Improving XY's responsiveness

[Orson]

I've been using XY pretty consistently for a couple of months. One thing I've been wishing for since I began trying it out was faster performance when I switch directories (more like Total Commander). Well, this may be old news to long-time XY users, but to me it has come as a pleasant surprise that turning off Auto-Refresh on System File Changes makes things go much faster when *switching* directories.

I would not have expected this because when I switch directories I didn't realize that the auto-refresh function is *doing something.* But I guess it is, because with that option deactivated, I get much faster viewing of directories. And I am learning to press F5 to see what's new whenever I save or modify a file within a directory.

[admin]

Well, this may be old news to long-time XY users, but to me it has come as a pleasant surprise that turning off Auto-Refresh on System File Changes makes things go much faster when *switching* directories.

Wow, that comes as a surprise to me, too! I immediately tested it but could not make out any notable differences in speed (I did not measure it yet). But this does only mean that it's harder for me to fix the issue. It does not mean that I won't fix it.

Can others of you reproduce this, folks?

[admin]

I tried something... see 0012.

[Orson]

I just checked out 12. There's still a noticeable difference in speed of displaying when I switch directories (I'm using network drives here) using Auto-Refresh or not.

With Auto-Refresh on, there's about a half-second delay when I switch to a new directory. With Auto-Refresh off, it feels nearly instantaneous but is probably about a quarter second (I'm not being precise -- these are just my guesses).

But as of now, I'm not complaining......... I'll just keep Auto-Refresh turned off. If you come up with something that might make a bigger difference, I'll be eager to check it out.

[admin]

I just checked out 12. There's still a noticeable difference in speed of displaying when I switch directories (I'm using network drives here) using Auto-Refresh or not.

Ah network drives! You should have said that before...

So it did not get any faster in 0012, right?

[Orson]

Re: network drives. Yeah, sorry I didn't say that earlier. In my job, I'm using network drives all day long, much more than my C: drive, so I kind of take it for granted that folks are working on network drives.

I'd say that 12 did not make a *noticeable* difference for me (on network drives), but I wouldn't swear to it.

[admin]

I'd say that 12 did not make a *noticeable* difference for me (on network drives), but I wouldn't swear to it.

Okay, when you say "switch directories" what exactly are you doing? There many ways in XY to do this...

[Orson]

The main way of switching directories that I'm talking about is clicking a new folder on the tree (within the same drive letter). I also use Backspace sometimes to go up a level. Both ways are noticeably faster (on network drives) when I have Auto-Refresh turned off.

[admin]

The main way of switching directories that I'm talking about is clicking a new folder on the tree (within the same drive letter). I also use Backspace sometimes to go up a level. Both ways are noticeably faster (on network drives) when I have Auto-Refresh turned off.

You click a folder that's already visible in the tree, so it can only be the list the causes the issue. Do you get a short delay before the list fills, or is everything just slower?

[Orson]

Short delay before the list is displayed. It can be 1 second (just tried to time it).

[admin]

Short delay before the list is displayed. It can be 1 second (just tried to time it).

Okay, let's do a little experiment. I uploaded a new no-install package 0013:
http://www.xyplorer.com/download/xyplor ... nstall.zip

Extract the EXE, run it, close it, open XYplorer.ini, find the following key:

; Tweak: set to 1 to disable auto-refresh on non-current folders and drives
DisableSHChangeNotifyRegister=0

Now set it to 1! Save and close the ini.
Now start the exe, have auto refresh ON.
Check your network drives responsiveness. Any difference?

[Orson]

I tested 13. It appears that switching the value of the setting to 1 makes a *slight* change in speed of display when I select a new folder on the tree on a network drive. Not much change, however. The difference is *much* greater when I turn off Auto-Refresh.

[admin]

I tested 13. It appears that switching the value of the setting to 1 makes a *slight* change in speed of display when I select a new folder on the tree on a network drive. Not much change, however. The difference is *much* greater when I turn off Auto-Refresh.

Thanks. I'll leave the tweak in anyway.

I don't give up yet. Let's search on: Have you noted any other things on network drives that work clearly faster with auto-refresh off?

ADD: Please try this: check "Use generic icons for faster browsing" (config/advanced). Does this make a difference on net drives when auto-refresh is on?

ADD #2: Is the delay bigger with bigger folders (more files).

ADD #3: Is scrolling long file lists slower (non-smoother) when autorefresh is on?

[Orson]

ADD: Please try this: check "Use generic icons for faster browsing" (config/advanced). Does this make a difference on net drives when auto-refresh is on?

ADD #2: Is the delay bigger with bigger folders (more files).

ADD #3: Is scrolling long file lists slower (non-smoother) when autorefresh is on?

I don't notice a difference between using generic icons and not using generic icons.

I don't notice a difference when displaying a folder with 1.15 GB of files vs. one with 1.21 MB of files.

I don't have many folders that require scrolling.... But in one folder, having Auto-Refresh on did not seem to affect scrolling speed.

I hope this helps.

[admin]

I hope this helps.

Kind of. It's makes it a total mystery.