Open folder is very slow

[twinsen]

I used to use SlickRun for just about everything, including opening
explorer windows (eg type "c:\tmp" in SlickRun).
But recently it has become so slow I manually open explorer and
traverse to the folder, and SlickRun is still processing the request!

This seemed to happen ever since I had "Symantec Endpoint Protection"
installed:
http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp
But I can't be sure its the cause. I must use this AV software, I'm
not allowed to change it.

I updated to the latest version of SlickRun (4.0.5.2).
It seems the first time you go to a path its really slow, then the
second time its fast.

OS: Windows XP

Any ideas I've tried a few workarounds...
eg Making a keyword run a bat file containing "explorer.exe C:\tmp" is
fast the first time, but its a bit annoying to have to create a bat
file for every path I want to go to. Plus I can't have a keyword
called "c:\tmp" because it doesn't seem to run the bat file, it still
just does the really slow way.

[EricLaw]

Yes, it's very likely the AV software-- I've seen this exact behavior
before with competitive AV programs. This happens when they install a
ShellExecute hook. I haven't seen the problem with either Microsoft
Security Essentials or Forefront.

[Richard Grant]

I have experienced this at work before. How I got around it is to make a Magic Word named e

I set the filename to explorer.exe

Then in Slickrun I just type e then spacebar then I build the path just as always, i.e. the only difference is that I'm adding e+space before the path so it doesn't end up slowing me down at all.

Before, I was like you, I had to stop using it for opening up paths because it was so slow, but this cured it for me.

[twinsen]

Thanks for that, thats the best workaround yet! I like how you still
get autocomplete of paths as you type them in.

I tried investigating "ShellExecute hooks". Autoruns shows the same
ShellExecuteHooks on the slow PC with AV software compared to a PC
without the problem (just a windows search dll).

There are two "Symantec AntiVirus" entries under context menu handler
sections (which results in a "Scan For Viruses..." entry).
And another under "Shell Extensions\Approved".
Disabling them, I still get the slowness problem.
Today it doesn't happen on every directory though, I have to test
about 3 unique directories before its really slow.
I also tried disabling every Explorer entry in Autoruns, and the
problem still happens.
I'll be happy to debug it to help solve the problem. Eg maybe create a
simple app that just does whatever happens after you type a path in.

I'll just get used to the "e" workaround for now.