" to jump into the R's, there's about a two second delay (one for each column).

Once Windows has wandered through the columns once, they draw quickly the second time through. However, if I close that window, or explorer decides to refresh, I am back to the delayed browsing again.

It's annoying, but I've lived with it. Every computer I use (and there's a few of them) has the problem, and I just assumed it was Windows.

I've suspected that it was due to Explorer trying to parse the ID3 tags. I've gone into detail view and disabled all the ID3 columns but that doesn't help.

This morning I tried something different. I went into Winamp, removed the associated file types, and rebooted. When Windows came back up the Windows Media Player icon was now associated with mp3s. However, do my surprise, I could page through the columns of music just as fast as my video card could draw it. There was no delay.

I reassigned the file associations and rebooted, the delay (and the Winamp icon) was back.

So my question is why does the browsing slow down significantly when Winamp is installed and associated with mp3s? Is this a problem with the icons? Is Winamp doing something in the background? What's going on?

Anyone?

I just tried to reproduce what you indicated above. I did it 3 times, through unassociating, and then reassociating.

I can not reproduce your problem. It doesn't happen with me at all. Browsing "speed" via Windows Explorer remains constant for me.

Anyone else experiencing this issue? :igor:

Winamp doesn't add a shell extension, so it is impossible for Winamp to be the cause of this problem.

I suspect there is a conflict with some other evil media player you have installed that is trying to steal file associations. (realplayer? if so get rid of it)

I suggest trying this instead:
start, run, "regsvr32 /u c:\windows\system32\shmedia.dll"
That will disable XP's crappy tag reading and preview junk for media files.
To re-enable: regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\shmedia.dll

Also make sure no other 'monitor' programs are running (realplayer, quicktime, winamp agent) Kill them all.

Thanks for the recommendation of disabling the tag reading and media preview! I've often had to deal with waiting a few seconds before I can move/delete a movie file because windows it busy parsing it.

I always thought this was a common problem that everyone experienced, since I see it so often. I'm quite shocked that I'm the only one, and that I've seen it on so many machines I touch. Maybe I'm the problem. :)

I have no realplayer, nothing quicktime is running (no qttask or anything similar), and winamp agent is disabled.

I tried using procexp to look at what's going on. Explorer's CPU usage shoots up during the delay. The threads responsible are

BROWSEUI.dll!Ordinal138_0x7b1d
ntdll.dll!RtlAllocateHeap+0x18c

While I had procexp open I tried killing off everything I could while trying to scroll through music after terminating each process in attempts to find a culprit. No luck.

I rebooted in Safe Mode and the hesitation was still there. I booted windows normally, went into folder options and file associations, and changed the default icon for MP3 files to an HP icon file, and changed the default association for MP3 files from Winamp to Zoom Player. Rebooted and the square wave icon was still shown for MP3s and the delay was still evident.

Opened up Winamp, removed the association for MP3 files, reset explorer and the delay was gone. Went into folder options and used that method to re-associate winamp with MP3 files. The icons instantly changed to the square wave icon and the delay was back.

Went back into folder options and this time associated MP3 files with Zoom Player. The icon for the songs changed to the zoom player icon and there was no delay when scrolling through the songs.

Removed the association for MP3 files. Went back into Winamp and told Winamp to associate itself with MP3 files. Reset explorer and the square wave icon was back and so was the delay.