OT - Windows 10 - Fixing The Lag In Changing Virtual Desktops

[Thomas Passin]

This isn't about Leo but I can't be the only one affected by this problem, which can be very annoying.

I use many virtual desktops in my daily computing.  Usually I have at least four, and sometimes up to six.  For example, my browser and email client are in one.  Leo and associated folders, command windows, etc., are in another, and so on.

The problem is in switching from one to another.  <Windows key>-<Tab> brings up a special view of all the desktops where you can choose one.  In this view you can also move an application from one desktop to another.  Over time, switching to this overview gets slower and slower until it becomes intolerable.  I've searched the internet without success.  The only cure I knew before today was to log off and log back in.

Here's what turns out to be happening. The desktop on your screen, the thing that has a background and the file icons, is a special view created by one particular root instance of Windows Explorer. It starts to use more and more memory over time for reasons unknown to me.  When its "Working Set" of memory gets too large,  that's when opening the desktop overview gets slow.

You can see this and take care of the problem with the Task Manager program.  Look in the "Processes" tab and find all the instances of Windows Explorer, normally near the bottom in a display sorted alphabetically. How will you know the right instance?  Most of the Window Explorer instances will show 3 or 4 MB of memory, while one will show over 100 MB.  That's the one.  I've seen it get up nearly to 300 MB. That's when you get the big lags.  Mine is now 145 MB and there isn't a lag in showing the desktop overview. But mine has been slowly climbing all afternoon.

Don't kill this process or you won't be able to communicate with the computer (I learned that the hard way). There is a button in the lower right of the Task Manager that usually reads "End Task". You will notice that when you select a Windows Explorer task that label changes to "Restart".  That's what you want to do. Click on it.

The desktop behind your application windows will go blank for a second or so, then  rebuild itself.  And your virtual desktop overview will be responsive again.

I don't know if Windows 11 has the same problem since I've never been around a Windows 11 computer.

[Jacob Peck]

Interesting find.

IIRC the Ctrl+Alt+Del menu is part of the Kernel, and interrupts everything else happening on a Windows box.  If you manage to completely nuke Explorer, you should pretty much always be able to three-finger-salute into a Task Manager and go File->New Task and fire off a new ‘explorer.exe’ to un-bork yourself.  If the Task Manager is not working, then something is seriously wrong :)

I break Windows quite often, but I don’t use virtual desktops.  I honestly didn’t even know Windows 10 had that feature :)

Jake

On Aug 11, 2024, at 5:32 PM, Thomas Passin <tbp1...@gmail.com> wrote:

This isn't about Leo but I can't be the only one affected by this problem, which can be very annoying.

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[Thomas Passin]

Even if you can open a new instance of Windows Explorer, you have to open it in a special way for it to take over the desktop function.  Otherwise it will just show you the usual list of files.  The one time I managed to kill the root instance, I couldn't find a key combination that did anything.  I forget how I eventually shut down; it was too long ago.  I might have just held the power button down long enough.

I think this virtual desktops feature is one of Win 10's better ones.  In addition to <Windows Key>-<Tab>, you can move between adjacent desktops with <Windows Key> - <Ctrl> - <right-or-left arrow>, and this doesn't suffer from a lag.  Before this will work, you need to create another virtual desktop, which you can do with the <Windows Key> - <Tab> combo. On the display you will see a "+" sign labeled by "New Desktop".  That's how you create new ones.  I don't know if once created they can be removed.

[Jacob Peck]

Huh, interesting behavior you're seeing there.  I just played around with the virtual desktops feature, then force-killed explorer (the 'root' process), and then used File->New Task, typed 'explorer' in the box, and hit enter.  It all came back no issue, other than closing the couple of file explorer windows I had open.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but 'force kill explorer -> start a new explorer task' has been my go-to Windows fix for most things for the last 20 years or so, and has worked without a hitch in every case for me (except for a handful of times on Vista, but uh, Vista...). :)

Perhaps I've just been lucky?  Maybe the other 'explorer.exe' processes running in your case were masking the issue -- IIRC, explorer does the 'root' check on startup -- if no other instances of explorer.exe are running, it assumes complete control.  I can't remember the exact blog post I read about this, but I think it was from Raymond Chen, who's been on the Windows internals team forever.

But hey, you've got a fix that works for you, so at this point I'm just nerd sniping myself.  Thanks for the puzzle and the tip! :)

Jake

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