Tuesday 27 September 2016

Windows 10 Downloads Folder Slow to Load

Something that's started happening on my PC is that the downloads folder in Windows 10 can take a very long time to load when it contains more than 20 or so mixed items.

After a bit of an investigation into this, it seems as though the system is trying to decide exactly what kind of data is stored in the folder and then display it in the most appropriate way.

To disable this and get the folder to load quickly again, you need to right click on the folder and then go to properties.

In the properties window, select "Customize" and then from the "Optimize this folder for..." drop down select "General". I also ticked the "Also apply this template to all subfolders" option to ensure that other folders in the downloads folder are treated in the same way.

And that's it, the downloads folder should now open up in a matter of moments!