(Not responding)... performance issues

[petersboulton]

Hi,

I've been using XYplorer for many years, on the same computer (Win 10 Pro 1803/ 64 bit / 16gb RAM / i7-2600 @ 3.4Ghz / SSD Windows and apps, +2 plattered data drives). Recently (last couple of updates, I think) I've noticed that it has become frustratingly slow at times - especially, for example, when opening a new tab /folder (either by clicking in the tree or double-clicking a folder in the list view). Even after the folder contents appear visible in the list view, it is still frozen for several seconds. For example, I've just opened a folder for the first time this session, which only contains 5 files and one sub-folder and it took over 10 seconds to get control (i.e. to start responding).

Once the folder is shown I can click on a different folder and when I return it shows near-instantly. Presumably its data is cached in memory so the issue appears to be slow folder content scanning. (I have not changed any of my 'Icons' settings.)

To the best of my knowledge I do not have a virus and all my other software appears to be running normally.

I have tried the following:

• Deleted settings file and then closed Xyplorer, saving settings

• Made XYplorer.exe and XYCopy.exe process exceptions in Windows Defender

Neither approach seems to have resolved the issue.

I also downloaded a free file manager, FreeCommander XE, to compare the performances. To an extent, this may help distinguish between an issue on my computer and an issue with Xyplorer. FreeCommander XE has many of the same basic features of Xyplorer and therefore should have comparable performance on similar tasks. FreeCommander XE opens the same folders near instantly, so unfortunately I have to conclude this is a performance issue on Xyplorer.

I cannot live without my Xyplorer, which has become highly personalised to me over the years with my favourite folders etc. so I hope this issue can be resolved. I'm happy to provide any further information, screen movies etc. that may help.

Thank you.

Pete

[petersboulton]

OP here. Maybe the attached screenshot provides an insight? Even though I don't have a folder from my C: drive (SSD) open in XYplorer it appears to be hitting the files in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches" extensively, pushing utilization of the C: drive to 100% nearly continuously. On Task Manager, I can see this utilisation, which drops back to near zero when I close (exit) Xyplorer.

Is this a new issue due to changes in the latest version of Windows (1803 feature update)?

HTH

Pete

[admin]

a) Is it the same with today's v19.00.0316? (Which happens to fix some performance related bugs.)

b) If it happens with today's v19.00.0316, could you post the return (if any) of:

Code: Select all

text get("debuglog");

[petersboulton]

Is it the same with today's v19.00.0316?

Hi Donald,

Many thanks for your reply. I've downloaded and installed this update and my immediate impression is that it addresses my issue, thank you. I'll continue evaluating for the next 24 hours and post a final response this time tomorrow.

Great... looks like I got my Xyplorer back! Phew!

... a few minutes later...

Xyplorer may have always done this but I'm still getting abnormally long periods of 100% disc activity on my C: drive (SSD containing Windows / apps) that, as shown in my original Resource Monitor screenshot, appears to be coming from XYplorer, even when no tabs containing items from C: are running.

spikes.png (53.85 KiB) Viewed 2799 times

All the 100% peaks are Xyplorer. Not necessarily because I've opened a new tab or am actually doing anything in Xyplorer.

So yes, performance hit appears resolved but I'm unhappy about the hit on my SSD drive utilisation. Any suggestions? You can see the files Xyplorer is writing in my original post.

[admin]

a) What makes you think that those peaks are from v19.00.0316? I checked Task Manager on Win10 running XYplorer and see no such peaks.

b) What if you turn off Auto-Refresh? Still those peaks?

[petersboulton]

a) Because they are shown in Resource Monitor. Same as my screenshot in the original post (though that was pre v19.00.0316 the content is the same so I saw no need to post a second screenshot so similar). Again this morning, as soon as I start Xyplorer the SSD disc utilisation jumps from virtually zero to 100% for extended periods. Here is a Sysinternal Process Explorer I/O shot taken after about a minute or less of Xyplorer starting:

xy1.png (15.24 KiB) Viewed 2766 times

Look at the disc writes - 814Mb! Mainly on the 'cache' folder files shown in the Resource Monitor screenshot in my original post. I also captured file activity using Sysinternals Process Explorer tool. The file is too large for the forum but I posted it to https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/yqg ... ogfile.zip. If you filter the 'Process' column for 'contains "cache"' you can home in on the activity.

However, I also today updated my laptop with v19.00.0316 from v19.00.0100 and I did NOT get the disc activity either before or after the update and the fact that there have been no "me toos" in response to my posting suggests there's some issue on my specific computer.

I just temporarily deleted my Xyplorer.ini, which appeared to simulate a fresh install scenario. However, I still get the same issue. But only with Xyplorer, not Windows Explorer or the other file manager I mentioned in my earlier post.

b) I just tried switching auto-refresh off - no change, unfortunately.

Pete

[admin]

No idea what that could be.

Can you find out what those written bytes are? Any file getting updated?

[petersboulton]

According to Sysinternals Process Explorer, the XYplorer.exe process is writing, near continuously, to files in my "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches" folder. The filenames have the following name types:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\{2E1D5E41-F820-4D7B-ABD1-8E03A793E93A}.2.ver0x0000000000000001.db
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\{D286B6F1-BF16-4BB0-AAFE-0F915D3233A3}.2.ver0x0000000000000001.db
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\{188F8284-5C4B-4802-8AB3-697AD5C80B0D}.2.ver0x0000000000000001.db
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\{8F584942-D5FF-42B4-8F38-6C797BDF7DFD}.2.ver0x0000000000000001.db
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\{6AF0698E-D558-4F6E-9B3C-3716689AF493}.2.ver0x00000000002ce8d8.db

The files themselves are relatively small but they appear to be being written to near continuously, with number of megabytes continuously and quickly rising. My concern is that this is needlessly hammering my SSD and shortening its life.

Is there some way of understanding WHY XYplorer is continuously writing to these files?

[petersboulton]

UPDATE:
OK, with XYplorer closed I just renamed "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches" folder to something else and started XYplorer. It's only been a few minutes but I've restarted XYplorer a couple of times and there is definitely no continuous writing to files from XYplorer now and, so far, the "Caches" folder has not been recreated.

I will continue to monitor but it seems that this issue may be resolved. I'll report back after another 24 hours use, but XYplorer is not restored to its former glory on my computer.

Many thanks.

Pete

[admin]

Cool, good intuition.

I can only assure you that XYplorer is not consciously writing those files. I have no business whatsoever with any "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches" folder. There must be some evil smartness at work...

[petersboulton]

The Caches folder came back (was re-created) but with no XYplorer continuous file writes like before, so all still good.

Using Process Explorer I checked on what was accessing the files in this folder now, and the command line of the process was "c:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs -p". So this must be Windows networking services. Maybe XYplorer uses Windows API calls to enumerate network stuff and that's what I was seeing - the process was XYplorer but the executing code was Windows API? As in, XYplorer was calling a Windows API which was hitting the files in the Cache folder to enumerate network stuff. Maybe one of the files in Cache was corrupted and therefore caused a continuous loop in the enumeration code.

Anyway, that's speculation and I appear to be sorted! Many thanks.

[admin]

Yes, might have been something like this.

Next time (hopefully never) try if this has anything:

Code: Select all

text get("debuglog");

[petersboulton]

Unfortunately I noticed a recurrence of the problem described above, see my screenshot:



Notes:
- XYplorer has only been running a couple of minutes but Process Explorer (lower left window) report 887.1MB write bytes.
- There were no other processes actively running on my computer, other than the usual Windows stuff.
- The Task Manager graph (lower right window) shows intermittent periods of 100% utilisation.
- When I exit XYplorer the 100% utilisation in Task Manager immediately stops and does not return.
- When I start XYplorer again, the pattern immediately returns.
- I am running XYplorer elevated - i.e. as Admin. I am a member of Administrators on the machine, which is latest build, latest updates Windows 10 Professional, 64 bit, running Windows Defender av, with XYplorer set as an AV exception.

I cannot use XYplorer while it is hammering my SSD in this way and I hope you can help me as XYplorer is my daily crutch - I will find it very hard to work without it!

Thank you.

[admin]

See my previous post: viewtopic.php?p=160458&sid=67ae179ccb5d ... db#p160458

[petersboulton]

See my previous post: viewtopic.php?p=160458&sid=67ae179ccb5d ... db#p160458

I did. However, there seemed little value posting the contents of an empty edit box. Or, put it another way, the debug text field was empty.