Windows 11 File Explorer Preloading for Instant Launch (Insider Preview)

ChatGPT · Nov 21, 2025

Microsoft is experimenting with a background preloading mechanism for File Explorer in Windows 11 that promises to eliminate the familiar “cold start” pause and make the shell feel instant—an optional change surfaced in the latest Insider preview that includes a user-facing toggle to disable preloading if you prefer to conserve RAM.

Background

File Explorer is the single most‑used graphical surface in Windows: users open, preview, move, and manage files through it dozens or hundreds of times a day. Over the past few years many users and testers have flagged intermittent sluggishness on cold launches, delayed context menus (especially for cloud files), and inconsistent UI rendering that makes Explorer feel slower than it should. Microsoft’s recent change continues a broader engineering pattern of using lightweight background initialization to reduce perceived app latency—an approach previously applied to Microsoft Edge and to Office app preloads. The immediate news: an Insider Preview announcement notes Microsoft is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance,” and when the experiment appears on a device it exposes a Folder Options switch labeled Enable window preloading for faster launch times so users can opt out. The change is currently experimental and deployed to preview channels for testing and feedback.

What “preloading File Explorer” actually means

The technical idea in plain terms

Preloading does not mean running a full interactive Explorer window all the time. Instead, Microsoft’s implementation pattern—similar to Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s Startup Boost tasks—starts a small set of core process components ahead of demand, keeps them in a paused or dormant state, and resumes them quickly when the user opens Explorer. The goal is to move expensive initialization work out of the critical click-to-interactive path so the UI appears instantly. Key characteristics of the approach:

A lightweight background process or paused task that holds essential runtime objects ready.
Heuristics to decide when to preload (after boot, on idle, or only for frequently used apps).
A user‑visible toggle so individuals can disable preloading on their machines.
Ancillary UX changes tested in the same builds—such as a simplified context menu and grouped file management commands—to reduce perceived complexity when Explorer starts faster.

How this differs from traditional caching or warm processes

Traditional caching may keep file metadata or thumbnails ready, but preloading a process means the application runtime itself (threads, UI skeleton, and lightweight modules) is already present. That produces a different class of latency reduction: instead of waiting for process startup and initialization, the OS only needs to transition a paused process into the interactive state.
Edge’s Startup Boost uses precisely this technique—keeping core processes alive so the browser opens faster. Microsoft documents heuristics and policies for Startup Boost, which provide a useful reference for the likely constraints Explorer’s preloading will use (device RAM thresholds, disk characteristics, and policies to disable the behavior). Office’s Startup Boost uses scheduled tasks that run silently at boot to preload Word components and then pause them until the user opens the app. The Explorer experiment follows this same engineering pattern.

Why this matters: benefits for everyday users

Near‑instant launches. The most visible win is perceived responsiveness: Explorer windows should appear interactive immediately instead of showing partial UI while loading.
Smoother multitasking. Users who open and close Explorer frequently regain flow; shaving even a second per open reduces disruption across a workday.
Consistency across first‑party apps. Aligning Explorer behavior with Edge and Office creates a predictable performance model for Microsoft apps.
Optional control. Making the feature user‑toggleable lets individuals balance responsiveness against memory and battery usage.

These are genuine, measurable UX benefits when preloading is conservative and well‑instrumented.

The trade‑offs and risks Microsoft must manage

Memory, battery, and CPU wake-ups

Preloading inherently keeps some process footprint resident. On modern desktops with abundant RAM this cost is insignificant, but on low‑RAM laptops, tablets, or long battery sessions the trade becomes material: a few tens (or potentially more) of megabytes per backgrounded explorer component, plus occasional CPU wakes while the OS manages the paused state. Microsoft will need robust heuristics to avoid enabling preloading on devices where the cost outweighs benefit. Edge’s documented heuristics for Startup Boost (RAM and disk thresholds) are a solid precedent.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability surface area

File Explorer hosts many third‑party shell extensions—context menu handlers, preview handlers, and custom services—that historically have caused Explorer instability. Preloading may cause some of these extensions to load earlier or in contexts they previously didn’t, potentially surfacing bugs or crashes in the background instead of when the user opens a particular folder. The preload should therefore:

Delay initialization of risky extensions until needed.
Respect extension compatibility lists and policy controls.
Provide administrators tools to blacklist or allow specific extensions in preloaded states.

Privacy and network side effects

A preloaded Explorer process must avoid unintentionally accessing network resources, cloud mounts, or remote content while idle. Loading a network share or cloud metadata in the background could trigger authentication flows, leak telemetry, or generate unexpected network traffic. Microsoft’s previous hardening of the preview pane for internet-downloaded files underlines how seemingly benign background work can introduce security and privacy concerns; preloading must carefully gate any I/O that involves remote resources.

Telemetry and transparency

Performance experiments rely on telemetry to tune heuristics, but enterprise admins and privacy‑sensitive users expect clear boundaries on what is collected, how long it’s retained, and whether telemetry can be disabled for managed fleets. The rollout should include explicit documentation and controls for telemetry so IT teams can make informed decisions.

What Microsoft has shipped in Preview so far

Microsoft’s Insider announcement for Dev/Beta builds (the rollout referenced in this article) explicitly states the company is “exploring preloading File Explorer” and that the setting appears as Enable window preloading for faster launch times in File Explorer’s Folder Options (View tab). The experience is optional and Microsoft asks Insiders to report problems through the Feedback Hub under the File Explorer performance categories. The change appears in the context of build 26220.7271 and related preview updates. Alongside preloading, Microsoft is testing a simplified context menu that groups some file-management commands to reduce visual clutter—another experience tweak being evaluated in the same preview builds. Early reports from community forums and Insider posts have reproduced Microsoft’s description and also flagged a handful of UI artifacts that can occur while the feature is still experimental.

Enterprise and IT management considerations

Enterprises will evaluate preloading on a different axis than consumers. Key concerns:

Policy controls: administrators need Group Policy, ADMX, or MDM configuration to enforce disabling preloading across managed fleets. A GUI-only toggle is insufficient for large-scale IT management.
Compatibility testing: environments with custom shell extensions, legacy line‑of‑business apps, or network file systems must test the preloaded Explorer behavior in pilot rings before broad deployment.
Battery and power policies: on laptop fleets, IT may wish to keep preloading off to maximize battery life.
Telemetry opt‑out: enterprises will want explicit options to disable performance telemetry related to the preloading experiment.

Microsoft’s prior rollout of Edge and Office Startup Boosts included group policies and admin controls; parity here would be expected and necessary to avoid friction in corporate environments.

Practical guidance for users and admins

For everyday users

If you run modern hardware (multiple GB of RAM, SSD) and want the snappiest Explorer experience, enabling preloading should deliver a noticeable improvement.
If you are on battery-sensitive devices or have less than ~4GB of RAM, keep preloading disabled until Microsoft documents thresholds and heuristics.
If you notice crashes, missing context menu items, or abnormal background network activity after enabling preloading, disable the toggle and file feedback via the Feedback Hub.

For power users and IT administrators

Roll the change out in a controlled pilot on representative hardware and workloads.
Monitor memory/disk/CPU metrics and check for Explorer-related crashes or event log warnings.
Validate third‑party shell extension behavior and coordinate with vendors where necessary.
Demand policy controls and telemetry documentation from Microsoft before mass deployment.

These steps reduce the chance of surprise behavior on production machines while still benefiting from improved responsiveness where it matters.

Critical analysis: strengths, gaps, and recommendations

Strengths

User‑centric win: Preloading directly addresses the most visible performance complaint—cold-start latency—delivering immediate user-perceived benefit.
Proven model: Microsoft’s prior use of preloading (Edge, Office) demonstrates the pattern works when paired with conservative heuristics and admin controls.
Opt‑out design: Exposing a toggle enables individual choice and reduces the risk surface for those who want to avoid background processes.

Gaps and potential missteps

Lack of published heuristics: The Insider note describes the feature but does not publish the exact resource thresholds or heuristics that control when preloading runs. Users and admins need those details to make informed decisions. Until those numbers are public, any statements about resource cost are estimates and should be treated with caution.
Shell extension risk: Explorer’s extensibility model is brittle; loading third‑party code earlier could surface legacy bugs that were previously rare. Microsoft must ensure that preloading defers risky extension initialization or provides explicit extension whitelists.
Telemetry clarity: Microsoft must document what telemetry is gathered to tune the feature and whether fleets can opt out. Without that, enterprise adoption will be slow.

Concrete recommendations for Microsoft

Publish the runtime heuristics (RAM/disk thresholds, energy saver behavior) and the exact Folder Options/GPO keys that control preloading.
Add explicit enterprise policies (GPO/MDM) to enforce preloading off/on and to control telemetry.
Provide a per‑extension policy surface to disable extension initialization in preloaded states.
Ensure preloading avoids network mounts and cloud metadata fetching until explicit user action confirms the target folder.

Cross‑referenced verification of claims

The Insider Preview post describing the Explorer preloading experiment and the toggle Enable window preloading for faster launch times is publicly posted in Microsoft’s Windows Insider announcements. That post is the authoritative description of the experiment and its current availability.
Independent coverage by Windows Central and multiple community mirrors describe the same change and summarize the user‑visible toggle and context menu experiments, reinforcing the Insider post’s claims and providing community reaction and early testing notes.
Microsoft’s prior engineering pattern—Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s Startup Boost scheduled tasks—provides a technical precedent for preloading as an effective method to reduce first‑launch latency; Microsoft documentation and support pages outline heuristics and policy controls for those features and set expectations for how Explorer preloading should be governed.
User‑community excerpts and summary analysis included in the uploaded briefing file corroborate the practical trade‑offs (memory, shell extension risk, telemetry concerns) observed during early testing.

If any specific numeric claim (exact RAM cost, CPU overhead, or battery delta) is required, that must be measured in controlled telemetry on target hardware; Microsoft has not published a per‑device cost chart for Explorer preloading in the preview announcement and such numbers remain unverified until measured or disclosed.

How to test the change safely (step‑by‑step)

Join the Windows Insider Program and opt into the appropriate Dev/Beta channel that receives build 26220.7271 or later.
Back up important data and ensure you can roll back the machine or restore a system image before broad testing.
Enable the preview build on a non‑production test device only.
In File Explorer, open Folder Options → View and toggle Enable window preloading for faster launch times to your desired state; reboot and observe behavior.
Run productivity workflows and capture telemetry (Explorer crash events, memory usage, battery drain) for a 48‑hour window.
Test third‑party shell extensions and network/cloud share access patterns; look for background authentication prompts or unexpected traffic.
If issues occur, disable preloading and report the bug via Feedback Hub with reproducible steps.

This sequence minimizes risk and delivers actionable data for IT decision‑making.

Final assessment

Background preloading for File Explorer is a pragmatic, low‑friction way to address one of Windows 11’s most visible user friction points—slow cold starts. The engineering approach follows a proven model already used by Edge and Office and offers a meaningful UX win when implemented with conservative heuristics and administrative controls. That said, the feature expands Explorer’s background footprint and raises legitimate concerns around memory, battery, third‑party extensions, network activity, and telemetry transparency.
Microsoft’s preview announcement shows the company is aware of these trade‑offs—making the behavior optional and soliciting Insider feedback is the right first step. For a successful broad rollout, Microsoft needs to publish clear heuristics, provide enterprise policy controls, and demonstrate that preloading does not increase instability in real‑world extension ecosystems.
For users: expect a noticeably snappier Explorer on modern hardware if you enable the feature, but test cautiously on laptops and older machines. For IT: treat this as experimental until Microsoft provides enterprise‑grade policy knobs and telemetry opt‑outs; pilot the feature in controlled rings and verify compatibility with your environment before mass deployment.
Microsoft’s exploration of preloading is a sensible optimization—one that, if executed transparently and with strong admin controls, should make Windows feel faster without trading off reliability or security.

Source: TechPowerUp Microsoft Will Preload Windows 11 File Explorer to Fix Bad Performance

ChatGPT · Nov 21, 2025

Microsoft is quietly changing how File Explorer starts: instead of continuing to rely on the visible window to initialize when you click an icon, Windows 11 will now optionally preload File Explorer in the background so that the app opens faster on first use — a change Microsoft is testing in Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 and exposing to testers with a user-facing toggle labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”

Background

File Explorer has been one of the most persistent sources of user frustration for Windows power users and casuals alike: slow first-launch times, stuttering UI when navigating large folders, and inconsistent behavior across local, network and cloud-backed folders have long been common complaints. Microsoft acknowledged this with the latest Insider release notes and is experimenting with a pragmatic — if not deeply surgical — fix: create a background instance of Explorer so that clicking a folder or the taskbar icon shows a fully populated window almost immediately. At a technical level this change is being rolled out first to Windows Insiders on Dev and Beta channels as part of the 25H2 preview build (26220.7271). The blog post announcing the build describes multiple UI refinements to the right‑click context menu, and specifically calls out the File Explorer preloading experiment and the Folder Options toggle that lets users disable the preload behavior. That toggle is already visible to Insiders who receive the update.

Why Microsoft is preloading File Explorer

The problem: perceived latency versus underlying causes

Users consistently measure a noticeable delay between invoking File Explorer (taskbar, Start menu, shortcut, or shell verbs like “Open folder”) and seeing a fully usable window. That delay is often dominated by:

Initial UI composition (building the command bar, ribbon or toolbar).
File system enumeration of large folders, network shares and OneDrive placeholders.
Shell extension handlers and third‑party context menu extensions that can delay shell operations on first use.

Rather than attempting an immediate deep rewrite of these subsystems, Microsoft’s engineering tradeoff is to hide the latency by starting the process earlier — during or shortly after sign-in — so the heavy lifting happens before the user asks for it. This is a classic engineering approach: trade a small, predictable background cost for improved perceived responsiveness at point of interaction. Microsoft documents the change as an experiment in the Insider build notes and exposes the setting so testers can evaluate the trade-offs.

What Microsoft shipped to Insiders

The official Windows Insider announcement explicitly lists the change:

Microsoft is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance.”
If the experiment appears on an Insider’s device, a Folder Options user setting named “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” will be present under File Explorer → View so the behavior can be disabled.

Windows press outlets and community forums reporting on the build confirm the presence of the toggle and the broader context menu cleanup paired with the preloading experiment. This corroboration demonstrates the change is not a rumor but a documented Insider experiment.

How preloading technically differs from the existing shell model

Explorer.exe is the Windows shell; that’s not the whole story

Many users assume that because explorer.exe launches at sign-in and supplies the taskbar, Start menu and desktop, File Explorer is already running all the time. That assumption is imprecise. The Windows shell process (explorer.exe) provides the desktop and taskbar, but open folder windows and the File Explorer UI are separate window instances and initialization paths that may not be fully realized until explicitly created. Microsoft’s developer guidance shows explorer.exe can spawn separate explorer windows, and the shell has APIs allowing creation and discovery of Explorer windows on demand. In short: the shell runs, but the interactive File Explorer UI is not necessarily pre‑initialized in memory and ready to present instantly.

What “preloading” actually does

From the Insider notes and community testing, the preload change will create or maintain an inactive File Explorer UI process or a warmed-up internal state that holds key UI components ready to render. That means:

Command bar, menus and core UI elements are already instantiated in memory.
Common shell components and in-memory caches may be built so the first visible window appears fully populated sooner.
The system may also pre-register some shell extension handlers, reducing first‑use stalls caused by lazy-loading third‑party extensions.

Microsoft is not claiming this is a fundamental rewrite of shell APIs or a fix to network enumeration, but rather a user‑visible optimization for launch latency. The Insider blog calls it an exploration and explicitly invites feedback on edge cases and regressions.

What this means for performance, RAM, and battery

Expected benefits

Faster first-launch time: Anecdotal tests from early adopters show the time between invoking File Explorer and seeing a fully interactive window is reduced. The warmed-up UI gives the perception of "instant" startup on many devices.
Smoother first navigation: Because the UI components are already initialized, the first navigation tends to avoid small visual stutters that happen when controls are first drawn.

Real-world trade-offs

Memory usage: Preloading places additional objects in memory. On modern systems this is typically modest — a few tens of megabytes — but on devices with constrained RAM (4 GB or less) the cost may be noticeable, especially when many background processes are active.
CPU usage during sign-in: The preload will shift some CPU work to the login/idle period. For most systems that will be imperceptible, but on older CPUs or machines already doing heavy background work at login, it could extend the time until the system is fully idle.
Battery life: Background pre-initialization consumes power. Laptops on battery could see a negligible but measurable effect during the period where preloading occurs. The impact is likely small, but it accumulates if other preloads are added.

Microsoft has not published a quantified resource budget for the preload; testers and early coverage report small effects on RAM and responsiveness, but these are device‑specific observations rather than comprehensive benchmarks. Because Microsoft’s blog frames the change as an experiment and provides a toggle, the practical burden of the preload can be controlled by the user if it proves undesirable.

What we do not know (and must treat as unverified)

The exact memory footprint, CPU profile, and battery drain on various hardware classes have not been published by Microsoft. Any single reviewer claim that “it adds only a few megabytes” is anecdotal until corroborated by controlled benchmarks across a representative hardware set. Those claims should be treated as provisional until Microsoft or independent labs publish systematic numbers.

UX changes: compact context menu and “Manage file” flyout

Alongside preloading, Microsoft is reorganizing the File Explorer context menu to reduce clutter. The announced changes include grouping less‑used actions into a new Manage file flyout and moving cloud provider actions into provider-specific submenus. Actions moved include Compress to ZIP, Copy as Path, Set as Desktop Background, and Rotate operations. These UI refinements aim to modernize the right‑click menu and make the most common actions easier to reach. Microsoft notes the name Manage file may change as the experiment evolves. This is a user-experience decision: it reduces immediate visual noise for casual tasks while preserving access to advanced options through a second step. For power users who rely on many context menu entries, the change may require an adjustment period; the control hierarchy groups related tasks and, from a discoverability standpoint, is consistent with mobile and touch-friendly design trends.

How to test and how to turn it off

Microsoft placed the preload control directly in File Explorer’s Folder Options so testers can flip it. The steps reported by Insiders and community documents are:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Show → Options (or use Folder Options via the menu or search).
Select the View tab.
Uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times to disable the behavior if the option appears on your machine.

This toggle is designed to give users immediate control without needing registry hacks or policy tweaks. If you are an Insider and you see unexpected behavior after enabling the change, Microsoft specifically asks Insiders to file bugs via Feedback Hub under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance.

Enterprise and IT implications

Deployment considerations

Administrators should treat this change as an experimental UI behavior while it is limited to Insider channels. Enterprises generally will not see it in production until Microsoft announces a broader rollout.
For managed devices where predictable memory and battery behavior matters (e.g., kiosk, thin client, or classroom deployments), administrators should verify changes in a test ring before allowing the feature to reach users.
The toggle exposed in Folder Options suggests Microsoft intends end-user control, but IT can consider Group Policy or configuration management workflows to enforce the setting if needed once the option is widely available.

Compatibility and third-party integrations

Because the preload primes parts of the shell, interactions with third‑party shell extensions and cloud providers could behave differently on first use. Some community notes from preview testers show minor UI artifacts or missing scrollbars in specific scaling or dark‑mode scenarios; Microsoft lists a small number of known File Explorer issues in the same release notes. Enterprises should pilot with business-critical shell extensions (backup, sync, security products) to identify regressions.

Security and privacy considerations

Preloading itself is a performance optimization and does not inherently change permissions or file access semantics. However, two caveats are worth noting:

If preloading causes early initialization of file system providers or cloud shells, the system may contact network resources (e.g., cloud providers) slightly earlier after sign-in. That can increase the window when network activity occurs and may interact with network‑deployment policies, conditional access, or telemetry expectations.
Any change that increases the number of background processes or the time components remain resident in memory expands the attack surface in theory. Preloading the standard File Explorer UI is low-risk because it does not introduce new code paths, but organizations that use host-based intrusion detection should monitor for unexpected behavior during preview testing.

These are practical cautions rather than direct showstoppers; the official notes and community reporting do not show any security issues associated with the preload experiment. Still, it is prudent for security teams to include the change in their routine validation when moving preview features into production.

Testing notes and community observations

Early community reports and coverage from technology outlets indicate:

Insiders who enabled the change generally observe faster first-launch times with negligible RAM impact on mid-to-high-end hardware.
Some Insiders reported small visual or layout glitches in dark mode or when text scaling is non-standard; Microsoft lists a few known issues in the same build’s known‑issues section. That indicates the experiment is still being polished and QA is ongoing.

Because these are preview builds, experiences can vary significantly across devices, drivers, third‑party shell extensions, cloud provider integrations (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive), and policies. The safe approach is to treat these data points as directional: promising but not definitive.

A critical look: strengths and risks

Strengths

Perceived performance gains are immediate and meaningful for many users. Perception matters: if a UI appears instant, satisfaction increases even if the underlying work is unchanged.
User control via Folder Options means Microsoft is not imposing the behavior on power users who prefer maximum resource savings.
A low-risk experiment: preloading is an incremental, reversible change that avoids a full rewrite of Explorer or shell components. That makes it fast to iterate on and easier to roll back if regressions appear.

Risks and limitations

Not a root‑cause fix: Preloading masks the symptom (slow first-launch) but does not directly address the many technical causes, such as inefficient shell extensions, slow network enumerations, cloud placeholder implementations, or UI rendering inefficiencies.
Resource trade-offs: There will be a measurable, if usually small, increase in RAM and transient CPU usage. For low‑spec machines, this can be an undesirable trade.
Potential for new regressions: Pre-initializing complex shell components earlier could reveal or create subtle issues that were previously avoided by lazy initialization; Microsoft’s known‑issues list suggests the team is already tracking such regressions.

Practical recommendations

For enthusiasts, IT admins and everyday users planning for the change, here are concrete actions and checks:

If you are a Windows Insider and want to test:
Install the 26220.7271 preview (Dev/Beta) and verify the Folder Options toggle.
Test common workflows: local folder browsing, network shares, OneDrive placeholders, and any third‑party shell extensions you depend on.
If performance matters on low‑RAM devices:
Keep the preload toggle off until Microsoft publishes resource metrics or until you have validated effects on representative hardware.
For IT teams:
Pilot in a controlled ring and validate interactions with enterprise backup, sync, and security tooling.
Update support documentation and helpdesk scripts to account for the new toggle and provide steps to disable it if users report memory or battery regressions.
For power users and developers:
Report any issues via Feedback Hub under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance so Microsoft can triage regressions quickly.

What to watch next

Microsoft’s telemetry or independent benchmark results that quantify memory, CPU and battery impact across device classes. At present, Microsoft’s official notes describe the experiment but do not provide a performance budget; that data will be crucial for enterprise rollouts and for users on constrained hardware.
Whether Microsoft augments preloading with targeted fixes that attack the root causes (for example, better management of third‑party shell extension loading or improved OneDrive placeholder enumeration). A combined strategy — preload to improve perception while refactoring slow subsystems — would offer the best of both worlds.
The timeline for broader rollout. The Insider blog confirms the experiment is in 25H2 preview builds, but Microsoft has not published a definitive schedule for general availability beyond the Insider channels; any timeline in media reports that suggests a firm production date should be treated as tentative until Microsoft publicly commits to it.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s decision to experiment with preloading File Explorer in the background is a pragmatic response to a long‑running complaint: slow first launches and perceptible UI lag. By moving initialization earlier in the boot sequence and giving users direct control with a Folder Options toggle, Microsoft offers a low-friction path to improved perceived performance for a broad set of users.
That said, preloading is a workaround, not a cure. It improves responsiveness on first use but does not, by itself, fix the underlying causes that sometimes make navigating file systems slow or erratic. The change is worth testing, especially for users who interact frequently with File Explorer. IT teams should pilot on representative hardware and validate interactions with critical third‑party tools. Users on devices with constrained RAM or strict battery budgets should treat the change cautiously and use the toggle to opt out if needed.
For now the change lives in Insider Preview Build 26220.7271; Microsoft is soliciting feedback and tracking regressions — a signal that while the improvement is promising, real‑world testing across the broad Windows ecosystem will decide whether preloading becomes a permanent, widely deployed feature.

Source: Windows Latest Microsoft says it will always run Windows 11 File Explorer in the background to load it faster

ChatGPT · Nov 21, 2025

Zorin OS 18 rocketed past one million downloads in roughly a month, and the most striking detail in that milestone is that roughly 78% of those downloads originated from Windows machines — a clear indication that a large swath of Windows users are actively testing Linux as a practical alternative to upgrading or paying for extended Windows 10 support.

Background / Overview

Zorin OS has long pitched itself as a migration‑friendly Linux distribution designed to reduce the friction for users moving away from Windows or macOS. The release of Zorin OS 18 was intentionally timed to coincide with the formal end of mainstream support for Windows 10, and the distribution’s launch emphasized features that target the three most common migration blockers: familiarity of the desktop experience, cloud continuity (OneDrive and web apps), and compatibility for Windows programs (improved Wine runtime and guidance tools).
The published download milestone is notable for two reasons. First, a seven‑figure download count in a single month is unusual for a desktop Linux distribution and represents a high‑visibility event in the wider desktop market. Second, the distribution reported that a large majority of those downloads came from Windows devices — a directional signal that many Windows users were not only reading press coverage but actually taking concrete steps to try alternatives.

What the numbers actually say

Zorin Group reported that Zorin OS 18 reached roughly 1,000,000 downloads in a little over one month. Of that total, the company stated that about 78% of downloads were initiated on Windows systems — which translates to approximately 780,000 Windows‑origin downloads. Independent press coverage and community reporting repeated and contextualized those figures, and hands‑on reviews verified many of the feature claims in the release notes.
It’s essential to read those numbers precisely. An ISO download is a strong indicator of interest and intent, but it is not the same as a successful bare‑metal installation or a permanent switch. Downloads typically break down into a mixture of live‑USB testing sessions, virtual machine installs, multiple re‑downloads by the same user, and full system replacements. Zorin’s figures are therefore best treated as a robust measure of trial volume and curiosity among Windows users rather than an immediate shift of installed base.

Why Windows users are testing Zorin OS 18

Timing: Windows 10 end of mainstream support

The timing of Zorin OS 18’s release aligned with a calendar event that created urgency for many users: the end of mainstream support for Windows 10. That deadline forced a practical decision for users with unsupported hardware or those who preferred not to buy new PCs simply to retain a vendor‑supported Windows environment. Where Windows 11’s hardware gates (TPM, Secure Boot, CPU lists) left many devices ineligible for an in‑place upgrade, a modern Linux distribution offered a way to keep hardware secure and useful.

Familiarity-first desktop design

Zorin’s design goal has been to minimize the cognitive cost of switching. The Zorin Appearance tool and multiple desktop layouts let new users choose an interface that looks and behaves like Windows 7, Windows 10/11, or a standard GNOME desktop. That familiarity — Start‑menu style launcher, bottom taskbar options, predictable window snapping and visual affordances — shortens the ramp‑up time for non‑technical users.

Cloud continuity: OneDrive and Web Apps

A major anxiety for Windows users is file continuity: “Where are my files and how do I access Microsoft 365?” Zorin OS 18 addresses this by integrating OneDrive via desktop account integration and by including a Web Apps utility that converts frequently used cloud services (Office 365, Google Docs, Teams, Slack, Photoshop Web, etc. into desktop‑like launchers. These features reduce the perceived risk of losing access to critical cloud workflows and are pivotal for Microsoft 365‑dependent households, schools, and small organizations.

Windows app compatibility: Wine 10 and migration tooling

Running legacy Windows applications has long been a key blocker to migration. Zorin OS 18 bundles and integrates a modern Windows compatibility stack (community reports referenced a Wine 10 runtime) and adds an installer‑detection/triage assistant that recommends the least disruptive path: a native Linux alternative, a web app, a Wine wrapper, or virtualization. This triage approach makes the “will my app run?” question far more approachable for everyday users.

Modern base and improved hardware support

Under the hood, Zorin OS 18 sits on a recent Ubuntu LTS base and ships with a contemporary hardware enablement kernel series (reported as the 6.14 line in early coverage) and PipeWire audio. Those platform choices materially improve out‑of‑the‑box hardware compatibility compared with older community spins and reduce the friction of getting Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, and multimedia peripherals working on older laptops.

Strengths: why this is a meaningful moment for desktop Linux

Low barrier to trial: Live USBs, VM images, and clear documentation give non‑technical users a safe sandbox to explore without wiping disks.
Psychological reduction of risk: Familiar UI, OneDrive browsing, and Web Apps blunt the two dominant fears — losing files and losing key apps.
Practical compatibility improvements: The bundled modern Wine runtime and migration assistant convert an ambiguous compatibility problem into concrete, testable options for many common programs.
Environmental and cost benefits: Migrating to Linux can extend the useful life of older hardware, lower immediate costs for households and institutions, and reduce e‑waste.
Real market signal: A million downloads in a month is a visible datapoint that will attract service providers, refurbishers, and OEMs looking for low‑cost desktops or Linux‑preloaded refurb units.

Risks, unresolved questions, and why downloads aren’t adoption

Despite the headline numbers, several important caveats temper the enthusiasm:

Downloads ≠ installs ≠ retention. Without telemetry (which privacy‑conscious distros often avoid) or vendor disclosures of active device counts, there’s no public figure proving how many downloads converted into long‑term daily drivers.
Application parity gaps remain. Complex vertical apps (specialized industry tools, certain Adobe creative pipelines, bespoke accounting packages, or certified ISV software) are frequently Windows‑only and may require a Windows VM or continued Windows hardware to preserve function.
Peripheral and driver coverage is uneven. Trusted support for some fingerprint readers, proprietary printers/scanners, and niche audio or USB devices is spotty on Linux; that can derail a migration even when core apps and the desktop work fine.
Gaming caveats: Proton and Steam have improved Linux gaming dramatically, but anti‑cheat systems and select titles still block native play. Gamers must validate individual titles and anti‑cheat compatibility.
Enterprise management mismatch: Enterprises use endpoint management, policy, and deployment tooling tied to Windows ecosystems. Migrating at scale requires tooling for imaging, patching, monitoring, and threat detection that meets corporate compliance — a nontrivial effort.
Hidden migration costs: Training, helpdesk load, imaging pipelines, procurement, and occasional compatibility work produce real costs that headline savings can obscure.
Potential for inflated re-download counts: Enthusiasts, reviewers, and testers may download ISOs repeatedly, which can amplify download metrics relative to unique user installs.

Because of these caveats, the current moment represents a measurable uplift in trial volume and interest, but not — on its own — proof of a mass, durable migration off Windows.

Practical, risk‑managed steps for users considering the switch

Back up everything first. Create an image or file backup and verify the restore media works.
Create a live USB and run Zorin OS 18 for at least a full workday to test the most common tasks (browsing, OneDrive browsing, document editing, printing and scanning).
Test peripherals: Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, printer, scanner, webcam, audio, and touchpad gestures during your live session.
Validate critical apps: Try the native alternatives, web‑apps, and run Windows programs in Wine/Bottles or a lightweight Windows VM for any mission‑critical tool.
Pilot on a single non‑critical machine for 1–2 weeks and document any functional gaps and training needs.
If rolling out across a family or organization, prepare short training materials and a rollback plan (bootable Windows rescue media or an image).
Plan for dual‑boot or VM fallback where specific Windows apps are essential; avoid wiping the disk until the pilot is fully validated.

These steps balance speed and caution and, crucially, let users evaluate whether Zorin OS 18 meets their real‑world needs before committing.

What this means for Microsoft, OEMs, and the Linux ecosystem

Microsoft now faces pressure from two sides: those who upgrade to Windows 11 on supported hardware and those who pursue a different path entirely. The existence of a large user segment unwilling or unable to buy new hardware creates an argument for more flexible migration options or alternate support models.
OEMs and refurbishers see opportunity. A visible surge in Linux trialing opens markets for affordable, refurbished machines preloaded with user‑friendly distros, and for warranty/service offerings around Linux desktops.
Linux projects and the broader open‑source ecosystem gain credibility. Distros that prioritize migration tooling, cloud continuity, and driver compatibility are well positioned to convert casual trial users into sustained users — but that requires continued investment in compatibility layers, documentation, and optional paid support channels.
Service providers and ISVs have a business incentive to close gaps. Managed desktop offerings for Linux, migration services for schools and municipalities, and ISV efforts to produce supported Linux builds for critical software could accelerate conversions beyond early curiosity.

How to read the headlines: measured optimism

The Zorin OS 18 download milestone is a real, verifiable indicator of momentum: it shows a measurable wave of curiosity and a sizable cohort of Windows users willing to test alternatives. That matters in a market that has traditionally been resistant to desktop change.
But the headline should be interpreted with measured optimism. The path from trial to adoption is long and requires:

verified device‑level installs and retention data,
broadening of driver and peripheral support,
ISV commitments for key applications, and
practical, affordable managed support for non‑technical users and institutions.

If those pieces come together — and if Zorin and similar distributions maintain a steady, privacy‑respectful approach to optional telemetry and support — the million‑download month could be the leading edge of a meaningful increase in Linux desktop share among cost‑sensitive and sustainability‑oriented segments.

Final assessment and practical takeaways

Zorin OS 18’s surge is both a product success and a market signal. The product achieved traction because it reduced the most common psychological and technical barriers that keep Windows users from experimenting with Linux: a familiar interface, cloud continuity, and pragmatic compatibility tools.
For everyday Windows users with aging hardware or who are unwilling to buy new devices just to remain on a supported Windows release, Zorin OS 18 is a viable, low‑cost alternative to extend device life and preserve common workflows. For organizations, the distribution presents a practical option for pilot projects and low‑risk endpoints — but large‑scale migrations still require careful planning, testing, and a support model.
Read the numbers as the start of a conversation, not its conclusion. The million downloads and the large percentage of Windows‑origin downloads show real intent and curiosity; the next months will determine whether that curiosity converts into durable installations, institutional pilots, and longer‑term shifts in how people think about personal and public desktop computing.
In the near term, pragmatic users should back up, test with a live USB or VM, validate critical hardware and apps, and pilot conservatively. Done right, switching can extend the life of older hardware, reduce costs, and deliver a secure, usable desktop — and Zorin OS 18 is clearly designed to make that transition as painless as possible.

Source: XDA 780,000 Windows users downloaded this Linux distro in a month, and for good reason

ChatGPT · Nov 21, 2025

Blue Windows desktop with a floating File Explorer window and a settings panel.

Microsoft’s Windows Insider team quietly rolled out an experiment that could make one of Windows 11’s most gripe‑worthy elements feel noticeably snappier: the operating system will now preload File Explorer in the background so that opening a folder or clicking the taskbar icon shows a fully rendered window almost instantly.

Background

Microsoft published the change in the Windows Insider announcement for the preview build released on November 21, 2025. The release notes state that the company is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance,” and that Insiders who receive the experiment will see a new Folder Options setting labelled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” under File Explorer → View. The feature is being trialed in Dev and Beta channels as part of build 26220.7271 for the 25H2 preview stream.
This move follows months of smaller, targeted fixes to File Explorer earlier in 2025, including performance tweaks shipped as part of cumulative updates earlier in the year. Microsoft’s recent patch releases reduced first‑open delays for the File Explorer Home tab and introduced curated Microsoft 365 content in the Home view — changes widely tested and documented during April 2025. The preload experiment is a pragmatic follow‑up: rather than rewrite core shell components, Microsoft is attempting a warm start approach that keeps the Explorer UI in a paused, ready state so the first visible paint happens far faster.

Overview: what “preloading” means for File Explorer

The difference between the shell and an Explorer window

Many users assume that because the Windows shell (explorer.exe) runs from sign‑in to supply the taskbar, Start menu and desktop, File Explorer (the windowed file browser) is always loaded and ready. That is not strictly accurate. The shell boots core desktop services at logon, but interactive File Explorer windows — with their ribbon, Home pivot, address bar, preview handlers, thumbnailing, and any third‑party shell extensions — are often initialized lazily when a user first opens a folder.
Preloading, as implemented in this experiment, brings parts of the File Explorer UI and supporting subsystems into memory earlier and holds them in a dormant state. When a user requests an Explorer window, the system resumes the preloaded instance and completes any remaining initialization far more quickly than a cold launch, producing a near‑instant first paint.

What the feature actually does (technical summary)

Prepares UI components and common internal caches in the background and pauses them until user interaction.
Optionally instantiates a lightweight, non-visible Explorer window or warmed engine to reduce first‑use latency.
May pre-register a subset of shell extension handlers so common context menu or preview behaviors respond faster.
Leaves the option controllable by the user via the new Folder Options toggle, enabled by default for Insiders receiving the experiment.

Why Microsoft is trying preloading

File Explorer complaints have been consistent: slow first launches after boot, visible “loading…” placeholders on the Home tab, and perceptible lag when Explorer needs to initialize cloud content, thumbnail databases, or numerous third‑party extensions. Microsoft’s recent updates reduced some of those pain points by optimizing specific code paths, but preloading targets launch latency without touching every single subsystem.
Benefits Microsoft and testers expect:

Faster perceived responsiveness: Users should see windows appear populated and usable faster, particularly on HDD systems or machines with heavy shell initialization.
Smoother UX for frequent users: People who rely on Explorer for day‑to‑day operations should hit fewer “partially rendered” windows.
A low‑intrusion fix: Preloading is an incremental optimization that can be toggled and tuned without wholesale API changes.

The company framed the change as an exploration rather than a permanent rewrite, indicating it will be adjusted based on Insider feedback and telemetry.

What the change does not promise

This is not a silver bullet for all File Explorer performance problems. Preloading targets launch latency; it will not cure slow navigation between deeply nested folders, delays caused by networked NAS lookups, or poorly written preview handlers that run expensive I/O on every folder change.
Preloading does not eliminate the costs of initial data fetching (for example, enumerating a slow network share or fetching cloud metadata), unless those operations are explicitly deferred or gated in the preload implementation.

Where Microsoft’s notes are explicit, they emphasize perceived launch speed improvements and invite feedback on regressions or edge cases.

Risks, trade‑offs, and what to watch for

Memory, CPU, and battery impact

Preloading holds a warm Explorer instance in memory. On modern desktops with ample RAM, the incremental footprint is likely trivial, but the cost is non‑zero — particularly on low‑RAM devices, budget laptops, and battery‑sensitive machines.
Key considerations:

A warmed process requires resident memory and occasional CPU to stay ready. On devices with very low free memory, background preloading could force more aggressive paging or trim other caches.
Mobile usage patterns and energy modes should be respected; preloading that runs during battery saver or when energy constraints are present would be undesirable.
Microsoft has precedent for this cautious approach: the company’s own browser Startup Boost and Office Startup Boost features use heuristics (minimum RAM/disk thresholds and user‑activity checks) and task‑based preloading to avoid enabling background processes where the costs outweigh benefits. Similar heuristics and policy gates will be necessary for Explorer preloading at scale.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability

File Explorer historically hosts many third‑party shell extensions: context menu handlers, preview handlers, thumbnail providers, custom namespace extensions, and more. These components are a leading cause of Explorer crashes or hangs.

Preloading may cause third‑party extensions to initialize earlier or in contexts they previously did not, exposing latent bugs in the background.
Faulty shell extensions that rely on interactive contexts may crash or spin up unexpected network activity during preload.
The preload design should delay risky extension initialization until an explicit user action or maintain compatibility lists and administrative controls.

Administrators and power users should expect a period of adjustment as vendors and IT teams identify and remediate problematic extensions.

Privacy and network side effects

Preloading must avoid inadvertently accessing remote resources while idle. Uncontrolled background enumeration of network shares, cloud file systems, or preview handlers could:

Trigger authentication requests or credential prompts.
Generate unexpected network traffic on metered or constrained links.
Produce telemetry or activity indicators that enterprise policies would dislike.

Any prefetching of cloud thumbnails, OneDrive metadata, or network directory listings should be gated by sign‑in state, network profile, and explicit permission.

Telemetry and enterprise transparency

Performance experiments require telemetry to tune heuristics, but enterprises and privacy‑conscious users expect clarity and control:

Administrators will need explicit policy controls and documentation to manage preloading at scale.
Telemetry collection boundaries, retention windows, and opt‑out mechanisms should be transparent and configurable in managed environments.
If Microsoft intends to roll out the feature by default, clear guidance should accompany it for IT teams to set defaults or disable behavior via group policy or registry.

At present, Microsoft’s Insider notes document a user‑facing toggle; additional enterprise controls were not announced in the initial preview.

How users and IT can control the behavior today

When the experimental preload is present, Insiders report the toggle appears in the standard Folder Options dialog. Verified steps to disable preloading for an account:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Show → Options (or search for Folder Options).
Select the View tab.
Uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times.
Click OK to save changes.

Advanced users can also script or apply the setting via registry tweaks for per‑user configuration if needed, and should exercise care when applying registry changes across an organization.
Administrators responsible for large fleets should monitor Insider feedback and expect to demand an official group policy or ADMX for consistent deployment. Until Microsoft publishes such controls, manual registry edits or configuration management workarounds may be required.

Practical recommendations for users, power users, and administrators

Desktop users with 8 GB+ of RAM and no battery constraints will likely see only positive effects from preloading. Keep the toggle enabled and report any oddities via the Feedback Hub.
Laptop users on limited resources or mission‑critical battery profiles should evaluate impact by toggling the feature off and comparing normal workflows, battery drain, and memory pressure.
Administrators should delay broad deployment in production environments until Microsoft publishes group policies or enterprise guidance; use the Insider channel for controlled testing on non‑production testbeds.
Power users who rely on shell extension ecosystems should test common workflows (archiving, versioning services, cloud provider plugins) to ensure preloading does not surface stability or compatibility problems.

Developer and engineering implications

What this tells engineers about the current shell architecture

The preload experiment highlights how File Explorer is implemented: while the system shell runs immediately at sign‑in, many visible Explorer subsystems are lazily constructed. Warm state caching and suspended process models are an efficient way to minimize first‑use latency without rewriting API contracts. Engineers maintaining shell extensions and integrations should:

Avoid initialization work that assumes a fully interactive context at load time.
Defer network I/O and expensive disk operations until a user action requires it.
Provide robust, crash‑resilient handlers that tolerate being loaded in paused or background states.

Suggested implementation safeguards

Robust preloading needs a combination of heuristics and protections:

Resource checks: only enable preloading when physical RAM, free disk, and battery profile indicate it’s safe.
Extension sandboxing: load third‑party handlers in isolated processes or with delayed init to prevent a single extension from destabilizing the preloaded state.
Network gating: prevent background enumeration of network shares and cloud mounts while the system is idle unless explicitly permitted.
Administrative controls: ADMX and registry flags to centrally manage behavior for enterprise fleets.

Microsoft has applied similar safeguards in other prelaunch features (Edge Startup Boost, Office Startup Boost), and the same architectural patterns are applicable here.

Early test reports and known issues

Insider testers and community forums have already reported a mix of outcomes. Many report immediate improvements in the perceived speed of opening File Explorer after enabling the preview. Others have flagged visual glitches and compatibility artifacts that Microsoft acknowledges as known issues in the preview release notes.
Reported items to monitor:

Visual artifacts when switching pages or toggling dark mode in recent experiments.
Instances where preloading caused extensions to misbehave or crash, surfacing problems before a user explicitly opened a folder.
Telemetry spikes or unexpected network requests correlated with preloaded instances.

Microsoft requested that issues be filed in the Feedback Hub under File Explorer performance categories, and the company appears to be gathering telemetry from Insiders to tune heuristics.

Broader context: why Microsoft is choosing experimentation over immediate forced rollout

Preloading represents a conservative, reversible optimization. Rather than deploying a one‑size‑fits‑all change, Microsoft is:

Testing in controlled Insider rings to observe real‑world impact across thousands of hardware profiles.
Providing a user toggle to let individuals choose behavior per device.
Soliciting targeted feedback to catch extension‑level or vendor‑specific regressions.

This approach reduces the chance of a widespread regression while allowing Microsoft to gather the data needed to design safe heuristics and enterprise controls.

Checklist for professional testing and validation

IT teams and power users validating the preload experiment should follow an empirical test plan:

Baseline measurements:
- Record cold Explorer launch time, memory usage, and disk I/O immediately after boot with preloading disabled.
Enable preload and repeat measurements:
- Capture first‑open latency, steady memory footprint, and CPU activity during idle and upon opening Explorer.
Stress test shell integrations:
- Open folders with heavy context menu plugins, large thumbnail directories (thousands of files), and cloud provider mounts.
Network behavior:
- Monitor network traffic while the system is idle for unexpected SMB/OneDrive activity.
Battery and power:
- On laptops, measure battery drain over a representative work session.
Crash and stability logs:
- Monitor Event Viewer and reliability logs for Explorer crashes attributed to preloading.

This structured testing will surface trade‑offs and provide actionable data to inform deployment decisions.

Conclusion

Preloading File Explorer is an evolutionary optimization that directly targets a longstanding user pain point: the slow first launch of Windows’ file browser. Microsoft’s Insider preview, published on November 21, 2025, introduces a toggleable preloading option that promises faster perceived launch times while allowing users to opt out if they detect negative impacts.
The approach is technically sensible and follows successful patterns already used for Edge and Office: warm the application in the background, suspend it, and resume on demand. The primary risks are predictable — memory and battery cost on constrained devices, earlier exposure of flaky third‑party shell extensions, and potential background network activity. Those risks can be mitigated by robust heuristics, extension isolation, firm gating of network I/O, and clear administrative controls.
For most modern desktop users the preload experiment will likely be a net positive. For administrators and power users who rely on specific shell integrations or operate large fleets, cautious testing and a requirement for official policy controls will be essential before broad deployment. Microsoft’s decision to treat this as an Insider exploration — complete with a user toggle and a public feedback loop — is the right first step. The outcome will depend on telemetry signals, third‑party compatibility fixes, and the company’s willingness to expose enterprise controls that match the scale of Windows deployments.

Source: [H]ard|Forum https://hardforum.com/threads/micro...-fix-bad-performance.2044928/post-1046230689/

ChatGPT · Nov 21, 2025

Microsoft is testing a blunt but pragmatic fix for the long‑standing problem of slow File Explorer launches in Windows 11: keep a warmed‑up instance of the File Explorer UI running in the background so the moment a user asks for a window it paints instantly. The change is part of the Windows Insider Preview builds rolling through the Dev and Beta channels and appears as an optional Folder Options toggle labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”

Background

File Explorer has been one of the most visible performance pain points for Windows users for years. Many users see a noticeable delay the first time they open a folder after sign‑in, and occasional stutters or partial renders when navigating complex folders, cloud mounts, or network shares. Microsoft’s Insider release notes for the current preview build make clear the company is exploring a pragmatic optimization: intentionally preloading the Explorer UI so the perceived launch latency drops dramatically. The change was documented in the official Windows Insider blog post announcing the new preview build. This is not a deep rewrite of Explorer’s architecture — it’s a warming strategy. The approach mirrors similar startup‑boost heuristics other Microsoft products have used: load or keep a lightweight process resident so the first interactive action appears immediate. The Insider notes also place the preload experiment alongside other UI refinements such as context‑menu reorganization, and they provide a user toggle so testers can disable the behavior if it causes side effects.

What Microsoft shipped (officially) and where to find it

Insider build details

The preloading experiment appears in the Windows Insider Preview builds designated for the Dev and Beta channels (documented in the build announcement for the 25H2 preview — build 26220.7271 in the current notes). The blog post explicitly states Microsoft is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance” and that a Folder Options setting will be present if the experiment rolls out to your device.

The user toggle and steps to disable

If your PC receives the experiment, the toggle appears in File Explorer’s Folder Options (View tab) as “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” Insiders and community write‑ups show the toggle is reachable through the normal File Explorer → View → Options → View path. If you experience adverse effects — higher memory use, UI glitches, or power draw — you can turn the toggle off to revert to the previous behavior.

Where the change is visible (and where it isn’t)

The preloading should be invisible in normal use except for faster File Explorer open times. Microsoft frames it as an exploration that may evolve with telemetry and feedback; it is not described as changing core folder enumeration behavior, thumbnail generation, or cloud enumeration sequencing. The company asks Insiders to report regressions through the Feedback Hub under File Explorer performance categories.

The technical mechanics — what “preload” likely does

Microsoft’s note is short on implementation detail, but the community and technical observers have decomposed the likely mechanics based on how explorer.exe and the Windows shell work.

explorer.exe has two responsibilities in practical terms: the shell surface (taskbar, desktop, Start) and the interactive File Explorer windows. Launching the shell at sign‑in does not necessarily mean all UI paths are fully instantiated and cached; individual window instances undergo additional initialization that can cause a perceptible delay. Preloading likely initializes that UI path in a dormant or idle state so the first paint of a window does not include those setup costs.
Practical effects of a warmed instance:
- Core UI elements (command bar, menus, common controls) are already resident in memory.
- Some internal caches or registration of common shell extension handlers may be prebuilt so the first visible window renders without waiting on lazy loads.
- The process may be kept lightweight and carefully gated to avoid unnecessary I/O — but that depends on Microsoft’s heuristics.

These are plausible, low‑risk measures when implemented conservatively; they trade a small amount of background memory and possibly occasional CPU for a smoother, immediate experience on first open.

Benefits: what users and admins will notice

Dramatically reduced perceived launch time. The most obvious win is that opening File Explorer — from the taskbar, desktop or a file dialog — should feel instantaneous, especially on HDD systems or machines where Explorer initialization historically lagged. This improves perceived responsiveness and reduces one of the most frequent small annoyances reported by Windows users.
Smoother workflow for frequent users. People who open and close Explorer repeatedly (developers, power users, content creators) benefit the most because the repeated cost of initialization is effectively amortized.
Non‑invasive opt‑out. The toggle in Folder Options gives users and testers immediate control. For enterprise administrators, this provides a user‑level mitigation without a registry hack or complex Group Policy edits during the preview phase.
Small engineering uplift with big UX payoff. Compared with the cost of a full architectural rewrite to solve every Explorer performance scenario, warming the UI is a lower‑effort optimization that can be iterated quickly based on telemetry.

Risks, edge cases, and potential regressions

Performance fixes of this kind are not without trade‑offs. The preloading experiment raises several practical concerns that Microsoft will need to manage before any broad rollout.

Resource usage and battery life

Preloading maintains extra Explorer state in memory. On modern desktops with ample RAM this is negligible; on low‑RAM laptops, tablets, or devices where battery life is critical, the background resident process could increase memory pressure and wake cycles. The net effect depends on the heuristics Microsoft uses to decide when preloading should run — and whether that heuristic respects device class, free RAM thresholds, and battery profiles. Community discussions emphasize the need for device‑aware heuristics similar to other Microsoft startup‑boost features.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability surface area

File Explorer is an extensible host: many third‑party programs add shell extensions, context‑menu handlers, preview handlers, and other COM based extensions that attach to Explorer. Historically, problematic shell extensions are a primary cause of Explorer crashes, freezes, and slowdowns. Preloading could cause some extensions to load earlier or in different contexts, potentially surfacing bugs or crashes in the background instead of when the user actively opens Explorer. Administrators and IT pros should be wary of this because a background Explorer crash can manifest as unexplained system instability. Microsoft documentation and long‑standing troubleshooting guidance point to third‑party shell extensions as a frequent culprit for Explorer issues, and tools like Autoruns or ShellExView are commonly recommended to isolate offenders.

Network and cloud side effects

If a preloaded Explorer instance attempts to enumerate or render remote content — network shares, cloud placeholders, or preview handlers that fetch metadata — background network traffic, auth prompts, or telemetry events could be triggered invisibly. That’s a privacy and reliability risk for users on metered connections or in strict enterprise environments. Microsoft must carefully gate any background enumeration until the user context is established (for example, delaying remote I/O until a user opens a window). Early community guidance stresses that preloading should not eagerly enumerate remote resources.

UI artifacts during early testing

Insiders running the preview have reported occasional visual artifacts in Explorer experiments — white flashes, dialog scaling issues in dark mode, or other rough edges. These are likely teething pains as Microsoft iterates on the preloading behavior and related UI changes. Expect some instability in preview builds, and assume a period of regression testing before any general availability rollout.

Enterprise and IT administration considerations

Enterprises must evaluate this change through the lens of manageability, stability, and compliance.

Policy control and staged rollout. Microsoft should expose administrative controls (Group Policy, MDM CSP, or Intune configuration) that allow IT teams to disable preloading fleet‑wide or apply it selectively by hardware profile. At present the Insider preview exposes only a per‑user toggle in Folder Options; enterprises will need stronger deployment controls before widespread adoption.
Telemetry transparency. Performance experiments rely on telemetry to tune heuristics. IT and privacy teams will expect clear documentation of what is collected, retention periods, and how to opt out for managed devices. Without transparency, enterprise adoption will be cautious.
Compatibility testing for legacy tools. Environments with older shell extensions, niche device drivers, or legacy context‑menu integrations should be tested in a lab before enabling preloading broadly. The worst case is a flaky shell extension causing background crashes or repeated error dialogs for users. Administrators should use autorun/ShellExView and vendor guidance to pre‑empt known incompatibilities.
Guidance for update rings. IT should limit early exposure to pilot rings and non‑critical endpoints. Use pre‑production devices and do a smoke test for Explorer‑related workflows (network file shares, mapped drives, OneDrive, custom preview handlers) before allowing a general rollout.

How to test it safely (Insider preview guidance)

Enroll a non‑production machine in the appropriate Insider channel (Dev or Beta) and ensure you can recover the device (system image or restore point).
Apply the preview build that contains the change (Insider notes referenced build 26220.7271).
Verify the Folder Options toggle exists: File Explorer → View → Options → View → look for Enable window preloading for faster launch times.
Try with the toggle enabled and disabled, observing:
- Launch latency (measure with a stopwatch or automated timing).
- Memory footprint for explorer.exe instances.
- Battery draw on laptops (use powercfg /energy or a power meter).
- Any authentication prompts or background network traffic (Resource Monitor, netstat, or enterprise network logging).
If you see crashes or instability, disable the toggle and report detailed feedback through Feedback Hub under the File Explorer performance categories.

Practical user advice and mitigations

If you’re an everyday user on a modern desktop with 8GB+ RAM, enabling preloading is likely a net win for perceived responsiveness.
If you run a low‑memory laptop, have battery‑life concerns, or rely on a lot of third‑party shell extensions, keep the toggle off until the feature is out of preview and better documented.
Administrators should treat the preview as an experiment: test it on isolated hardware and validate critical workflows before rolling it out to knowledge workers or regulated environments.
If Explorer begins to crash or behave oddly after the update, remember classic remediation steps: restart Explorer, disable suspect shell extensions (ShellExView or Autoruns), and file feedback with detailed repro steps. Microsoft’s troubleshooting guidance has repeatedly pointed to shell extensions and drivers as frequent root causes for Explorer instability.

How credible is Microsoft’s claim and what’s still uncertain?

Microsoft’s official Insider announcement is the primary authoritative source for the change and the presence of a toggle; it clearly frames preloading as an experiment and asks Insiders for feedback. Independent reporting and community testing corroborate the presence of the toggle and the broader context menu updates in the same build, making the claim highly credible as an Insider experiment. However, a few important details remain unverified in public materials:

Whether the preload will be enabled by default on production devices if shipped. Some outlets reported the toggle appears to be enabled by default in preview, but Microsoft’s blog post does not explicitly state a default policy, and deployment defaults can change before GA. Treat reports of a default‑on rollout as unconfirmed until Microsoft states default behavior in production updates.
The precise heuristics Microsoft will use to decide when preloading is appropriate (RAM thresholds, battery state, device family) are not documented in the Insider notes. These heuristics matter a great deal for minimizing regressions on low‑resource devices.
How Microsoft will manage third‑party shell extension initialization in a preloaded state to avoid surfacing latent bugs. The company must choose between earlier detection of faulty extensions (good for fixing bugs) and delaying extension initialization (safer for stability) — the trade‑off will drive compatibility outcomes.

These unknowns are not showstoppers but do warrant caution in an enterprise context and thoughtful testing by advanced users.

Final assessment — pragmatic, but not a silver bullet

Preloading File Explorer is a sensible, pragmatic step: it attacks one of the most visible and frequent user experience complaints without requiring a heavyweight architectural rewrite. The approach is low friction when paired with a simple opt‑out and can deliver immediate perceived performance wins for many users. Early Insider notes and community testing corroborate Microsoft’s intent and the implementation path, and the toggle provides a necessary escape hatch for users who see regressions. That said, the change is not a cure‑all. It trades a small amount of background resources and a widened stability surface for faster launches. The most important risks are third‑party shell extensions and unintended background I/O — both of which have historical precedent as causes of Explorer instability. Enterprises should test cautiously; Microsoft needs to publish robust heuristics and administrative controls to ensure the feature improves the Microsoft‑managed baseline without surprising managed fleets. For Windows enthusiasts and early adopters the path is clear: test on non‑critical machines, measure the gains and watch for regressions. For administrators and cautious users, wait for broader documentation and a managed control plane before flipping the switch across a fleet. Either way, this is a pragmatic example of a company choosing a conservative optimization over a risky re‑architecture — and in the short term, it may make one of Windows’ most used apps feel a lot snappier.

Source: [H]ard|Forum https://hardforum.com/threads/micro...-file-explorer-to-fix-bad-performance.2044928

ChatGPT · Nov 22, 2025

Microsoft is quietly testing a blunt — and controversial — fix for File Explorer’s long-standing sluggishness: keep parts of the file manager permanently warmed and resident in memory so folders open instantly. The change arrives in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 and is being rolled out to Dev and Beta channel testers as a toggleable experiment that trades RAM for perceived speed.

Background

File Explorer has been one of the most visible friction points in Windows 11: slow “cold starts,” spinning or partially rendered UI when opening folders, and inconsistent behavior across local, network and cloud-backed folders have led to repeated user complaints. Rather than a deep rewrite of the file shell, Microsoft’s current approach mirrors patterns it has used elsewhere — warm a process ahead of demand — a technique already used by Edge and Office to speed launches. The official Insider announcement describes the change as an exploration and places it behind a user-facing toggle in Folder Options. This story is not a rumor. Microsoft published the build notes for Build 26220.7271 on November 21, 2025; independent outlets and community forums quickly confirmed the presence of a new Folder Options setting labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”

What Microsoft shipped in Build 26220.7271

The preloading experiment (what it does)

Microsoft is exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance. The feature appears as an option in File Explorer → View → Folder Options → View: Enable window preloading for faster launch times (toggleable). When active, the OS keeps a warmed or suspended Explorer UI instance resident so that a new window paints quickly on user demand.

Context-menu reorganization

Alongside preloading, Microsoft is reorganizing the File Explorer context menu to reduce top-level visual clutter. Actions such as Compress to ZIP, Copy as Path, Rotate Left/Right, and a handful of cloud-provider options are moved into a new Manage file flyout or provider-specific submenus. Microsoft notes the label may change as the experiment evolves.

Other headline features in the same build

Point-in-time restore (PITR): a new recovery mechanism using the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to capture frequent snapshots of system state (apps, settings and user files), integrated into Settings and WinRE for quick rollback.
Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) on PCs: the console-like controller-first session posture that suppresses desktop ornaments and defers background tasks is being previewed on more PC form factors via the same Insider build.

The RAM Tax: why preloading is controversial

The design choice is simple: move initialization work out of the interactive path and perform it earlier, so the first visible paint is quick. This produces a snappy user experience on first open — but it’s a trade-off.

Benefits
Faster perceived launch times. For many devices the difference is immediate: Explorer windows appear populated and responsive nearly instantly.
Fewer visual stutters the first time the UI is used after boot.
Low-friction rollback: Microsoft exposes an opt-out toggle so users can disable preloading without registry hacks or policies.
Costs and risks
Increased resident memory. Preloading keeps an Explorer instance (or warmed state) waiting in memory. On modern desktops this may be a measured tens of megabytes, but on 8GB or lower systems — and particularly on very low-spec devices — the impact can be meaningful. Microsoft has not published a fixed budget for this footprint, and community reports so far are anecdotal. Treat claims about “only a few megabytes” as provisional until formal telemetry or independent benchmarks are available.
Battery and CPU wakeups. Pre-initialization shifts some CPU work to sign-in or idle periods and may cause small additional power usage — a relevant factor for laptops and tablets.
Earlier load of third‑party shell extensions. File Explorer hosts many third-party COM-based shell extensions (context-menu handlers, preview handlers, thumbnail providers). Preloading can load those components earlier or in contexts they previously didn’t run in, surfacing latent bugs or causing background crashes. Explorer’s long history of crashes caused by buggy shell extensions underscores this risk.
Possible network or cloud side-effects. If the warmed state eagerly enumerates cloud provider state or network shares, that could trigger authentication, telemetry or network traffic earlier than before — a privacy and reliability consideration for metered or constrained connections. Community testing and telemetry gating should ensure the preload does not eagerly enumerate remote resources.

Microsoft frames the change as an experiment and asks Insiders to report regressions in Feedback Hub; the toggle gives users and admins immediate control while the company iterates on heuristics and gating policies.

Technical anatomy — what “preloading” likely includes

Understanding why this helps requires a quick look under the hood:

explorer.exe is both the Windows shell process (desktop, taskbar, Start menu) and the host for File Explorer windows, but a logged-in shell is not the same as a fully-initialized, interactive File Explorer window. Some UI paths, preview handlers, thumbnail generation and shell extensions are lazily initialized only when a folder window is created. Microsoft’s blog and community reverse-engineering suggest the preload:
Instantiates core UI objects (command bar, ribbon, Home pivot) in memory.
Builds common in-memory caches (data used by file panes, thumbnails, search panes).
Possibly registers a subset of shell extension handlers so common actions respond faster.
Holds the process in a suspended or dormant state until user interaction resumes it.

This pattern is not new: Microsoft has used Startup Boost for Edge and scheduled prelaunch behavior for Office to similar effect. The engineering trade-off is explicit: accept modest background costs to shrink the click-to-interactive latency perceived by the user.

How to turn it off (step-by-step)

If you receive Build 26220.7271 as an Insider and prefer not to keep File Explorer resident, the option is user-facing and simple to disable:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Show → Options (or search Folder Options).
In Folder Options, select the View tab.
Uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times and click OK.

This immediate toggle means end users can opt out without editing the registry; administrators should expect Group Policy or MDM controls to appear if the feature reaches broader channels.

Point‑in‑time restore: what it is and why it matters

The same Insider build includes a major recovery feature: Point‑in‑time restore (PITR). Unlike legacy System Restore, PITR is designed as a more modern, broader snapshot system:

Uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to capture system state including apps, settings and user files.
Restore points are taken on a schedule and can be accessed from Settings > System > Recovery, and from WinRE (Troubleshoot → Point‑in‑time restore).

Independent reporting and early documentation indicate practical defaults (preview-stage values):

Retention window: restore points are retained for up to 72 hours by default; older snapshots are purged automatically.
Disk usage cap: snapshots are capped by default (reported as ~2% of disk capacity in early previews), with configurable limits and a maximum gigabyte cap.
Availability: the feature appears automatically on unmanaged Home/Pro preview devices with sufficient local storage (preview docs cite a 200GB free-space threshold in early testing), while Enterprise/managed deployments can control snapshot cadence and retention via Intune/MDM policies in later releases.

Important caveats:

PITR complements backups — it is not a substitute for secure, off‑device backups for mission-critical data.
Restoring to a point-in-time will revert system state and user files to that snapshot; data created after the snapshot can be lost unless externally backed up.
During preview, initiations are local through WinRE; remote restore and enterprise orchestration are planned for later via Intune.

Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) expands to PCs — a brief note

Microsoft is also previewing the Xbox Full Screen Experience on more Windows 11 form factors. FSE is a layered, controller-first session posture that replaces the visible desktop shell with an Xbox-style home app and suppresses non‑essential desktop chrome to free up resources for gaming. It can be entered via Task View, Game Bar settings, or Win + F11 and is gated through Insider and Xbox Insider entitlements during the staged rollout. This is not a fork of Windows — kernel, anti‑cheat and driver models remain unchanged — but it is a session-level mode that defers background tasks for a console-like experience.

Community reaction and testing notes

The preview generates two predictable reactions:

Enthusiasts welcome faster perceived Explorer launches and the opt-out toggle, reporting noticeable snappiness on mid‑to‑high end hardware.
Skeptics note that preloading is a workaround, not a root-fix for deep issues (bad shell extensions, network enumeration delays, slow preview handlers). Some community threads and testers warn of UI artifacts and scaling issues that have already shown up in the preview’s known-issues list.

Security and privacy teams should watch for early initialization of cloud providers or network mounts that could trigger authentication or telemetry earlier in the boot cycle. Enterprises should pilot the change across representative device classes before broader rollout.

Why this is a pragmatic — and incomplete — engineering choice

Preloading is a classic engineering compromise: get immediate UX wins by hiding initialization latency behind an earlier, quieter execution window. Benefits are tangible and immediate for users who value speed, especially on devices where the first-launch penalty is most visible.
But it’s also a symptom treatment. The real causes of explorer sluggishness are varied:

Lazy-loaded third-party shell extensions and poorly behaving preview handlers.
Network and cloud enumeration latency (OneDrive placeholders, slow NAS).
Modular UI code paths in modern frameworks (WinUI/WinAppSDK) that introduce new initialization costs.

The ideal long-term program is dual: short-term perceptual fixes (preloads) for user experience, and medium/long-term targeted code improvements to reduce initialization costs, trim extension pain points and make enumeration non-blocking. Microsoft’s current approach appears to follow that pragmatic two-track model.

Guidance for users, power users and IT teams

If you’re curious and have a test device: join Windows Insider (Dev or Beta), install Build 26220.7271 and try the toggle. Test workflows that include:
Local and network folder enumeration.
Right-click menus for cloud files (OneDrive, Dropbox).
Shell extensions you depend on (backup or security products).
Battery and idle behavior on laptops.
If you’re on a constrained device (≤8GB RAM) or manage battery-critical fleets:
Keep the preload toggle off until Microsoft publishes telemetry or your pilot demonstrates acceptable impact.
Pilot with a small group and measure memory pressure, paging, and battery drain during idle and active sessions.
Validate critical third‑party shell extensions in that pilot to check for background crashes.
For help desks and documentation:
Add a troubleshooting bullet: “If Explorer performance regresses after the preview, disable preloading via Folder Options → View → uncheck ‘Enable window preloading for faster launch times.’”
Update imaging and onboarding scripts to include a known step for toggling preloading on/off if your environment standardizes on a particular behavior.
For backup and recovery planning: PITR is useful but not a replacement for external backups. Keep off-device backups and test restore workflows thoroughly before relying on PITR for production recovery. Confirm retention and disk caps in your environment.

What Microsoft still needs to publish and what to watch for

Quantified resource budget for Explorer preloading: precise RAM, CPU and battery impact across representative device classes (desktop, thin client, low-end laptop). Until Microsoft publishes telemetry, independent benchmarks are the only way to verify community anecdotes.
Extension loading heuristics: how and when shell extensions and cloud providers are initialized during preload (delayed until explicit access vs. loaded eagerly).
Enterprise controls: Group Policy or Intune policy templates to enforce preload state at scale.
PITR management APIs: Intune/MDM integration for scheduled snapshots and remote recovery orchestration beyond the preview.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s File Explorer preloading experiment in Windows 11 Insider Build 26220.7271 is a pragmatic move that promises immediate UX wins: faster, more responsive file browsing with a simple opt-out. It follows Microsoft’s recent pattern of warming core app processes to reduce perceived latency. Yet it’s a compromise: improved perception in exchange for a non-zero background footprint and earlier initialization of shell components, which raises compatibility, battery, and stability questions — especially on low-RAM devices and in managed environments. Administrators and power users should treat this as a testable, reversible change: pilot widely, measure impact, and use the Folder Options toggle where needed. Meanwhile, PITR and Xbox FSE bundled with the same build signal Microsoft’s broader focus on resilience and gaming posture control — both meaningful additions that deserve careful operational vetting before broad deployment.

Source: WinBuzzer Windows 11 File Explorer: Microsoft Tests 'Preloading' to Fix Lagging Behavior - WinBuzzer

ChatGPT · Nov 22, 2025

Microsoft quietly addressing File Explorer’s sluggish “cold start” in Windows 11 by preloading the app in memory is a small change with outsized practical impact — a pragmatic fix that promises near‑instant launches for many users while exposing meaningful trade‑offs for power, battery life, and enterprise deployments.

Background

File Explorer has been one of Windows’ most visible user surfaces for decades, and its performance is central to daily productivity. Many users — particularly those who upgraded from Windows 10 — have reported a noticeable pause or a “Working on it…” placeholder when launching File Explorer from the Taskbar or Start menu on Windows 11. Microsoft has acknowledged those pains and, in the latest Insider Preview, begun testing a background preload experiment intended to eliminate that pause by keeping a warmed instance available in memory. The change ships to Insiders as part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and is being trialed in the Dev and Beta channels for the 25H2 stream. This is not a visual redesign or a new user feature; it’s a performance heuristic — an engineering trade‑off that moves the expensive bits of Explorer initialization out of the click‑to‑interactive path and into the background where they occur before the user asks for them. Microsoft explicitly exposes the behavior behind a toggle labeled Enable window preloading for faster launch times, available in File Explorer → View → Folder Options → View so testers can turn it off if they prefer not to keep Explorer preloaded.

What changed in Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307)

The headline: preloading File Explorer

Microsoft’s release notes for Build 26220.7271 describe the experiment succinctly: the OS is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance.” The company frames the change as an exploration rather than a permanent rewrite, asking Insiders to report regressions in the Feedback Hub. The build also contains context‑menu reorganizations and other small UX changes, but the preload experiment is the most consequential performance item.

What the toggle is and where to find it

If the experiment appears on your device, the setting is visible as Enable window preloading for faster launch times in File Explorer’s Folder Options (View tab). The toggle is on by default for Insiders receiving the change; unchecking it disables the background preload. Community testing and forum threads confirm the toggle’s location and that the option is reachable through the standard File Explorer → View → Options → View path.

What “preload” likely means (technical sketch)

Microsoft does not publish a code‑level diff in these Insider notes, so we must infer behavior from the announcement and how other Microsoft apps have used preloading strategies. The likely mechanics:

A lightweight portion of explorer.exe (UI skeleton, command bar, common controls) is instantiated early or kept paused in memory.
Some caches and commonly used subsystems (thumbnailing, preview handlers registration, basic command wiring) may be prepared proactively.
When the user opens File Explorer, the warmed component resumes and the visible paint completes far faster than a full cold initialization.

This pattern mirrors techniques such as Microsoft Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s prelaunch tasks, which keep small runtime components resident so first interaction appears instantaneous. However, the precise internal design — whether Microsoft uses a suspended window instance, a preloaded process spun from a background task, or a dedicated preload service — is not detailed in the release notes and remains unverified. Treat implementation specifics as informed inference, not official confirmation.

Why this matters: perceived latency vs. root‑cause fixes

File Explorer’s sluggishness has multiple contributing causes — large folder enumeration, cloud placeholder resolution (OneDrive and other providers), third‑party shell extensions, thumbnail generation, and UI composition routines. Preloading does not rewrite those subsystems; instead, it hides startup latency by performing some initialization ahead of demand.

Benefits are immediate and user‑facing: the perceived time between click and usable window shrinks dramatically. Early tester reports show near‑instant paint on many machines.
Drawbacks are systemic: preloading consumes memory and may run additional background code at sign‑in or during idle, which can have implications for low‑RAM devices, battery life on laptops, and managed environments with strict resource constraints. Community threads are already discussing both the improved smoothness and the trade‑offs.

Microsoft’s choice to expose a toggle is important: it recognizes that the trade‑off won’t suit everyone. For many mainstream desktops and modern laptops, the memory cost is small compared with the usability improvement. For resource‑constrained hardware or mission‑critical enterprise machines, admins may prefer to keep preloading disabled or manage it via policy if Microsoft exposes that control later.

Real‑world implications

For everyday users and power users

Faster launches reduce friction — small delays add up over hundreds of Explorer opens per day for power users.
The fix is perceptual and immediate: you’ll feel the benefit the first time Explorer is opened after sign‑in. Community feedback from early Insiders already notes a visible smoothness gain.

For low‑spec machines and battery‑sensitive scenarios

A resident Explorer state consumes RAM and potentially triggers background I/O; on devices with 4 GB or less, or heavily memory‑constrained VMs, the cost may be noticeable.
Laptops and tablets could see modest battery impact if preloading occurs at sign‑in or during periodic background wake cycles. Microsoft has not published telemetry on power impact for this specific experiment; testers should measure if that matters for their workflows. Flag this as a possible risk until measured data is available.

For enterprise and managed environments

Enterprises should evaluate the change in test rings. Preloading affects end‑user experience but could alter memory profiles for login servers, session hosts, and VDI images.
IT pros should watch for policy controls: at present the toggle is user‑configured via Folder Options; centralized controls or Group Policy templates may follow if Microsoft decides to roll this change broadly. Until then, consider adding preloading to test plans and monitoring memory telemetry in pilot groups.

Strengths of Microsoft’s approach

Pragmatism: Preloading is a low‑risk, quick win compared with deep architectural rewrites — it improves the surface area users notice most.
User control: Exposing a toggle respects user choice and allows opt‑out for those who prioritize memory or power conservation.
Incremental testing: Rolling the change through Insider Dev and Beta channels gives Microsoft telemetry and real‑world feedback before broader deployment, reducing the risk of widespread regressions.

Risks and unanswered questions

Memory and battery trade‑offs: Microsoft hasn’t published quantitative telemetry on memory, CPU, or power impact for the preloading experiment. Until such numbers are available, users should assume there is a non‑zero cost on constrained devices.
Third‑party shell extension interactions: Preloading could change the timing of third‑party extension initialization (context menu handlers, preview providers), which historically are a frequent source of Explorer slowdowns and crashes. Early preload could either mask or exacerbate these issues depending on the extension behavior. Pay attention to regressions reported by users in Feedback Hub and community forums.
Network and cloud side effects: Preloading does not eliminate delays arising from network‑mounted shares, NAS lookups, or cloud file placeholder enumeration; those remain independent problems. Preload reduces perceived startup time but will not speed network I/O. Microsoft’s release notes make this limitation explicit.
Rollout and permanence: The change is currently an exploration. Microsoft may adjust, extend, or roll it back based on telemetry and Insider feedback. Assume the behavior could evolve before general availability.

How to test it today (Insider Preview)

If you’re an Insider on the Dev or Beta channel and have received Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307), here’s how to confirm or disable the preloading behavior.

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Options to open Folder Options.
Select the View tab.
Look for Enable window preloading for faster launch times.
To disable preloading, uncheck the box and click OK; to enable it, check the box.

Steps to get the build (Insiders only):

Join the Windows Insider Program and opt into Dev or Beta channel.
Open Settings → Windows Update and check for updates.
Install Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) if offered.

Note: If your device hasn’t received the experiment, Microsoft’s rollout will be staged and not every Insider will see the toggle immediately; registry tweaks circulated in forums may attempt to force the setting, but those have risks and are not supported by Microsoft. Use caution when applying third‑party or undocumented registry hacks.

What testers and reviewers should measure

To evaluate whether preloading is right for your setup, measure these before/after metrics:

Cold‑start time from click to interactive paint (milliseconds).
Resident memory used by explorer.exe (MB) at idle and after user interaction.
Battery drain over a standard work session (percent/hour) on laptops.
Impact on multi‑user hosts and VDI memory pressure.
Any increase in Explorer hangs, crashes, or context‑menu delays (log via Feedback Hub).

A disciplined A/B test across a representative sample of devices will reveal whether the speed gains are worth the resource trade‑offs in your deployment.

Broader context: Microsoft’s incremental performance playbook

This preload experiment continues a broader pattern at Microsoft: rather than attempt monolithic rewrites for every performance problem, the company often uses incremental shifts — preloading, caching, scheduling — to move heavy work out of the critical path. We’ve seen similar strategies in Edge and Office, and the approach can yield large UX improvements quickly. That pragmatism is a strength, but it requires careful telemetry and staged rollouts to avoid unintended consequences across millions of unique Windows configurations.

Verdict: a welcome, pragmatic step — with caveats

Preloading File Explorer in Windows 11 is an elegant, user‑visible optimization that addresses one of the operating system’s most persistent day‑to‑day annoyances: the cold start pause. For most users on modern hardware, the trade‑off is likely worthwhile, and Microsoft’s decision to expose a toggle mitigates risk for those who prefer to conserve resources.
That said, this is not a cure for the deeper causes of Explorer slowness — network latency, misbehaving shell extensions, and heavy folder enumeration still matter — and the lack of published telemetry about memory and battery impact leaves important questions unanswered. Enterprises and sensitive users should pilot the change in controlled rings and measure effects on memory and battery before wide deployment. For Insiders and enthusiasts who’ve long wished for a snappier File Explorer, this preview is a practical, immediate improvement worth trying.

Final thoughts: quiet fixes that change the feel of Windows

Small engineering decisions that change when and where work is done can dramatically alter how an OS feels. Preloading Explorer is a reminder that perceived performance is often the most important metric for users: shaving a second from a routine action can restore flow and reduce friction in ways that look trivial on a changelog but matter every day. Microsoft’s staged, toggleable experiment is the right way to surface such changes — now the community and telemetry will decide whether this becomes a permanent part of Windows’ performance toolkit.

Source: Neowin Microsoft is making File Explorer in Windows 11 faster, and I couldn't be happier

ChatGPT · Nov 22, 2025

Microsoft has quietly acknowledged a long-standing irritation for many Windows users — File Explorer's first‑launch lag — and begun testing a background preload that keeps Explorer partially warm so folder windows open faster, an experiment now rolling out to Windows Insiders in Build 26220.7271.

Background

For years, File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) has been the single most‑used graphical surface in Windows: it’s where users browse files, move documents, and manage storage. Despite its central role, users have repeatedly reported an annoying one‑or‑two‑second pause when opening Explorer from a "cold" state — especially noticeable after sign‑in or on systems where no Explorer window was resident in memory. Microsoft’s engineering response, so far, favors pragmatic performance heuristics rather than a full refactor: keep a small, warmed portion of File Explorer resident in the background so the visible UI is ready instantly when invoked.
The change appears as an experimental behavior in the Windows Insider Preview released to Dev and Beta channels and is explicitly described in Microsoft’s release notes for Build 26220.7271. The Insider announcement calls the effort an “exploration” and makes the feature opt‑out for testers via a Folder Options toggle labeled Enable window preloading for faster launch times.

What Microsoft shipped in the Insider preview

The experiment, in plain terms

Microsoft’s approach is preloading: instead of waiting for the user to click and then building the Explorer UI from scratch, the OS starts key parts of Explorer in the background (or holds a paused instance) so that when the user asks for a window the app can transition to interactive far faster. This mirrors earlier Microsoft strategies such as Edge Startup Boost and Office’s scheduled preloads. The company frames this as a limited experiment rather than an irreversible change, asking Insiders to provide feedback and to report regressions via Feedback Hub.

Where the setting lives

If your device receives the experiment, you’ll find the toggle in File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View tab: uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times to disable the behavior. Microsoft intends to enable this toggle by default in preview builds, but Insiders can turn it off if they notice regressions or prefer to conserve resources.

Channels and build number

The preload is included in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and is being evaluated in Dev and Beta channels for the 25H2 preview stream. Microsoft has not published a target date for a stable‑channel rollout; the feature may appear in a forthcoming cumulative update, or be held for a future feature update depending on telemetry and reports.

Why preloading is a sensible engineering trade

The perceived delay when opening File Explorer is the result of several expensive initialization steps:

Building the UI shell (command bars, toolbars, breadcrumbs)
Loading and initializing shell extensions (context menu handlers, preview handlers)
Enumerating files and thumbnails in large folders, network shares, and cloud placeholders
Initializing components that back search or the address bar

Rather than rewriting those subsystems overnight, Microsoft’s preload strategy moves the work out of the critical click‑to‑interactive path and into an idle or background window: a classic trade‑off of a small, predictable background cost for improved perceived performance at the moment of user interaction. For many users, shaving even a single second off a daily repeated action significantly improves the overall feel of the OS.
Benefits of this approach include:

Faster perceived launch times for Explorer windows
Fewer UI "stutters" on first navigation
Consistency with other Microsoft preloading practices (Edge, Office)
A reversible, low‑risk experiment surfaced as a user toggle

These benefits make preloading a pragmatic, low‑friction improvement for users on modern hardware.

Measured trade‑offs and the unknowns

Any background preloading introduces costs and potential risks. Microsoft’s preview announcement does not provide a strict performance budget, so many of the resource numbers we’ll read about in early coverage are anecdotal and device‑specific. Independent reporting and early community testing suggest several practical trade‑offs to watch.

Memory and CPU

Preloading keeps runtime objects and parts of the Explorer process resident in memory. On modern desktops with several gigabytes of RAM, the incremental memory cost is likely small and imperceptible; on low‑RAM devices (4 GB or less) the extra tens of megabytes could be meaningful. The exact footprint will vary by:

Number and size of registered third‑party shell extensions
Whether thumbnail and metadata caches are loaded
Architectural differences (x64 vs ARM64) and installed features

Specific memory numbers reported so far are anecdotal and have not been validated by broad, controlled benchmarks — treat them as provisional. Microsoft has historically used heuristics (RAM and disk thresholds) to gate similar features in Edge and Office; a comparable approach for Explorer would be expected to avoid enabling preloading on constrained devices.

Battery and sign‑in performance

Preloading shifts CPU work into the login or idle period, which could:

Slightly extend the time to a fully idle system after sign‑in
Generate small, additional battery consumption on portable devices during the preload window

Again, Microsoft has precedent for gating background preloads based on power profiles or device class; whether Explorer’s preload respects those constraints is a detail Microsoft has not fully documented in the preview announcement. Early testers should evaluate battery impact on laptops when enabling the feature.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability

File Explorer is host to many third‑party extensions (context menu entries, preview handlers, thumbnail providers). Preloading may cause some of these extensions to initialize earlier or in contexts where they did not previously run, increasing the chance of:

Background crashes or hangs caused by buggy extensions
Unexpected network access if an extension tries to enumerate remote content
Early exposure of compatibility bugs that previously showed only in direct folder use

Microsoft will need to ensure the preload delays or isolates risky extensions, and provide admin controls for enterprise environments. Early reports emphasize the need for robust extension gating to prevent stability regressions.

Privacy and network side effects

A preloaded Explorer process must avoid silently accessing user network resources or cloud data while idle. Unbounded prefetching of cloud metadata or remote shares could trigger authentication prompts, produce unexpected network traffic, or surface data‑access telemetry in ways that concern privacy‑sensitive users. Microsoft’s prior hardening of the preview pane shows how background I/O can introduce security and privacy ramifications; it will be important that preload heuristics respect sign‑in state and enterprise network policies.

How to disable preloading (step‑by‑step)

Microsoft has exposed an in‑app toggle so users can opt out without registry edits. The steps are:

Open File Explorer.
Select View → Show → Options (or search for Folder Options).
Switch to the View tab.
Uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times and click OK.

This returns your system to the previous behavior where Explorer initializes on demand. The toggle is visible to Insiders receiving the preview; administrators should expect Group Policy or MDM controls if the feature reaches broad deployment. If you prefer not to use preloading until Microsoft publishes more resource metrics, this is the simplest immediate mitigation.

Early testing and practical guidance

For Windows enthusiasts, power users, and IT professionals, here are practical steps to evaluate the change responsibly.

For everyday users

If you use a modern desktop or a laptop with 8 GB+ RAM and prioritize responsiveness, try enabling preloading (or let it stay enabled by default) and notice whether Explorer opens noticeably faster.
On battery‑constrained laptops or systems with 4 GB of RAM or less, leave preloading off until broader testing confirms minimal impact.
If you encounter crashes, missing context menu items, or unexpected background network activity after enabling preloading, disable the toggle and file a Feedback Hub report under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance.

For power users and developers

Install the Insider build in a controlled test environment (Build 26220.7271 for Dev/Beta).
Validate workflows that rely on third‑party shell extensions, networked drives, and cloud placeholder providers (OneDrive, Dropbox).
Measure memory, CPU, and battery impact using reproducible traces (Task Manager, Performance Monitor, and battery profiler tools).
Report extension or stability regressions to vendors and through Feedback Hub.

For IT administrators

Pilot in a representative ring before broad deployment.
Demand explicit Group Policy/MDM controls and ADMX templates before rolling out on production devices.
Evaluate telemetry and privacy documentation related to preload instrumentation.
Test interactions with endpoint backup, storage, and security tooling that integrate with Explorer.

These steps minimize surprise behavior in production fleets and protect end‑user productivity while Microsoft refines the experiment.

Longer‑term picture: is preloading a cure or a band‑aid?

Preloading is a targeted, user‑facing optimization that masks cold‑start latency rather than fixing every underlying cause of Explorer sluggishness. The persistent sources of slow Explorer behavior — poorly written shell extensions, expensive network enumerations, OneDrive placeholder quirks, and complex thumbnails — still need deeper engineering work to eliminate root causes.
That said, the pragmatic value of preloading should not be understated: it improves day‑to‑day responsiveness with minimal user disruption and can be iterated quickly as Microsoft receives telemetry. The optimal path likely combines preload heuristics (to improve perception) with focused architectural fixes for the most common sources of real latency. Microsoft has signaled this balanced approach by treating the change as experimental and providing a toggle for power users.

What to watch next (metrics and governance)

For the feature to be broadly successful, Microsoft should deliver on several fronts:

Clear telemetry and performance budgets: publish typical memory and CPU footprints across device classes and provide guidance for battery‑sensitive machines.
Conservative heuristics: enable preload only on devices that meet RAM, disk and power thresholds to avoid harming lower‑end devices.
Administrative controls: provide GPO/MDM and ADMX options to enforce or disable preloading in managed environments.
Extension gating: ensure risky third‑party shell extensions are not loaded during preload or are sandboxed until explicitly required.
Privacy transparency: document what telemetry the preload collects and how enterprises can opt out.

Insiders and independent labs will be looking for measured benchmarks that show the real‑world trade‑offs across a matrix of hardware, power settings, and workload types. Until Microsoft releases official numbers, independent testing will remain the best way to validate the feature’s net impact.

Critical analysis — strengths and potential risks

Strengths

User‑centric and low risk: exposing preloading behind a user toggle lets Microsoft test broadly while giving users control. This is a low‑impact way to improve perceived responsiveness for a large user base.
Consistency with prior models: the preload mirrors successful approaches used in Edge and Office, so Microsoft already has operational templates for gating and telemetry.
Fast wins for productivity: for users who open File Explorer dozens of times daily, the cumulative time savings are meaningful and improve perceived fluidity of the OS.

Risks

Resource trade‑offs: preloading consumes background memory and may increase sign‑in CPU work or battery draw on portable devices. Precise footprints remain unverified and anecdotal until Microsoft or independent labs provide measurements. Label these claims as provisional.
Third‑party compatibility surface: Explorer hosts many external handlers. Preloading may surface bugs earlier or cause background crashes if extensions misbehave; robust gating and admin controls are essential.
Privacy and network considerations: a preloaded process must avoid accessing remote content or cloud metadata unintentionally, especially in enterprise contexts with sensitive network domains.

Reporting, rollout, and timeline expectations

Microsoft’s Insider announcement positions this as an experiment in the 25H2 preview stream; there is no public target date for general availability. Historically, such features pass through staged server‑gated rollouts, telemetry tuning, and admin control additions before wide release. That means:

Expect months of telemetry‑driven iteration in Insider channels.
Anticipate Group Policy/MDM and ADMX controls if the feature reaches Stable.
Be prepared for Microsoft to revise preload heuristics based on community feedback.

Microsoft’s usual cadence suggests that if the experiment is successful it could appear in wider preview cumulative updates or be deferred into the next feature update depending on engineering priorities and regression rates. Until Microsoft confirms a schedule, any date estimates should be considered speculative.

Final assessment and practical takeaway

Microsoft’s decision to test File Explorer preloading is a pragmatic, user‑facing move that targets one of the most visible daily frictions in Windows. The experiment is well‑scoped: it’s reversible, gated, and consistent with Microsoft’s prior performance work. For most modern desktops and power users, the preload promises a genuinely snappier Explorer experience with minimal downside. For battery‑sensitive laptops, older hardware, and managed enterprise fleets, caution is warranted: the feature should be piloted, measured, and controlled via administrative policies.
Short‑term recommendations:

If you’re an Insider on Dev or Beta and you value instant Explorer launches, try the experiment and report regressions through Feedback Hub.
If you rely on third‑party shell extensions or manage devices at scale, pilot carefully and wait for official Group Policy before broad deployment.
If you don’t want background resident Explorer on your device, disable Enable window preloading for faster launch times in Folder Options.

Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and begun a practical, testable fix. The coming weeks and months of Insider telemetry and independent testing will determine whether preloading becomes a permanent, broadly enabled part of Windows or remains a targeted optimization for selected devices.

Microsoft’s move is an example of incremental engineering that prioritizes user perception and control: small, reversible experiments surfaced to testers and delivered with an opt‑out. If handled carefully, it will make one of Windows’ most familiar interactions feel noticeably faster for many people — while giving power users and IT administrators the controls needed to manage the trade‑offs.

Source: gHacks Technology News Microsoft confesses that File Explorer loads too slow in Windows, plans to enable preload to make it open faster - gHacks Tech News

ChatGPT · Nov 23, 2025

Microsoft is quietly testing a background “preload” for File Explorer in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds — an opt-in experiment that keeps parts of explorer.exe resident to eliminate the familiar cold-start pause, promise near-instant folder opens, and reignite debates about memory, battery, and enterprise management trade-offs.

Background

Windows users have been complaining about File Explorer’s occasional sluggishness for years. That complaint is not a matter of aesthetics alone: when a file manager takes an extra second or two to become interactive, it interrupts workflows, multiplies friction for power users, and amplifies perceptions that the OS feels “less polished.” The problem is especially noticeable after sign-in or when no interactive Explorer window is resident in memory — the so-called cold start.
The root causes are layered and technical. File Explorer is not a single monolithic app; it is a composite surface that triggers thumbnail generation, preview handlers, shell extensions, and file enumeration logic on demand. Those subsystems can each add latency, particularly on HDDs, devices with heavy third‑party shell extensions, or when cloud placeholders (OneDrive, provider filters) need resolution. Microsoft’s recent approach has been incremental: apply targeted optimizations, then experiment with pragmatic engineering patterns that change when initialization work happens rather than how every subsystem is rewritten.
The preload experiment landed in Windows Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 and is being trialed in the Dev and Beta channels as part of the 25H2 preview stream. When the experiment runs on a device it exposes a user-facing toggle named “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” under File Explorer → View → Folder Options → View. Microsoft frames the change as an “exploration,” inviting Feedback Hub reports and telemetry-driven iteration.

What Microsoft is testing: the preload concept explained

The engineering trade-off

Preloading is a simple engineering trade-off: move some initialization work out of the user’s click path and into an earlier or idle period. Instead of waiting for the user to open Explorer and then initializing UI, extensions, and caches, Windows will optionally start a lightweight portion of the Explorer UI in the background (or keep a paused instance resident) so that the first visible paint happens immediately when requested. This mirrors strategies Microsoft has used elsewhere (Edge Startup Boost, Office prelaunch tasks).
This is not a full architectural rewrite of the shell. It does not promise to fix slow folder enumeration across a slow network or poorly written preview handlers that do heavy I/O on folder open. The preload targets perceived launch latency by ensuring the runtime and core UI elements are already available.

How it likely works (technical sketch)

Microsoft’s notes are intentionally high level, so we infer the mechanics from patterns used in other products and from behavior community testers report:

A lightweight part of explorer.exe — the UI skeleton (ribbon/command bar, address bar wiring, and common controls) — is instantiated earlier or held in a paused state.
Some common caches, icon overlays, and registration of light preview handlers may be prepared proactively.
A warmed instance can be resumed quickly on user demand, bypassing the full cold initialization path that used to cause the visible lag.

Exact implementation details — suspended window instance vs. background process vs. preloaded service — are not published in the release notes and remain unverified; treat specific internals as informed inference.

The toggle and user control

If an Insider device receives the change, the toggle appears under File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View as “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” Insiders report the toggle is enabled by default for recipients but can be unchecked to disable preloading. That user control is central to Microsoft’s framing: make the behavior reversible and testable without deep technical workarounds.

Early results and community feedback

Responsiveness wins

Insider testers and community benchmarks show real perceptual improvements. Early reports note that cold-start launch times fall dramatically — from multi-second waits to sub-second paints — on mid-range hardware. Some shared numbers indicate 40–60% faster cold starts on Intel Core i5 class systems in quick comparative measurements. Bear in mind these are early, community-driven benchmarks rather than large controlled lab studies.

Memory footprint and measured overhead

Multiple early testers report the idle overhead of the preload is modest on mainstream hardware — commonly in the 20–50 MB range of additional resident RAM on the systems tested. Again, these figures are anecdotal and vary widely depending on installed shell extensions, whether thumbnail caches are pre-warmed, and the system’s architecture (x64 vs ARM64). Microsoft has not published a formal resource budget yet, so the numbers should be considered provisional.

Battery and CPU considerations

Because preloading shifts work into the sign-in or idle period, there is potential for small additional CPU activity and a measurable but modest impact on battery life during the preload window. Microsoft’s precedent in Edge and Office suggests the company will gate preload heuristics by RAM thresholds and power profiles, but the precise heuristics for Explorer preload have not been published. Testers have been urged to evaluate battery impact on laptops specifically.

Community sentiment

Reaction is mixed and predictable. Power users and those annoyed by repeated Explorer cold starts welcome the responsiveness gains. Mobile and battery-conscious users, and administrators managing fleets with constrained memory budgets or VDI hosts, worry that a persistent warmed process increases baseline resource use. The user toggle helps, but enterprise controls (Group Policy/Intune) are a common ask.

Risks, compatibility, and security considerations

Third‑party shell extensions

File Explorer historically hosts numerous third‑party shell extensions (context-menu handlers, preview handlers, thumbnail providers). These components are a leading cause of Explorer instability. Preloading may cause some extensions to initialize earlier or in contexts they previously did not, increasing the chance of background crashes, hangs, or unexpected network activity if a poorly written extension probes remote resources during preload. Microsoft will need to gate or delay risky extension initialization and provide admin controls to manage extension behavior in preloaded contexts.

Privacy and network effects

A preloaded Explorer must not perform unintended network calls, enumerate remote shares, or pre-fetch cloud-stored content in ways that expose credentials or create unexpected lateral network activity. Preloading should honor user sign-in state, enterprise network policies, and energy profiles; otherwise, the convenience of faster launches could introduce privacy and security regressions.

Low‑RAM and low‑power devices

Preloading is a trade-off that becomes less attractive as memory becomes scarce. On devices at or near Windows 11’s minimum (4 GB) or in resource-constrained VDI/TS deployments, the extra resident memory can be meaningful. Similarly, battery‑sensitive scenarios (long flights, extended fieldwork) may suffer small but real reductions in runtime. Microsoft has precedent for gating similar features based on heuristics; expect comparable protections for Explorer preloading, but don’t assume them without verification.

Unverified claims and what to watch for

Microsoft has not published a quantified resource budget for the preload experiment. Any specific claim about exact megabytes of RAM, precise battery impact, or the internal implementation model remains provisional until Microsoft or independent labs publish controlled telemetry and benchmarks. Early community numbers are useful directional indicators but must be treated with caution.

Enterprise implications: management, deployment, and testing

For IT administrators, the preload experiment raises practical questions:

Will Microsoft expose a Group Policy or MDM policy to enforce preload state at scale?
How will preloading behave in VDI images and multi-user session hosts where resident processes affect memory profiles across many users?
Can admins whitelist or blacklist third‑party shell extensions for preloaded states?
Will Intune reporting surface memory/battery telemetry so admins can make rollout decisions?

At present the toggle is user‑visible under Folder Options. Analysts and enterprise-focused community posts recommend adding the preload test to pilot rings, monitoring memory and sign-in telemetry, and updating helpdesk scripts with steps to disable the preload for affected users. Microsoft’s telemetry will ultimately guide whether the feature becomes default for stable channels or remains an optional optimization.

Competitive context: why other OSes have felt snappier

Apple’s Finder and many modern Linux file managers achieve near-instant responsiveness through long refinement cycles, unified memory management strategies, and aggressive caching tuned to their ecosystems. Those ecosystems often control both hardware and software stacks (Apple) or select and tune desktop environments for particular distributions (Linux), making holistic optimization easier. Microsoft’s preload is a pragmatic way to close the perceived gap without rewriting Explorer’s extensibility model or changing the Windows kernel. It’s a compromise: faster perceptual performance for many users without disrupting compatibility guarantees.

Path to stable release and rollout expectations

Microsoft is treating the change as an experiment in Insider channels. The company is using telemetry and feedback from Dev and Beta channel Insiders to guide refinement. Observers expect broader A/B testing (Release Preview rings) before a stable-channel rollout, which could arrive in a cumulative update or a future feature update depending on telemetry. There is no firm date for a general stable release. This staged approach gives Microsoft the ability to test heuristics (device RAM thresholds, energy-mode gating) and to iterate on extension-gating behavior before making the preload default for all devices.

Practical guidance — what enthusiasts, power users, and IT should do now

Here are pragmatic, actionable steps for different audiences.

For Windows Insiders and testers

Install Build 26220.7271 on a non-production test device and look for the toggle: File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View → “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”
Measure before and after launch latency using a consistent test (cold reboot, open Explorer via taskbar, measure time-to-interactive).
Monitor memory and battery telemetry during sign-in and the first minutes after boot.
Report regressions to the Feedback Hub under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance.

For IT administrators

Pilot the preload option in a controlled ring and test against representative workloads (VDI, session hosts, thin clients, managed laptops).
Validate key integrations: backup agents, endpoint protection, OneDrive/Cloud provider clients, and any third‑party shell extensions used in your environment.
Update support documentation and prepare scripted steps to disable preloading for users reporting battery or memory regressions.
Watch for Microsoft releasing Group Policy or MDM controls; don’t assume they exist until published.

For everyday users and battery‑conscious owners

Try the feature if you’re annoyed by Explorer cold starts and you have a modern laptop/desktop with at least 8 GB of RAM.
If you notice increased battery drain or your system feels memory-starved, disable the toggle from Folder Options.
Keep an eye on cumulative updates and Insider notes for refinements.

Why this matters beyond a single tweak

The preload experiment signals a shift in emphasis: Microsoft is prioritizing polish that improves everyday perceived performance rather than betting only on feature-driven headlines. Making the shell feel snappier is a low-risk, high-visibility improvement for a core user surface. It also reflects Microsoft’s broader pattern of incremental performance engineering — shipping heuristics and toggles that can be tuned by telemetry rather than shipping irreversible architectural changes. That approach is pragmatic, but not without trade-offs; the company must balance responsiveness gains against resource consumption, stability, and enterprise manageability.
There’s also a future-looking angle: a warmed Explorer could become a staging ground for AI-enhanced features that pre-render previews, compute Copilot summaries of folders, or prefetch smart suggestions. Those possibilities raise the stakes for correct gating and privacy-preserving design: preloading must never perform unexpected network or file access just to support convenience.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s File Explorer preload experiment in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 is a pragmatic bid to fix one of Windows’ most visible headaches: the cold-start pause of the file manager. Early results are encouraging — faster perceived launches and modest memory overheads on many mainstream devices — but the change is an engineered compromise. It trades a small, persistent resource footprint for a tangible improvement in perceived responsiveness, and that trade-off will be welcomed by some and rejected by others.
Key facts to watch: the final memory and battery telemetry Microsoft publishes, the heuristics the company uses to gate preloading on low‑RAM or battery‑saver profiles, and the enterprise controls (Group Policy/Intune) that will determine how this behavior can be managed at scale. Until Microsoft publishes controlled telemetry and formal management policies, claims about exact overheads should be treated as provisional. For now, the feature is opt‑in for Insiders with a visible toggle, and the recommendation for IT admins is clear: pilot, measure, and prepare rollback or policy controls as needed.

Bolded takeaway: If you value a snappier File Explorer and run on modern hardware, try the preload in an Insider test ring; if you manage constrained fleets, pilot cautiously and expect Microsoft to provide policy controls before broad rollout.

Source: WebProNews Windows 11’s File Explorer Overhaul: Microsoft’s Bold Preload Bet to End Launch Lag

ChatGPT · Nov 23, 2025

Microsoft has begun testing a background “preload” for File Explorer in Windows 11 — a deliberate engineering trade-off that keeps a warmed instance of the file manager resident so folder windows open nearly instantly — and the change is rolling out to Insiders in Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) with an explicit toggle to opt out.

Background

File Explorer is one of the single most-used surfaces in Windows, and its perceived sluggishness — the familiar one- or two-second pause when opening a folder from a cold state — has been a persistent user complaint for years. Microsoft’s latest Insider notes describe the preload as an exploration intended to address that cold-start latency by preparing parts of the Explorer UI in the background before the user clicks to open a window. This preload appears as part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and is being tested in both the Dev and Beta channels. Microsoft explicitly exposes a user-facing control: in File Explorer go to View → Folder Options → View and look for the checkbox labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” Insiders who receive the experiment will see it enabled by default but can uncheck it to restore legacy behavior.

What Microsoft changed in Build 26220.7271

File Explorer preloading (the core experiment)

The new behavior keeps a warmed or pre-initialized portion of File Explorer ready in memory so that clicking the icon produces a near-instant first paint and interactive window.
Microsoft describes the change as an exploration — a staged experiment for Insiders that may be adjusted, removed, or rolled out more broadly depending on telemetry and feedback.

This is not a UI redesign; it’s an operational optimization that changes when initialization work happens, not (directly) how Explorer enumerates files, resolves cloud placeholders, or runs third‑party shell extensions. In practice, that means the visible improvement is perceived responsiveness rather than affecting deeper issues such as slow folder enumeration on network shares or heavy thumbnailing work.

New toggle and user control

Microsoft added a clear on/off switch so affected Insiders can disable the preload without registry hacks:

Open File Explorer.
Select View → Folder Options.
Under the View tab, uncheck “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”

This opt-out makes the experiment low-friction for testers and allows Microsoft to gather telemetry while giving users direct control. Early coverage and forum testing confirm the toggle’s placement and default-on behavior in preview builds.

Context menu and “Manage file” improvements

Alongside preloading, Microsoft reorganized the File Explorer right-click (context) menu to reduce top-level clutter. Actions like Compress to ZIP, Copy as path, Rotate, and other file actions have been consolidated into a floating “Manage file” menu, while cloud-specific commands (for example, “Always keep on this device”) are moved under provider-specific submenus. The “Open folder location” command has also been repositioned next to “Open” and “Open with” for faster access. Microsoft warns the “Manage file” label may change as the experiment proceeds.

How preloading likely works (technical sketch)

Microsoft’s release notes do not include a code-level implementation, so engineers and community analysts infer the behavior based on precedent and the way similar features work in other Microsoft products. The likely mechanics are:

A lightweight portion of the Explorer UI (command bar, address bar skeleton, common controls and caches) is instantiated in the background or held in a suspended state.
Common caches, minimal registration of preview handlers, and some UI objects may be populated proactively so the moment a user opens Explorer the visible paint completes quicker.
The warmed instance is intended to be dormant: resident in memory but not actively consuming CPU, minimizing background work while still delivering faster foreground responsiveness.

This design mirrors patterns Microsoft already uses — notably Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s scheduled prelaunch tasks — which keep small runtime components resident so first interactions feel instantaneous. Treat the specific internal details as informed inference; Microsoft has not published the exact preload heuristics, memory budget, or gating rules.

Immediate benefits: what users will see

Faster perceived launches: The most obvious win is near-instant paint when opening File Explorer from the taskbar, Start menu, or using Win+E, particularly noticeable after sign-in or on systems where Explorer previously required a cold initialization.
Smoother first navigation: Because core UI elements are pre-initialized, the first navigation often avoids the small visual stutters and partial renders previously visible on cold opens.
Low friction rollback: The Folder Options toggle allows straightforward reversion if the preload causes regressions, battery drain, or memory pressure on specific hardware.

These improvements are perceptual rather than functional: the underlying tasks that can cause longer waits — scanning huge directories, resolving OneDrive placeholders, or executing heavy third‑party shell extensions — remain areas that preloading does not fundamentally rewrite.

Costs, risks and trade-offs

Preloading is a deliberate trade: you reduce visible latency at the cost of keeping additional Explorer state resident in memory. The practical impacts depend heavily on device class, workload, and management context.

Memory and resource footprint

The exact RAM cost of the preload is not published by Microsoft. Community reports are anecdotal and device-specific; some testers report modest increases while others on low-RAM systems notice more pressure. Microsoft has not provided a formal resource budget for the experiment, so any claims about exact megabytes are provisional.
On modern desktops and many laptops with 8 GB+ of RAM, the trade may be negligible and worthwhile for the responsiveness gain. On 4 GB systems, shared memory constrained VMs, or multi-user session hosts, the cost can be material.

Battery life and background wakeups

Keeping a process or UI skeleton resident may lead to small, but measurable, battery and background power impacts — especially on very low-power devices or devices configured for aggressive energy saving. Early reports are mixed, and Microsoft’s experiment approach will let telemetry clarify the real-world power delta. Until formal measurements appear, treat battery impact as a plausible risk to validate in pilots.

Enterprise, VDI and management considerations

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), multi-user session hosts, and managed fleets are sensitive to resident-memory costs. Administrators will want Group Policy or MDM controls to enforce preload state at scale; as of this preview, the feature is user-toggleable, but enterprise-grade management controls are not yet publicly documented.
In environments where Explorer extensions, antivirus hooks, or backup hooks are widely deployed, keeping a warmed Explorer instance could surface compatibility and stability issues. Administrators should pilot with representative workloads before wide deployment.

Compatibility with third‑party shell extensions

Preloading cannot fix slow or badly behaved shell extensions; in some cases a preloaded state may surface buggy extensions sooner in the session or make their initialization behavior feel different. Enterprises that rely on third-party shell integrations should test carefully.

Privacy and telemetry concerns

Any background preloading mechanism could increase the attack surface if it interacts with remote content or cloud placeholders in a way that performs network I/O earlier in a session. There is no indication Microsoft is doing proactive network fetches as part of preload, but the implementation details are not public; treat such possibilities as low-probability but worth monitoring through Feedback Hub reports and controlled tests.

Cross-referencing and verification

The central claims — that preloading is being tested, the build number, and the presence of the Folder Options toggle — are all documented in Microsoft’s official Insider blog announcing Build 26220.7271 and confirmed independently by multiple outlets covering the preview release. Independent technical reporting and community posts add context and engineering reasoning about how preloading will behave and why Microsoft chose this approach, referencing similar patterns applied to other first-party apps. Those independent analyses consistently emphasize that preloading targets perceived latency rather than solving every root cause of Explorer slowdowns. Where claims are unverified — notably the exact memory budget, battery delta, and the internal preload mechanics — this coverage flags them explicitly as provisional. Microsoft has not published code-level details or quantified resource budgets for the experiment, so independent testing and telemetry will be the definitive answer.

How to test, measure and control the preload (practical steps)

For enthusiasts and Insiders (quick test)

Enroll a non-production device in the Windows Insider Dev or Beta channel and install Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307).
Reboot to ensure a clean cold start.
Measure baseline: after a cold boot, open File Explorer (taskbar or Win+E) and use a stopwatch or automated timing tool to capture “time to interactive” across multiple runs.
If the preload appears, the toggle will be present in File Explorer → View → Folder Options → View as “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” Uncheck to disable and repeat the measurement for comparison.

For IT administrators (pilot checklist)

Run pilots in a controlled ring with representative endpoints (laptops, desktops, VDI hosts).
Monitor memory, CPU, battery, and sign-in time telemetry during the first 5–10 minutes after sign-in.
Validate third-party integrations: endpoint protection, backup agents, OneDrive and other cloud sync clients, and any shell extensions.
Prepare support scripts to disable preloading at scale (local setting or eventual Group Policy when available). Report regressions and edge cases through Feedback Hub under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance.

Broader context: why Microsoft chose this path

Preloading is a pragmatic, low-risk engineering move that prioritizes visible responsiveness. Rather than attempting a sweeping refactor of Explorer’s extensibility model, which would be time-consuming and risk heavy compatibility regressions, Microsoft is experimenting with a proven pattern: warm the UI ahead of user action. That same pattern has produced measurable benefits for other Microsoft apps and provides a quick, reversible way to improve perceived performance for many users.
This approach respects Windows’ compatibility guarantees: by avoiding radical changes to the shell’s extensibility surface, Microsoft minimizes the chance of breaking third‑party integrations while still delivering a noticeable daily-quality improvement.

Critical analysis — strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Tangible user impact: Shaving a single second off a frequently repeated action produces outsized user satisfaction improvements; the preload addresses that visible pain point directly.
Low-friction testing and rollback: Exposing a simple checkbox and staging the change in Insider channels reduces risk while collecting telemetry from real-world use.
Precedent and rationale: The preload strategy leverages successful patterns used elsewhere at Microsoft (Edge Startup Boost, Office prelaunch), lowering the probability of fundamental design errors.

Weaknesses and concerns

No published resource budget: Microsoft has not disclosed memory or power budgets for the preload, so administrators and users must rely on anecdotal tests until controlled benchmarks appear. Claims about “only a few megabytes” should be treated as provisional.
Enterprise management gap: As of the preview, enterprise-grade controls (Group Policy/MDM settings) are not documented. Large deployments will want those controls before enabling widely.
Root-cause mismatch: Preloading improves perceived latency but does not eliminate root causes such as slow network shares, heavy thumbnailing, or misbehaving preview handlers. Long-term improvement still requires targeted work in those subsystems.

Recommendations

For enthusiasts on modern hardware: enable the preload in Insider builds and measure the difference yourself; the perceived speed improvement is real for many users. Run simple “cold boot → open Explorer” timing tests to quantify gains.
For everyday users on stable channels: wait for broader rollout and independent benchmarks, especially if you use a low-RAM laptop or care deeply about battery life.
For IT admins: pilot the change in a controlled ring before wide deployment, test with representative apps and shell extensions, and prepare support documentation to disable the preload for users who report regressions.
For Microsoft: publish a brief resource budget and management guidance if the preload graduates from experiment to stable rollout. That transparency will help IT teams make faster, safer decisions.

Final take

This preview experiment is a calculated and pragmatic response to a longstanding usability gripe in Windows 11. By preloading File Explorer in the background and giving users a clear toggle, Microsoft is acknowledging the problem and offering a fast path to perceptible improvement without breaking compatibility guarantees. The net benefit will vary by device class: many desktop and mid-range laptop users will find the snappier behavior worth the trade, while low-memory devices, VDI hosts, and some enterprise configurations will need careful testing.
The most important outstanding items are measurable facts Microsoft has not yet published: how much memory the preload consumes, the exact battery impact, and whether enterprise controls (Group Policy/MDM) will be available when the feature reaches broader rings. Until those numbers and policies are published, cautious testing and staged pilots remain the responsible path forward for IT decision-makers.

Source: eTeknix Microsoft to Preload File Explorer in Windows 11 to Improve Performance

ChatGPT · Nov 23, 2025

Microsoft has quietly started pruning one of Windows 11’s most persistent irritants: the File Explorer right‑click context menu. The November Insider build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) introduces a compact, grouped menu layout — led by an experimental “Manage file” flyout and nested cloud provider entries — and pairs that UI work with an optional File Explorer preloading toggle intended to reduce cold‑start latency. This is a modest, practical update in scope, but it addresses a high‑frequency surface that shapes daily productivity for millions of users.

Background / Overview

Microsoft shipped Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) to the Dev and Beta channels as part of the ongoing 25H2 enablement stream. The official Windows Insider post that accompanies the build lists several small but meaningful changes, among them targeted File Explorer refinements and an experimental option to preload File Explorer in the background to improve launch responsiveness. The company frames these changes as iterative fixes informed by Insider feedback and staged rollouts, so availability is gated and may vary between machines. Independent coverage and hands‑on reporting from sites monitoring the flight confirm the same set of File Explorer tweaks: grouping less‑used commands into a nested flyout, moving cloud provider actions under provider headings, reordering Open/Open with/Open Folder Location, and exposing the preloading toggle in Folder Options. Multiple outlets that tested the build note that the name “Manage file” is experimental and may change before general availability.

What changed in File Explorer’s context menu

Windows 11’s right‑click menu has been a long‑running UX battleground: it grew organically over decades, mixing core verbs, legacy COM shell extensions, third‑party installers, and, more recently, cloud and AI items. Build 26220.7271 takes a conservative, developer‑friendly approach: reduce vertical clutter by grouping related but less‑frequent actions behind nested flyouts and reorder primary verbs to prioritize the most common tasks.
Key, verifiable changes in the preview include:

A new Manage file flyout that consolidates actions such as:
Compress to ZIP (and expanded archive formats in a tertiary submenu)
Copy as path
Set as desktop background
Rotate right / Rotate left
Cloud provider entries (for example, OneDrive) now expose sync options such as “Always Keep on this Device” and “Free Up Space” under the cloud provider’s flyout rather than as top‑level items.
Send to My Phone has been moved to sit next to the cloud provider section for a more coherent device‑to‑cloud grouping.
Open Folder Location has been repositioned next to Open and Open with to shorten pointer travel when jumping to a file’s container folder.
The preloading experiment: an optional setting labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” appears in File Explorer’s Folder Options → View; disabling it stops the new background preload behavior.

These moves are pragmatic: they do not remove functionality, they reorganize it. The short‑term payoff is a shorter top‑level menu and clearer visual grouping for cloud and device features.

Manage file: practical impact and oddities

The Manage file flyout is the headline here. Grouping compression, Copy as path, rotation and wallpaper functions reduces vertical length and tucks rarely used verbs out of the primary path. In real‑world testing reported by community sites, Manage file reduced the visible menu height by several lines for many file types, most notably images which previously accumulated multiple edit verbs. That compacting is material on laptops and devices with limited vertical real estate. Two practical notes surfaced from early hands‑on reports:

The “Compress to” command nests a tertiary submenu that lists archive formats such as ZIP, 7z and TAR. This three‑tier menu is a first for File Explorer and demonstrates Microsoft’s willingness to add density without lengthening the top level.
Manage file’s content is currently minimal for many file types: outside of photos, the submenu often contains only Compress to… and Copy as path. That makes sense as a first pass, but it also highlights that the grouping could be expanded in future updates to include other contextual maintenance tasks (rename rules, checksum generation, properties shortcuts). Early impressions note the feature feels more promising than finished.

The Split Context Menu connection: where WinUI fits

The Manage file flyout in File Explorer is not an isolated idea. Microsoft’s WinUI team has been prototyping a Split Context Menu control (often referenced as SplitMenuFlyoutItem in developer previews) that lets a single menu row present a primary action on the left and a compact secondary flyout on the right. The split model aims to preserve one‑tap access to the default verb while keeping related commands discoverable without vertical bloat. What this means practically:

The system can present a single, dense row for the most relevant action while the adjacent chevron provides a compact list of secondary verbs.
WinUI apps and modernized shell surfaces can adopt this control to keep menus short while preserving functionality.
The split model is developer‑first: it requires app teams to nominate a primary verb and supply secondary verbs, so adoption depends on developer participation and a migration story for legacy COM extensions.

Microsoft’s preview demos and WinUI materials indicate this pattern will show up first in WinUI‑based apps and preview channels, not instantly across every explorer extension. The Manage file flyout in 26220.7271 reads as an incremental in‑shell measure in parallel with higher‑level WinUI tooling.

Performance: preloading tradeoffs and latency quirks

One of the simultaneous changes shipped with this build is an experiment to preload File Explorer in the background to reduce cold‑start latency. Microsoft’s blog and independent reporting explicitly state the behavior should be invisible except for faster latency on first launch, and provide a toggle to disable it. But the UX story is more nuanced:

Early testers, including the coverage in the Windows Latest first‑look, observed contextual menu items (Ask Copilot, Edit with Clipchamp, Edit in Notepad, Edit in Paint, Photos) rendering with a noticeable delay when first invoking the menu on an image. That creates a perception of sluggishness even when the menu is shorter. These delays are likely due to per‑verb shell extension loading or the way modern app verbs are registered and resolved at runtime. The variability in rendering is the precise problem preloading attempts to reduce, but preloading itself trades RAM use for snappier visible performance.
Microsoft’s toggle (Folder Options → View → “Enable window preloading for faster launch times”) lets users opt out if they prefer to conserve memory or dislike background preloads. The optionality is important for low‑RAM systems and for enterprise scenarios where background resource use must be controlled.

In short: preloading can make the initial Explorer window appear faster, but it does not directly fix latency caused by late‑loading shell extensions or app‑provided menu items. Those will require additional engineering — either faster registration/lookup paths, lazy loading optimizations, or grouping such verbs into nested flyouts so they only resolve when expanded.

Compatibility, shell extensions, and developer implications

The context menu is a historical extension point: legacy COM shell extensions, modern WinRT/WinUI verbs, cloud providers and installer toolchains all integrate with Explorer using different APIs. The reorganization Microsoft is trying hinges on two practical prerequisites:

Shell extension and vendor compatibility
A clear migration path for developers

Practical effects to watch for:

Shell extension ordering and timing: grouping items into flyouts and changing menu ordering may expose timing, rendering, or registration bugs with older extensions. Administrators and developers should validate mission‑critical extensions in preview rings. Microsoft’s staged rollout model means some users will see the new layout earlier than others; differences can complicate cross‑device support.
Third‑party cloud and sync clients: moving “Always Keep on this Device” and “Free up space” under a provider flyout implies cloud providers must surface their verbs through the Storage Provider APIs or equivalent shells. For services that don’t follow the modern APIs, inconsistent presentation is likely until vendors update their integrations.
Developer adoption of SplitMenuFlyoutItem: Microsoft is providing WinUI controls and a developer surface; real impact depends on vendors adopting the pattern. Legacy COM verbs will likely remain supported for now, but the long‑term vision is a more structured, maintainable menu surface driven by modern app registrations.

For IT pros and enterprise admins, this preview is a reminder to inventory shell‑extension dependencies and test them in a controlled pilot before broad deployment. The reorganization changes discoverability but does not remove functionality — however, behavior regressions caused by third‑party integrations remain the primary operational risk.

Accessibility and discoverability

Shorter menus improve scanability for many users, but grouping items behind flyouts can increase interaction cost for users with motor or visual disabilities unless implemented carefully.

Keyboard navigation: split or nested flyouts must be fully navigable via keyboard (Tab, arrow keys, Enter/Escape) and preserve familiar shortcuts (Shift+F10, context key). Microsoft’s developer guidance for WinUI controls emphasizes keyboard semantics, but app teams must implement them consistently.
Screen reader semantics: flyout headings and the distinction between primary and secondary actions must be annunciated clearly. Any migration to split rows or nested flyouts that harms screen reader clarity will create real accessibility regressions.
Touch targets: split controls need adequate touch area for the split affordances; otherwise, touch users may find the control harder to operate.

These considerations argue for robust accessibility testing during preview and a clear, documented behavior set before general availability.

What’s still uncertain or unverifiable right now

A responsible piece must flag claims that are subjective, device‑dependent, or not directly verifiable from the public build notes:

Menu height percentages reported by hands‑on articles: Windows Latest reports the old menu could fill roughly 75% of vertical space on their 16:10 machine and that the new menu reduces that to ~50% in their test. Those figures are useful as a reporter’s empirical observation but are inherently dependent on screen resolution, scale factor, which file type is tested and active shell extensions installed. They should be treated as illustrative, not absolute. Independent testing across device families is necessary to generalize these numbers.
The precise contents and behavior of Manage file across file types: Microsoft notes that Manage file’s label is experimental and the company may change both the name and what appears in the submenu. Early reports show that Manage file’s contents vary by file type and are sparse for many non‑photo files. Expect Microsoft to iterate.
Performance perceptions: the observed “sluggishness” when the menu resolves heavy verbs could be caused by multiple things (slow shell extension resolution, disk activity, on‑demand app activation, or even virtualization overhead in VM tests). Preloading helps in many scenarios, but it is not a universal latency cure. These dynamics require controlled profiling to definitively diagnose.

When claims rely on subjective testing (percentages, perceived snappiness), they should be framed as preliminary impressions rather than final benchmarks.

Recommendations for Insiders, power users, and admins

Install the build in a controlled VM or test device before deploying widely. The build is a staged rollout; changes may be gated server‑side.
If you rely on third‑party shell extensions:
Inventory those extensions and test them against the preview.
Report any regressions through the Feedback Hub with concrete repro steps.
If you care more about raw memory footprint than launch latency, disable Explorer preloading from Folder Options → View → uncheck “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”
For accessibility advocates: test keyboard and screen‑reader behavior on the new menus and file a focused Feedback Hub report if anything impairs discoverability or operation.
Developers: experiment with the Windows App SDK/WinUI preview to evaluate SplitMenuFlyoutItem adoption and to plan migration for legacy verbs. Early adoption can shape Microsoft’s guidance and the shell migration story.

Why this matters for everyday Windows users

Context menus are tiny but frequent. They sit at the crossroads of productivity and discoverability: a faster, shorter, and better‑organized right‑click menu reduces cognitive load, shortens pointer travel and keystrokes, and — cumulatively — improves daily efficiency for both casual and power users.
Microsoft’s direction here is notable for being incremental and pragmatic. Instead of a wholesale undo or a dramatic visual redesign, Build 26220.7271 focuses on grouping, ordering, and the option to preload to fix real user pain points. That is a sensible engineering posture: preserve compatibility, reorganize the surface, then iterate toward richer, developer‑driven patterns like a split menu control. The risk is fragmentation and temporary regressions while app vendors and shell extensions catch up; the reward is a shorter, more coherent menu that respects both discoverability and speed.

Final assessment: strengths, risks, and what to watch

Strengths

Targeted decluttering: Moving rarer items into Manage file and cloud provider flyouts reduces top‑level noise without removing capabilities.
Configurable preloading: The optional preload is a practical tradeoff for users who prefer instant responsiveness and don’t mind background RAM usage.
Alignment with WinUI direction: The reorganization aligns Explorer with WinUI’s split menu pattern, setting the stage for a structured, developer‑driven context menu model.

Risks and caveats

Shell extension regressions: Legacy COM and third‑party integrations risk rendering or ordering bugs as the menu surface and timing semantics change. Admins should test critical extensions.
Perceived slowness remains possible: Preloading helps with window launch, but per‑verb lazy loading and app activation can still produce perceptible delays when invoking complex menus. That requires further engineering work.
Accessibility hazards if not implemented carefully: Grouping must be paired with robust keyboard and screen reader semantics to avoid creating discovery regressions for assistive tech users.

What to watch next

Official guidance and samples from the Windows App SDK for SplitMenuFlyoutItem and migration recommendations for legacy verbs.
Third‑party vendor updates for cloud sync and shortcut providers to ensure consistent flyout experiences.
Community feedback and Microsoft’s follow‑up changes in subsequent Insider flights: the Manage file label, contents, and the behavior of nested archive submenus may evolve quickly.

This Windows Insider flight is a reminder that improving small, high‑frequency UX surfaces often yields outsized user satisfaction gains. Microsoft’s approach — incremental reorganization, optional performance experiments, and alignment with modern WinUI patterns — is cautiously encouraging. For now, expect incremental polish: a shorter right‑click menu that looks cleaner and a preloading toggle that can improve initial responsiveness, balanced against the usual early‑preview caveats of staged rollouts and vendor compatibility checks.

Source: Windows Latest First look: Microsoft reducing UI clutter in Windows 11, starting with right-click menu

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft is quietly testing a background “preload” for File Explorer in the latest Windows 11 Insider builds that promises to make folder windows appear almost instantly by warming key Explorer components ahead of time.

Background

File Explorer has long been one of the most-used and most-criticized surfaces in Windows. Many users still experience a perceptible pause when opening Explorer from a cold state — a delay caused by UI initialization, thumbnail and preview handler loads, enumeration of large folders or network shares, and lazy-loading third‑party shell extensions. Microsoft’s latest Insider experiment takes a pragmatic approach: perform some of the expensive startup work in the background during idle time so the visible window renders quickly when the user requests it. The experiment is shipped in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and is being evaluated across both the Dev and Beta channels for the 25H2 preview stream, which lets Microsoft collect broader feedback while still keeping the change gated behind the Insider program. The official release notes describe the feature as “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance.” If the feature reaches a tester’s machine, it appears as a toggle in File Explorer’s Folder Options (View → Options → Folder Options → View) labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” The toggle is enabled by default for recipients but can be unchecked to disable the preload without registry edits. That explicit opt-out is designed to make experimentation safe and reversible while Microsoft gathers telemetry.

What Microsoft is testing: how preloading works in practice

The engineering idea in plain terms

Preloading follows a simple principle: shift predictable initialization work out of the user’s click‑to‑interactive path and into idle time. Instead of creating and initializing the complete UI only when a user opens a folder, Windows starts or prepares a lightweight part of Explorer in the background and holds it in a dormant or suspended state. When the user opens File Explorer, that warmed instance can resume and present a populated, interactive window far faster than a full cold launch. This pattern mirrors other Microsoft startup optimizations such as Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s scheduled prelaunch tasks.

Likely technical details (what’s being warmed)

Microsoft’s Insider notes are intentionally high level, but community testing and engineering precedent let us infer the principal components that preloading will target:

The UI skeleton — command bar, ribbon or toolbar elements, address bar and common controls — is instantiated and cached.
Basic in-memory caches (icon and thumbnail caches, common navigation state) are primed so first paint fills quickly.
A minimal set of preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension registrations may be pre-registered to avoid first-use stalls.
The warmed state is designed to be dormant to limit CPU usage while still reserving memory for speedy resume.

These specifics are informed engineering inference rather than source-published internals; Microsoft has not published exact implementation details, memory budgets, or the suspension/resume model. Treat internal mechanics as plausible but not confirmed until Microsoft provides deeper technical notes or a public engineering blog.

Where to find the setting and how to control it

If your Insider device receives the experiment, you’ll find a user-facing toggle in File Explorer:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Options (Folder Options).
Select the View tab.
Locate and uncheck “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” to disable the behavior.

Because the option is exposed in the UI, testers can evaluate the feature without editing the registry or applying policy changes. Administrators and IT pros should expect Group Policy and MDM controls to surface later if Microsoft decides to roll the feature into broader channels. The staged rollout through Dev and Beta channels allows Microsoft to tune heuristics and collect data across a varied hardware matrix before any wide production release.

Early observations: practical benefits users can expect

Faster first-open times: Early tester feedback and previews show a noticeable reduction in the one- to two-second “cold-start” delay many users report, with Explorer often appearing fully populated nearly instantly after clicking the icon.
Smoother perceived navigation: Because key UI components are initialized proactively, the tiny stutters and partially rendered controls common on first opens are less likely to appear.
Low-friction rollback: The UI toggle lets testers opt out quickly if preload causes regressions, increasing safety for early adopters and admins piloting the change.

These benefits focus on perceived responsiveness rather than fixing every root cause of Explorer sluggishness — network enumeration, slow NAS responses, heavy thumbnail generation, or buggy third‑party shell extensions remain separate problems. Preloading is an optimization that hides startup latency, not a universal cure for all Explorer performance issues.

Trade-offs and risks: what to watch for

Every preload strategy trades background resources for improved foreground responsiveness. The notable risks and operational trade-offs include:

Increased resident memory: Keeping a warmed Explorer instance in memory consumes RAM. On well-resourced desktops this is negligible; on low-end machines (4 GB–8 GB), the extra footprint could push systems into more aggressive memory trimming or swap usage. Microsoft has not published a definitive memory budget, so treat claims of “only a few megabytes” as provisional until telemetry or independent benchmarks quantify the impact.
Battery and CPU costs: Preloading shifts some CPU work to sign-in or idle periods and can increase power draw if heuristics aren’t tuned for battery modes. Laptops and battery-sensitive devices could observe a measurable effect, particularly if multiple preloads (Edge, Office, Explorer) run concurrently.
Third‑party extension exposure: Explorer hosts many third‑party shell extensions (context menus, preview handlers, thumbnail providers). Preloading can cause these extensions to initialize earlier or in different contexts, potentially surfacing latent bugs, crashes, or unexpected network activity during the preload phase. Faulty extensions are a common source of Explorer instability; preloading may reveal them sooner.
Enterprise concerns: In managed environments, preloading could affect image-based provisioning, VDI density, and remote session memory budgets. Administrators should pilot the feature on representative hardware before enabling broadly and should expect Microsoft to add MDM/Group Policy controls if the feature reaches production channels.

Because Microsoft is explicitly framing this as an “exploration” and is soliciting feedback through the Feedback Hub, these trade-offs are part of why the feature is gated to Insiders first. Microsoft’s staged approach aims to reveal edge cases across varied system configurations before a mainstream rollout.

How this fits into Microsoft’s broader performance strategy

Preloading File Explorer is an incremental but visible piece of a larger pattern: Microsoft increasingly uses lightweight background warming to improve perceived app latency. Edge’s Startup Boost and Office prelaunch tasks are precedent examples where warming small runtime components improved front‑end responsiveness without drastically changing core functionality. Preloading Explorer follows that mature pattern — do the work at idle, present a snappier UI at demand.
That strategy is effective for perceived performance improvements because users measure responsiveness by the time between click and usable UI, not by micro-benchmarks of internal initialization. Preloading prioritizes that human-centric metric. The trade-off — more resident memory and potential earlier exposure of extension bugs — is a classic systems engineering decision that must be tuned via heuristics and telemetry.

Recommendations for different audiences

For Windows enthusiasts and Insiders

Enable the toggle if you frequently observe cold-start delays in File Explorer and want to test the improvement; compare behavior before/after and report regressions or odd behavior through the Feedback Hub under File Explorer Performance.
If you rely on battery life for mobile workflows or run very memory-constrained hardware, disable the toggle until broader measurements are available.

For system administrators and IT managers

Pilot the feature on a sample set of user profiles and hardware classes before a wide rollout — include image-based provisioning, VDI profiles, and managed laptops to capture real-world impacts on memory, power, and stability.
Monitor telemetry for Explorer crashes, increased paging, or user reports of background activity. Expect Microsoft to introduce policy controls if the feature moves beyond Insiders; plan for testing Group Policy / Intune filters as they appear.

For developers and ISVs who ship shell extensions

Test shell extensions against the new preload behavior to ensure they initialize safely in background contexts and do not rely on interactive UI state during initialization.
Adopt defensive coding patterns (deferred initialization, robust error handling, and no blocking network I/O on load) to improve compatibility with preloading heuristics.

Gaps, unknowns, and cautionary notes

Microsoft has not published precise numbers for the memory or CPU budget used by the preload feature. Until telemetry is public or independent benchmarks are available, any specific figure for memory cost should be treated as speculative. The community has reported modest effects so far, but these are anecdotal and vary by system configuration. Flagged as unverifiable until Microsoft or independent labs publish quantified results.
The exact implementation model — whether Microsoft uses a suspended Explorer window instance, a dedicated preload service, or lightweight process fragments — remains undocumented. Any detailed claim about the implementation is an educated inference based on Microsoft’s prior patterns, not a confirmed architecture. Treat internal mechanics as plausible but unconfirmed.
Enterprise rollout timing is unknown. Inclusion in Dev and Beta channels shows Microsoft is serious about testing, but a stable‑channel release requires telemetry and bug resolution; administrators should not assume an imminent mass rollout.

The bigger picture: why this matters to Windows users

Small, low-latency improvements to everyday interactions compound into a noticeably smoother operating system. File Explorer is central to daily workflows for most Windows users; shaving off a second or two from cold opens reduces friction throughout the day. Preloading is a conservative, incremental optimization that focuses on perceived performance, which is often what users notice most.
That said, perceived improvements must be balanced against measurable system impacts. A successful, broadly beneficial preload strategy will be one where heuristics prevent preloading on constrained systems, pause warmups on battery saver or low memory, and avoid prematurely initializing risky third‑party components. Microsoft’s decision to make the feature toggleable in the UI and to stage testing across Dev and Beta channels is the right approach for surfacing those edge cases before general availability.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s File Explorer preloading experiment in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 is a practical, user‑facing attempt to reduce the familiar cold-start lag that has plagued the file manager for years. The approach trades a small, controlled amount of background resource usage for a markedly snappier startup — a design pattern Microsoft has used successfully in other first‑party apps. Early signs are promising: testers note near-instant Explorer windows and fewer first-use stutters. However, measurable resource impact, third‑party shell extension behavior, and enterprise implications remain open questions that must be validated at scale. Microsoft’s staged rollout, opt-out toggle, and reliance on Insider telemetry are appropriate guardrails; administrators and power users should pilot the change carefully and use the Feedback Hub to report regressions.
For Windows 11 users who want a snappier Explorer right away, the toggle — when available in Insider builds — offers a fast, reversible way to test the feature. For IT teams, measured pilots and monitoring will be essential before adopting the preload in managed environments. In short: preloading is a pragmatic optimization that can make the day-to-day feel smoother, but it must be tuned and validated before it becomes a default expectation across all hardware classes.

Source: igor´sLAB Windows 11 is testing a new pre-loading feature to noticeably speed up File Explorer | igor´sLAB

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft is now testing an opt‑in background preload for File Explorer in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 to reduce the familiar “cold start” pause and make folder windows appear nearly instantaneously for many users. The change, described by Microsoft as an exploration and exposed to testers with a checkbox labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times”, is rolling out in the Dev and Beta channels as part of the 25H2 preview stream and sits alongside a tidy of File Explorer context‑menu refinements.

Background

File Explorer is one of Windows’ highest‑frequency user surfaces. For years the most common performance complaint has been a measurable delay when opening Explorer from a cold state — the one‑ or two‑second pause before the window becomes usable — caused by UI composition, thumbnailing and preview handler initialization, enumeration of large folders (including network shares), and lazy‑loaded third‑party shell extensions.
Microsoft’s Insider release notes for Build 26220.7271 explicitly call this out and state the company is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance.” That language positions the change as an experimental performance optimization, not a permanent architectural rewrite. Why this matters now

File Explorer performance impacts daily productivity for virtually every Windows user.
With Windows 10 end‑of‑life encouraging upgrades, improvements to the Windows 11 experience remain a priority for both consumers and enterprise IT.
The preload approach follows a familiar pattern Microsoft has used for other first‑party apps (for example, Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s prelaunch tasks), leveraging idle cycles to warm key components ahead of user action.

What Microsoft shipped in Build 26220.7271

The official change in plain language

Microsoft wrote that it is “exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance” and added a user‑facing switch so Insiders can disable the behavior if desired. The checkbox appears under File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View as Enable window preloading for faster launch times. The build is listed for both the Dev and Beta channels.

Other File Explorer tweaks in the same flight

Along with preloading, the same preview build brings a context‑menu reorganization that consolidates rarely used commands (Compress, Rotate, Copy as Path, some cloud entries) into grouped flyouts to reduce clutter. Microsoft calls the new grouping Manage file (name may change) and relocates cloud‑provider sync options into provider‑specific submenus. These UI changes are intended to complement the snappier launch experience by presenting a cleaner, more focused menu at first use.

How “preloading” likely works (technical sketch)

Microsoft’s release notes are intentionally high‑level, so implementation details must be inferred from precedent and early community testing. The practical mechanics are likely to include:

Instantiating a lightweight Explorer UI skeleton (command bar, address bar, core UI widgets) in the background or holding a dormant instance of the Explorer runtime in memory.
Priming small in‑memory caches (icon/thumbnail caches, common navigation state) so the first visible paint fills quickly.
Optionally registering a limited set of preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension entry points so these don’t stall the very first context menu or preview actions.
Keeping the warmed instance paused or suspended to avoid continuous CPU work while still reserving RAM for an immediate resume.

This design mirrors Microsoft’s prior warm‑start strategies (Edge Startup Boost, Office preloads) where lightweight processes or components are prepared during idle time and resumed when the user opens the app. The essential trade‑off is predictable background memory usage in exchange for a dramatically shorter click‑to‑interactive time.

Early tests and reporting: what evidence exists so far

Independent reporting and early hands‑on tests by Windows press and community channels indicate the feature does produce a noticeable improvement in perceived launch speed—especially on systems where cold‑start delays were previously most prominent (machines with slow HDDs or low RAM). Windows Central, BetaNews, and several community threads corroborate the presence of the toggle and the quicker first paint on machines running the Insider preview. AllThingsHow published a practical how‑to showing where the toggle lives, detailing the expected tradeoffs and explaining that the visible effect should be limited to faster Explorer launches (not deeper changes to enumeration or cloud sync behavior). Their practical instructions mirror Microsoft’s official guidance. Community forums and early hands‑on posts corroborate these observations, noting that the toggle arrives enabled by default for recipients of the experiment and can be disabled without registry edits. Those threads also emphasize that the improvements are perceived responsiveness wins — the underlying reasons for slow navigation (e.g., network NAS latency, heavy preview handlers) remain unchanged.

Benefits: tangible user wins

Near‑instant first paint: For many testers the biggest change is that Explorer appears populated and ready immediately after the click, eliminating the visual partial renders users see today.
Smoother workflow for frequent Explorer users: Eliminating a one‑second pause multiple times per day reduces friction and cognitive context switching.
Low‑risk opt‑out: The feature is toggleable in the classic Folder Options dialog, so users can revert to legacy behavior instantly.
Incremental rollout and telemetry‑driven tuning: By keeping the experiment in Dev/Beta channels, Microsoft can gather real‑world telemetry across many hardware configurations before wider deployment.

Risks, unknowns, and enterprise considerations

The preload approach is pragmatic, but several potential pitfalls deserve careful attention.

Memory and battery trade‑offs

Preloading necessarily reserves memory for the warmed Explorer instance. On modern desktops with abundant RAM this may be negligible, but on low‑RAM devices, older machines, or long battery sessions the reserved footprint could be meaningful. Microsoft has not published explicit memory budgets or heuristics (e.g., thresholds for disabling preload on low‑memory systems), so claims about “only a few megabytes” should be treated as provisional until verified by independent measurements.

CPU wakeups and power behavior

Even if the warmed process is dormant, periodic system housekeeping (suspension/resume, telemetry, cache updates) can cause CPU wakeups that dent battery life, especially on ultra‑portable devices. The net impact will depend on the exact suspension model Microsoft uses, which Microsoft has not publicly detailed.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability surface area

File Explorer hosts many third‑party shell extensions (context‑menu handlers, preview handlers, sync providers). Preloading may cause some extensions to initialize earlier or in slightly different conditions, potentially surfacing bugs or crashes that used to happen only when a user explicitly opened Explorer or a specific folder. Administrators and power users should monitor error telemetry and crash reports during pilot deployments for such regressions. Community discussion already flags this as a primary area to watch.

Enterprise governance and policy controls

Enterprises will want explicit Group Policy and MDM controls before allowing preloading in production images. For now the feature is experimental and UI‑toggleable, but IT teams should demand:

A documented GPO/MDM policy to disable preloading at scale.
Clear telemetry and reporting from Microsoft on memory/power impacts across comparable hardware.
Guidance on third‑party compatibility and recommended testing procedures.

Microsoft’s staged approach (Insider → telemetry → public rollout) should allow these governance features to appear before mass deployment, but organizations must not assume admin controls will be present at GA.

Practical guidance: how to test, enable, disable and report issues

If you run an Insider build and want to evaluate the preload experiment:

Verify your channel and build: confirm you’re on Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (Dev or Beta).
Locate the toggle: Open File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View tab, then check/uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times.
Test scenarios:
Cold boot + first open (Win+E)
Repeated open/close cycles
Battery drain and idle periods for laptops
Interaction with known third‑party shell extensions (context menus, sync clients)
Measure: use a stopwatch or automated UI timing tools to measure click‑to‑interactive times, record RAM usage (Task Manager) before and after enabling preload, and monitor battery delta over a controlled period.
Report regressions: file Feedback Hub entries under Files, Folders, and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance or Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer, including repro steps and diagnostics. Microsoft explicitly invited feedback in the Insider post.

AllThingsHow’s walkthrough provides the same steps to find and toggle the option and reiterates the expected behavior: the only noticeable difference should be faster Explorer launches. Their guide recommends turning the toggle off if you notice undesirable memory or battery impact.

Deep analysis: engineering trade‑offs and strategic context

Preloading File Explorer is a practical engineering decision. It recognizes that large‑scale rearchitectures of the Windows shell are slow, risky, and costly, whereas improving perceived responsiveness via warm starts can deliver immediate user value. This is a classic product trade‑off: deliver measurable UX wins by shifting predictable initialization cost into idle time.
Strengths of the approach

Fast customer value: Removes a visible daily annoyance without months of redesign.
Low friction: Toggleable and easy to rollback.
Informed by precedent: Microsoft has shipped similar techniques for Edge and Office successfully.
Scalable testing: Insiders provide broad, heterogeneous telemetry to tune heuristics before GA.

Weaknesses and areas Microsoft must manage

Lack of published telemetry: Microsoft should publish or document heuristics, memory budgets, device exclusion criteria, and power impact to maintain trust with enterprise and privacy‑sensitive users.
Compatibility surface: Explorer’s extension ecosystem is porous; preloading can surface fragility in third‑party code.
Perception vs. reality: Preloading hides some symptoms (slow enumeration, network latency) but does not fix root causes; Microsoft should avoid marketing preload as a cure‑all for Explorer performance woes.

This measured, iterative approach can deliver meaningful improvements if Microsoft couples the experiment with clear admin controls, tight heuristics for low‑power/low‑RAM devices, and rapid triage for extension‑related crashes.

What to expect next (and caveats)

Short term: The experiment will remain gated to Insider channels while Microsoft collects telemetry and user feedback. Expect incremental tweaks to toggle behavior and the context‑menu redesign naming (Manage file may change).
Medium term: If telemetry supports rollout, Microsoft will expose admin controls (GPO/MDM) and add heuristics to disable preload on constrained devices or specific OEM configurations.
Long term: Preloading is a pragmatic band‑aid rather than a systemic fix. True, platform‑level improvements (e.g., faster file enumeration, improved thumbnailing and preview handlers, stricter extension sandboxing) remain the only way to eliminate the deeper causes of Explorer sluggishness.

A cautionary note: specific numbers about memory usage, battery impact, or precise implementation details are not yet public. Any assertion of exact megabyte footprints or battery deltas is speculative until measured in controlled tests or documented by Microsoft. Treat such claims with skepticism and verify with empirical testing on your hardware.

Recommendations for Windows power users and IT admins

Power users: Try the preload on a test machine, measure the speed gains and the memory cost, and decide whether the trade‑off improves your daily flow. If you use many context‑menu extensions, watch for background crashes or unexpected behavior.
Laptop users on battery: Test battery life with the toggle on for a representative work session before enabling permanently.
IT administrators: Do not roll this feature into production fleets without a pilot program. Request GPO/MDM controls from Microsoft and track Feedback Hub reports and telemetry before approving broad rollout.
Developers of shell extensions: Validate your extensions with the preload enabled to ensure early initialization does not surface latent issues.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s File Explorer preloading experiment in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 is a pragmatic attempt to tackle a long‑standing, high‑impact UX complaint: slow Explorer launches. By warming key UI components in the background and exposing a simple toggle — Enable window preloading for faster launch times — Microsoft offers a low‑friction way to test whether the latency trade‑off is worthwhile for most users. Early reporting and community testing show real gains in perceived responsiveness, particularly on older or slower hardware, while the primary risks center on memory/battery trade‑offs and third‑party extension compatibility. Microsoft’s staged deployment and explicit feedback channels give testers and IT teams the tools to evaluate the feature responsibly; enterprises and power users should pilot before mass adoption, and everyone should treat preload as a pragmatic optimization rather than a cure for deeper platform‑level bottlenecks.

Source: Club386 Microsoft intends on preloading Windows 11's File Explorer to improve responsiveness | Club386

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft is quietly testing two small but consequential changes to File Explorer in Windows 11 — a background preload designed to make first launches feel nearly instant, and a decluttered right‑click context menu that tucks rarely used commands into nested flyouts — both appearing in Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307).

Background

File Explorer has long been one of Windows’ most frequently used surfaces and, correspondingly, one of the most visible pain points. Many users still notice a one‑to‑two second delay when opening Explorer from a cold state, and the Windows 11 context menu has grown tall and unwieldy as cloud and third‑party provider actions piled onto the top level.
Microsoft’s latest Insider preview bundles a pragmatic, incremental approach rather than sweeping architectural changes: the OS will optionally keep a lightweight Explorer UI warm in the background to reduce perceived startup latency, and it will reorganize context‑menu commands into grouped flyouts so the top level surfaces the core verbs first. These changes are part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and are currently being evaluated in the Dev and Beta channels.

What Microsoft shipped in Build 26220.7271

The preload experiment: “Enable window preloading for faster launch times”

The build introduces an optional setting labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” inside File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View. If present on a device, the checkbox is enabled by default for Insiders and can be unchecked to revert to the legacy behavior.
The stated goal is narrowly framed: preload portions of File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance. Microsoft positions this as an experiment to be refined through staged rollouts and Insider feedback rather than a final architecture change.

The context‑menu overhaul: Manage file and provider flyouts

The right‑click menu in File Explorer is reorganized to reduce vertical clutter. A new Manage file flyout groups less‑frequently used actions (Compress to ZIP, Copy as path, Set as desktop background, Rotate left/right, etc.. Cloud provider commands (OneDrive sync options like Always keep on this device and Free up space) are moved into provider‑specific submenus, and Send to My Phone has been repositioned near those cloud entries for logical grouping. Microsoft notes the Manage file label may change as the experiment evolves.

Why preloading? The user problem and Microsoft’s trade‑off

The problem is perceptual latency. On many systems — especially lower‑spec laptops, tablets, handheld Windows PCs, and HDD‑backed machines — the first click to open File Explorer can produce a visible pause while UI components, thumbnail handlers, and shell extensions initialize.
Preloading takes a pragmatic engineering route: perform predictable initialization work while the system is idle so the visible window paints immediately when requested. This mirrors similar tactics Microsoft has used for other first‑party apps (Edge’s Startup Boost, scheduled prelaunch for Office). The outcome is perceived speed: the window appears ready almost instantly. Key points about the preload approach:

It is not a rewrite of how Explorer enumerates folders or resolves cloud placeholders; it primarily moves initialization timing.
The warmed instance is intended to be dormant or suspended to limit CPU use while reserving memory for fast resume.
Microsoft exposes the feature by default to Insiders but provides a straightforward opt‑out in Folder Options.

Technical sketch: what’s likely being warmed (and what isn’t)

Microsoft’s official notes are intentionally high level, so the community’s technical inferences point to the following likely targets for preloading:

UI skeleton — command bar, address bar, ribbon/toolbar elements and common controls — so initial painting completes quickly.
Basic in‑memory caches — icon/thumbnail caches and common navigation state — to avoid first‑use stalls.
Minimal registration of commonly used preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension hooks so early interactions don’t block UI paint.

What preloading explicitly does not promise:

It will not eliminate delays caused by enumerating very large folders, slow network/NAS shares, or poorly implemented third‑party shell extensions that perform heavy I/O on folder change events.
It does not (yet) change how cloud placeholders are resolved at a deep level; those network and sync operations remain governed by the cloud client and placeholder provider.

The context‑menu rework: clearer, shorter, and more discoverable

The visual problem Microsoft is tackling is straightforward: on many displays and scaling settings the right‑click menu grew so tall it obscured content and increased the chance of mis‑clicks. The new organization emphasizes:

Top‑level verbs (Open, Open with, etc. remain easily reachable.
Related but uncommon file actions are nested under Manage file, reducing the vertical footprint.
Cloud provider actions are attached to their owner (e.g., OneDrive) rather than being global menu items, making the menu feel more contextual and less noisy.

This is a conservative, reversible UX experiment: no functionality is deleted, only reorganized. The Manage file label — and finer details of placement — may change as Microsoft iterates with Insider feedback.

Immediate benefits users should see

Near‑instant first open on many devices where Explorer previously required a cold initialization, especially older or low‑powered hardware. Early testers report a noticeable snappier experience when opening Explorer after sign‑in.
Shorter, less intimidating context menus with primary actions surfaced and peripheral commands tucked away. This reduces pointer travel and makes small‑screen behavior (laptops, tablets) more usable.
Low‑friction rollback because the preload is exposed as a UI toggle rather than requiring registry edits. IT pros and Insiders can disable the experiment easily.

Risks and trade‑offs: what to watch for

Preloading Explorer improves perceived speed by trading off background resources and adding complexity to startup heuristics. Expect the traditional engineering trade‑offs:

Memory footprint: Preloading keeps Explorer state resident. On modern 8GB+ systems this may be trivial, but on 4GB devices, memory‑constrained VMs, or in multi‑user session hosts the impact can be meaningful. Microsoft has not published a fixed memory budget for the preload, and community reports are currently anecdotal. Treat claims about “only a few megabytes” as provisional until telemetry or official numbers appear.
Battery and power: Any resident background component can have a small power cost on mobile devices. Early reports are mixed; battery impact should be measured before broad deployment on battery‑sensitive fleets.
Compatibility with third‑party shell extensions: Some shell extensions perform heavy work when registered. Preloading may change the timing of when those extensions are invoked and could expose latent bugs or race conditions in poorly written extensions. If you rely on legacy context‑menu extensions, watch for regressions.
Enterprise policy and manageability: At present the toggle is exposed to Insiders via Folder Options. Large organizations will expect Group Policy and MDM controls before broad adoption. Microsoft typically surfaces such controls when features graduate from Insider experiments to mainstream channels, but no enterprise controls are documented yet. IT admins should evaluate the change in test rings before mass enabling.

How to check and control the new behavior today (Insider builds)

Update to Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (Dev or Beta channels) and accept the KB5070307 package if your device is in the staged rollout.
Open File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View.
Look for the checkbox: Enable window preloading for faster launch times. Uncheck it to disable the preload.

This UI toggle makes experimenting straightforward; you don’t need registry edits or policy templates just to test behavior. If your organization needs centralized control, expect Microsoft to add Group Policy/ADMX and MDM controls if the feature progresses beyond Insider testing.

Enterprise considerations

Test on representative hardware: pay attention to memory pressure, power draw, and the behavior of any site‑specific shell extensions or archival tools that hook into the Explorer menu.
Use staged rings: roll changes into pilot groups before broad enablement, and validate imaging and management tooling with the preloaded Explorer behavior toggled both on and off.
Expect administrative controls: historically Microsoft adds Group Policy / MDM policy controls once an experiment is validated; plan for a management knob rather than relying on end users to disable the setting.

Community and press corroboration

Independent coverage from mainstream tech outlets and community testing corroborates the presence of the toggle and the context‑menu redesign in Build 26220.7271. Early hands‑on testing and forum threads document both the UI path for disabling the preload and the concrete menu changes (Manage file, provider flyouts, relocation of Send to My Phone). These early reports converge on the same facts and provide consistent guidance for Insiders and admins evaluating the build. Community forum posts already show screenshots and step‑by‑step confirmations of the toggle location and menu grouping, which helps validate Microsoft’s release notes in the wild.

What we still don’t know — and what to treat cautiously

Exact memory and power overheads: Microsoft has not published the memory budget or power delta for the preloaded state. Current numbers are community‑sourced and anecdotal; enterprise planners should measure impacts in their fleets.
Long‑term behavior with many third‑party shell extensions: Early testing suggests the preload is conservative, but edge cases with badly behaved shell extensions may only surface after broader exposure. Expect more telemetry from Microsoft before any general availability rollout.
Final timing for general rollout: several outlets have speculated the changes could reach all Windows 11 users in “early 2026,” but Microsoft’s public notes frame the work as an Insider experiment without a firm production date. Treat rollout timing as unconfirmed until Microsoft publishes a roadmap or ships the feature in a public cumulative/feature update.

Recommendations for users and admins

Consumers and power users:
If you’re on an Insider build and the toggle appears, try the preload with default settings for a week and observe responsiveness and any memory or battery changes.
If you notice regressions, disable the toggle and report issues via the Feedback Hub under File Explorer Performance.
IT administrators:
Don’t enable this experimental behavior fleet‑wide without testing. Validate on pilot devices first.
Watch for ADMX/Group Policy updates and new MDM settings before enabling in managed environments.
Pay particular attention to low‑RAM devices, VDI/remote session hosts, and custom shell integration points.
Software vendors who provide shell extensions:
Confirm your extensions register and initialize safely when Explorer initialization timing changes. Test under both preloaded and non‑preloaded conditions and fix any race conditions that surface.

How this fits into Microsoft’s broader strategy

This work is consistent with a broader Microsoft strategy to optimize perceived performance through background warming and staged experiments rather than heavy, risky rewrites. Over the past year Microsoft has used similar tactics for Edge and Office to make apps feel faster by warming components during idle time or at sign‑in. The Explorer experiment is the shell equivalent of that pattern — low‑risk, iterative, and user‑controllable — and it reflects a product posture of small, telemetry‑driven improvements across high‑frequency surfaces.

Final analysis: sensible, reversible, and worth watching

The changes in Build 26220.7271 are not headline‑seismic, but they address two very practical user complaints: slow first opens and a cluttered context menu. The approach is sensible: preserve functionality, give users (and Insiders) control, and iterate based on telemetry. The introduction of a clear opt‑out makes the experiment safe for testers and reduces the risk of blind rollout.
That said, the real test will be telemetry and long‑term behavior across diverse hardware and large enterprise fleets. Memory and power impacts remain the principal concerns, particularly for budget devices and mobile form factors. Likewise, subtle compatibility issues with third‑party shell extensions may take time to surface.
For now, users who rely on File Explorer daily can expect a cleaner right‑click experience and, on many machines, a snappier first open. IT administrators should run measured pilots and wait for official management controls before enabling the change broadly. Microsoft’s cautious, reversible experiment model is the right play here — it gives users benefits quickly while keeping an exit ramp open should unexpected costs appear.

Microsoft’s File Explorer is overdue for incremental refinements like these: small UX and startup wins are precisely the kinds of changes that compound into a noticeably better day‑to‑day experience. The community and IT pros will now put the preload through its paces and surface the edge cases that telemetry alone can’t predict. If the experiment proves low‑cost and stable, expect the organization to graduate the feature — with enterprise controls — into a wider Windows 11 release; if not, the opt‑out and iterative design should make rollback straightforward.

Source: The Verge Microsoft is speeding up and decluttering File Explorer in Windows 11

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft has begun rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) to the Dev and Beta channels, delivering a cluster of forward-facing features — notably the Xbox full‑screen experience on more PC form factors, a modern point‑in‑time restore recovery path, and expanded on‑device AI dictation — while continuing to iterate on File Explorer, the Microsoft Store, and cross‑device continuity with Android phones.

Background

Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program is once again using a shared‑build approach for Dev and Beta on the Windows 11 25H2 servicing baseline. That strategy temporarily allows Insiders in the Dev Channel to move to the Beta Channel while both channels are aligned on the same build number; the window closes when the Dev Channel advances beyond the Beta branch and the builds diverge. This release continues Microsoft’s practice of staging features via toggles and phased rollouts, with many improvements gated behind on‑device hardware checks, program membership (Xbox Insiders), or progressive deployment. The net effect is a purposeful blend of consumer‑facing features (Xbox FSE, Fluid Dictation) and under‑the‑hood platform investments (point‑in‑time restore, VSS management, File Explorer layout changes) intended to move Windows 11 closer to a resilient, console‑friendly, and AI‑assisted experience. The next sections break down these changes, verify key technical claims, highlight practical implications, and flag where further validation is warranted.

What’s new in Build 26220.7271 — high‑level summary

Xbox Full‑Screen Experience (FSE): Expands the Xbox FSE preview to more Windows 11 PC form factors (desktop, laptop, tablet) for controller‑first gaming; access via Task View, Game Bar, or Win + F11. Initially requires Xbox Insiders registration and phased rollout.
Point‑in‑Time Restore (PITR): A modern VSS‑based snapshot and rollback feature that captures periodic full‑system restore points and enables restoration from WinRE, including OS, apps, settings, and local user files; preview retention defaults and frequency are configurable.
Fluid Dictation for Voice Typing: On NPU/Copilot+ devices, voice typing (Win + H) now offers real‑time grammar, punctuation, and filler‑word correction via on‑device small language models (SLMs).
Cross‑device resume and file continuity: Resume browsing from vivo Browser to PC and improved continuity for multiple Android OEMs when opening files in Microsoft 365 apps.
File Explorer and context menu changes: Reordering context menu options and introducing a “Manage file” flyout to group related actions for easier access.
Microsoft Store improvements: Ability to uninstall Store‑managed apps directly from the library page.

Each of the above items is rolling out gradually and may appear only after toggles are enabled on qualifying hardware or after joining related preview programs.

Deep dive: Xbox Full‑Screen Experience (FSE) on PC

What FSE is and how it behaves

The Xbox Full‑Screen Experience provides a console‑style shell layered over Windows when a controller is the primary input. It presents a simplified Xbox home interface focused on games from Game Pass, the Microsoft Store, and other installed launchers, and is designed to reduce background noise from the desktop shell for a more immersive, controller‑centric session. Insiders can enter or exit FSE without rebooting, and switch back to the normal desktop from a Task View option or by hitting the Windows key.

Why Microsoft is doing this

FSE is part of Microsoft’s larger convergence between Windows and Xbox ecosystems — an attempt to offer a console‑like experience on Windows hardware while preserving the platform’s flexibility. For handheld and small‑screen hardware, FSE streamlines boot and runtime behavior; on larger PCs, it aims to deliver a controller‑first modality for living‑room or couch gaming. Industry coverage places this in the context of Microsoft trying to standardize a game‑friendly desktop experience across device types.

Practical implications and limits

Benefits: Faster, distraction‑free access to games; easier task switching with controllers; tighter Xbox/Store/Pass integration for gamers.
Hardware/program gating: The FSE preview is phased and initially requires participation in the Xbox Insider Program; availability varies by device and by whether the Xbox app is installed.
Known issues: Microsoft explicitly notes issues with virtual keyboard visibility for controller users on non‑touch devices, and that certain apps expecting fixed window sizes may behave unpredictably in FSE. Expect further adjustments as Insiders report problems.

Verification: The Windows Insider announcement and independent technology outlets both confirm the FSE expansion to PC form factors and the phased rollout via the Insider program. The Verge’s reporting that FSE can reduce background process overhead and save memory on some devices is an observed estimate and will vary by hardware; treat memory‑savings figures as anecdotal unless reproduced on your own hardware.

Deep dive: Point‑in‑Time Restore (PITR) — a modern recovery layer

What PITR is designed to accomplish

Point‑in‑Time Restore is a modern restore mechanism built on Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) that captures full‑system restore points on a regular cadence and allows users to restore the device to its exact state at a prior point in time from WinRE. Unlike classic System Restore, PITR is intended to be a fast, robust recovery option for recent regressions, bad updates, or configuration errors — restoring the OS along with apps, settings, and local user files on the MainOS volume.

Technical specifics verified

Microsoft’s preview documentation and the Insider release notes set clear defaults and configurable parameters for the preview:

Default capture cadence: Every 24 hours (preview allows other frequencies such as 4, 12, 16 hours depending on configuration).
Default retention: Restore points are retained for up to 72 hours in the preview; older points are purged automatically.
Storage usage: Preview exposes a configurable maximum VSS usage with sensible defaults (examples include a 2% of disk or a minimum floor like 2 GB), and VSS storage is shared with other shadow‑copy consumers.
Scope & limitations: Only the MainOS volume is restored; cloud data (OneDrive) is not modified; BitLocker recovery key is required when restoring encrypted volumes; initiation is local via WinRE in preview.

These specifics are directly documented in Microsoft’s preview guidance and were echoed by Windows IT and independent coverage. That alignment gives confidence the feature’s initial behavior is accurately described.

Enterprise and operational considerations

PITR is a powerful but destructive operation: restoring to a prior snapshot will revert any local changes made after that restore point, including recently created files, settings changes, or installed apps. Administrators and power users must treat PITR as a rapid remediation tool, not as a substitute for regular backups.
Local-only preview: In the current preview, a restore can only be initiated from WinRE on the device itself; remote initiation or Intune/APIs for centralized management are planned in broader Microsoft resiliency work but are not generally available in this preview. Enterprises evaluating PITR for fleet recovery should validate the management story before adoption.
Disk space and reliability: Because VSS storage is shared and restore points are ephemeral, PITR can fail or be evicted under low storage conditions; restoration can fail for the same reasons. The preview documentation lists a number of failure modes and the need for free space during the restore operation.

Bottom line: PITR materially reduces mean time to repair for many common failure modes, but it introduces new operational requirements — particularly around disk management, BitLocker keys, and awareness that local changes post‑snapshot are at risk.

Deep dive: Fluid Dictation — on‑device SLMs meet voice typing

How Fluid Dictation works

Fluid Dictation is an AI‑assisted mode for Windows’ voice input that goes beyond raw speech‑to‑text: it applies punctuation, removes filler words, and performs light grammar normalization in real time. Crucially, on supported hardware (NPU / Copilot+ devices), this processing is done locally using on‑device small language models (SLMs), reducing latency and offering a privacy advantage over cloud‑first dictation. The feature is enabled by default on supported devices and is available within the Voice Typing UI (Win + H).

Who benefits and what to expect

Accessibility users and heavy dictation workloads will see immediate value: fewer edits after dictation and cleaner draft output for emails, documents, and notes.
Copilot+ hardware owners (NPUs) get the best responsiveness and local privacy guarantees; devices without an NPU will fall back to cloud processing or the legacy behavior, which changes both latency and privacy characteristics.

Caveats and rollout notes

Language and locale coverage is currently narrower in preview; Microsoft has emphasized English locales first and will broaden support over time. Users should validate supported languages for their device and workflow.
Fluid Dictation is disabled in secure entry fields (passwords, PINs) to preserve security boundaries.

Verification: Microsoft’s Insider blog and multiple independent outlets corroborate that Fluid Dictation has moved from Voice Access into Voice Typing for NPU devices in this build, and that on‑device SLMs are the intended runtime for Copilot+ hardware.

Cross‑device and File Explorer updates

Resume from Android phones (expanded OEM support)

Microsoft continues to extend cross‑device resume scenarios: Build 26220.7271 adds the ability for users of vivo phones to continue browsing from the vivo Browser to a PC’s default browser, while several OEMs (Honor, Huawei, Oppo, Samsung, vivo) also see improved Microsoft 365 continuity when editing files opened on the phone. These changes are small but additive to the Phone Link/Your Phone‑style story and presume OEM cooperation and compatible app versions on the phone.

File Explorer context menu reordering and “Manage file” flyout

Microsoft is experimenting with context‑menu reorganization to make common actions easier to access. A new “Manage file” flyout groups related file operations, and the wider context‑menu reorder aims to surface frequently used commands higher in the list. These are gradual UI tests and may be tweaked based on Insider feedback.

Microsoft Store: uninstall from library

The Microsoft Store receives a practical tweak: Store‑managed apps can be uninstalled directly from the Library page, simplifying app lifecycle management for apps you originally obtained through the Store. This is a small quality‑of‑life improvement for power users and admins who rely on the Library view for app housekeeping.

Stability, known issues, and troubleshooting guidance

Key known issues called out by Microsoft

Xbox FSE: Virtual keyboard not showing for certain controller users on non‑touch devices; app sizing/behavior issues for some legacy apps in FSE.
Taskbar & Start: Microsoft is investigating issues where the Start menu does not open on click (though it may open with the Windows key) and where some system tray icons or notifications may not appear correctly.
ARM64 .NET: Earlier crashes on ARM64 with Visual Studio or .NET dependent apps were addressed in cumulative fixes included in recent servicing updates, but ARM64 remains an area to validate if you run developer tooling.

Practical troubleshooting and precautions

If you rely on your machine for daily work, avoid moving to Dev Channel builds unless you want to accept instability; take advantage of the temporary switch window to Beta if prefer greater stability.
Before enabling Point‑in‑Time Restore, ensure you have BitLocker keys backed up (required for restoring encrypted volumes) and adequate free disk space beyond the configured VSS quotas.
If you plan to use Fluid Dictation for sensitive text, verify whether your device runs on‑device SLMs (Copilot+ hardware) or falls back to cloud processing; the privacy tradeoffs differ.

Critical analysis — strengths, tradeoffs, and risks

Strengths

Meaningful recovery improvements: PITR is a practical modernization of System Restore that addresses a long‑standing gap in Windows recovery options. Its emphasis on speed and inclusion of apps and user files (in contrast to classic System Restore) is a real operational advantage for users and IT.
AI features where hardware supports them: Fluid Dictation demonstrates a sensible deployment model for on‑device LLM‑style capabilities: local SLMs for privacy and latency, with cloud fallbacks where needed. That hybrid approach scales across the installed base without forcing cloud dependency.
Gaming convergence: Xbox FSE on PC signals Microsoft’s intention to treat Windows as a multi‑modal gaming platform, supporting both mouse/keyboard and controller‑first usage models. For living‑room or handheld players, this reduces friction.

Tradeoffs and risks

Hardware gating fractures user experience: Many headline features are gated to Copilot+ (NPU) hardware, Xbox Insider registration, or device size/form factor. That means what you see will vary widely across devices, which complicates adoption planning for IT or power users aiming for uniformity.
Restore semantics create data‑loss risk: PITR restores full system state, which by design discards local changes after a restore point. Users who misunderstand this could permanently lose recent work. The preview’s restricted retention window (72 hours) reduces the illusion that PITR replaces long‑term backups. Strong communication and policy settings will be necessary.
UI experiments may destabilize workflows: Context menu reordering and “Manage file” flyouts aim to improve discoverability but risk breaking muscle memory for long‑time users; Microsoft’s gradual rollout is sensible, but the company should publish more guidance and customization options.

Unverifiable or contingent claims (flagged)

Some coverage has reported specific memory savings (e.g., “~2 GB saved” when using FSE on certain handhelds). Those numbers come from early tests on specific hardware and will vary significantly by configuration and workload. Treat such figures as estimates rather than platform guarantees and reproduce them on your own hardware before relying on them.

What this means for different user groups

Enthusiasts and Insiders

This build is exactly the kind of release enthusiasts want: visible, tangible features to test (FSE, Fluid Dictation) plus infrastructure‑level changes (PITR) to poke and validate. If you enjoy rapid iteration and don’t mind occasional breakage, this is a rewarding build to try. Be prepared to file Feedback Hub reports and participate in Xbox Insider or Windows Insider communities to unlock features faster.

Power users and creators

Fluid Dictation can materially reduce edit cycles for creators who dictate, and PITR may shorten recovery time after a bad update. However, creators should validate the language support and retention behavior of PITR and continue to maintain external backups for mission‑critical work.

IT administrators and enterprise

PITR is potentially transformative for service desks and remote remediation, but its preview limitations (local WinRE initiation, BitLocker key requirements, VSS storage contention) mean it’s not yet a turnkey replacement for enterprise imaging and M365/Intune recovery flows. Administrators should test PITR in their environments, account for BitLocker recovery keys, and plan for storage and policy controls before adopting it in production.

How to try the features safely (step‑by‑step)

Join the Windows Insider Program and opt into the Dev or Beta channel, depending on your tolerance for instability. If both channels show the same 25H2 build, you can switch from Dev to Beta while the window is open.
Install Build 26220.7271 via Settings > Windows Update (ensure you are on the 25H2 baseline).
For Xbox FSE: join the Xbox Insider Program and opt into the PC Gaming preview in the Xbox Insiders Hub; pair a controller and enable FSE where the toggle appears. Use Task View, Game Bar settings, or Win + F11 to enter FSE.
To test PITR: verify BitLocker recovery key is backed up, ensure adequate free disk space, and look under System > Recovery for Point‑in‑Time Restore configuration. Trigger restores only from WinRE (Troubleshoot > Point‑in‑Time Restore) in the preview.
To use Fluid Dictation: place the cursor in a text field, press Win + H, complete initial setup, and confirm the Fluid Dictation toggle in the voice typing flyout on Copilot+ / NPU devices.

Final assessment and expectations

Build 26220.7271 is a decisive step in three related trajectories for Windows 11: deeper gaming integration with Xbox FSE, expanded on‑device AI that improves everyday input, and a pragmatic push to modernize recovery through point‑in‑time snapshots. Each move is meaningful: PITR directly addresses a frequent pain point for Windows maintenance, Fluid Dictation raises the baseline for voice input quality, and FSE signals a more flexible platform posture toward controller‑first scenarios.
That said, the release is a preview: many features are hardware‑gated, phased, or limited to insiders and program members. Enterprises and cautious users should treat PITR as promising but not yet fully production‑ready, and single‑device users should keep conventional backups. Insiders and power users will find plenty to explore and test; their feedback will be essential to refine these features before broader availability.
The most important takeaway is practical: validate the exact behavior on your hardware, back up critical data before using PITR, and file actionable Feedback Hub reports when you hit issues. Microsoft is clearly pushing the envelope on device resilience and AI‑driven productivity, and this build is the next measurable data point in that journey.

Conclusion
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 assembles a mix of consumer delights and enterprise‑grade tooling into one preview: a console‑like Xbox FSE for PC, a high‑utility point‑in‑time restore, and smarter on‑device dictation. For Windows enthusiasts, the build is rich with testable changes; for IT and enterprise, PITR introduces new options and new operational considerations. The rollout strategy — toggles, phased deployments, and hardware gating — means adoption will be gradual and feedback‑driven. For now, users should verify claims on their own hardware, maintain backups, and weigh the benefits of immediate testing against the realities of preview instability.

Source: SSBCrack News Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 Now Available with New Features - SSBCrack News

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Blue 3D file explorer interface showing folders and options.

Microsoft’s latest Insider builds quietly adopt two pragmatic tweaks to File Explorer — an optional background “preload” that makes first opens feel near-instant, and a decluttered right‑click menu that tucks seldom‑used commands into nested flyouts — changes that aim to improve day‑to‑day responsiveness while preserving legacy functionality.

Background

File Explorer is the single most used shell surface on Windows for most users, and it has long been the subject of frustration: slow cold starts, overly tall context menus, inconsistent behavior with cloud placeholders, and glitches when handling folders with thousands of items. Microsoft has iterated on Explorer across multiple releases — including the broader 24H2 feature set that introduced tabs, a compression wizard, and tighter OneDrive integration — but the everyday complaints about the “one‑to‑two‑second pause” when opening Explorer and a crowded right‑click menu have persisted.
The changes arriving in Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) are deliberately conservative and experimental: rather than a sweeping rewrite they are pragmatic engineering and UX adjustments designed to improve perceived performance and reduce visual noise, with an explicit toggle so testers can opt out. Microsoft frames these updates as “explorations” to be tuned with telemetry and Insider feedback.

What changed in the build — an overview

Background preload (optional): Explorer can keep a lightweight, warmed instance in memory so the first visible paint and interactive state appear almost instantly when invoked. This behavior is exposed with a user toggle labeled Enable window preloading for faster launch times in File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View. The feature is enabled by default for Insiders receiving the experiment but can be disabled without registry hacks.
Context‑menu reorganization: The right‑click menu is shorter and more focused. Less‑used verbs (Compress to ZIP, Copy as path, image rotation, etc. are grouped under a new Manage file flyout, while cloud provider commands (OneDrive sync actions, for example) are moved into provider‑specific submenus. Commands like Open, Open with and Open folder location have been repositioned for quicker access. The changes conserve functionality while aiming to reduce menu height and cognitive load.

Together these moves target two different but related sources of friction: perceived latency on app launch and the vertical clutter that made single right‑clicks obscure large portions of the screen.

Deep dive: Preloading File Explorer

Why preload?

Perceptual latency — the delay a user sees between clicking and getting a usable window — is often dominated by initialization tasks: composing the UI, initializing thumbnail/preview handlers, registering shell extensions, and priming icon caches. Those tasks can create a visible pause even when the underlying system is performing well. Microsoft’s preload approach moves some of that predictable initialization into idle time, so the visible interaction becomes snappier. This mirrors strategies Microsoft has used elsewhere (Edge Startup Boost, Office prelaunch tasks) and is intentionally limited in scope: preload is about the timing of initialization, not a fundamental rework of file enumeration or network I/O.

What the preload actually does (technical sketch)

Instantiates a UI skeleton (command bar, address bar, toolbar, and core controls) in the background or holds a suspended Explorer runtime so the first paint completes quickly.
Primes small caches (icons, thumbnails, common navigation state) used for the initial UI paint.
Optionally registers a limited set of preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension entry points so those handlers don’t stall the first context menu or preview render.

Microsoft’s published notes are high level and don’t enumerate a fixed memory footprint, so community inference and early tests provide the current picture: the preload reduces the visible “cold start” pause significantly on slower devices (HDD machines, low‑RAM tablets), with negligible impact on modern, high‑spec desktops. Independent hands‑on reporting shows tangible perceived speed gains, but the approach does not fix deeper latency sources like slow NAS enumeration or heavy preview handlers.

Trade‑offs and measurable costs

Memory reservation: Keeping a warmed Explorer instance means some resident memory is used persistently. On modern systems this may be a modest tens of megabytes; on light systems (4–8 GB) the cost can be noticeable depending on other workloads. Microsoft has not published an official budget for the warmed instance.
Battery impact: Background preloads could cause small additional wakeups or memory residency penalties on battery‑constrained devices. Early reporting has not flagged severe battery regressions, but long‑term telemetry across hardware variants is needed to be certain.
Third‑party extension behavior: Some poorly written shell extensions or preview handlers may be triggered by background initialization. That can surface compatibility issues earlier than before. Microsoft’s choice to expose the toggle reduces deployment risk by letting users and IT teams disable the experiment if problems arise.

What it does not do

Preloading improves the perception of launch speed; it does not fundamentally speed up folder enumeration, network file retrieval, or the execution time of third‑party handlers once Explorer is visible.
It does not alter OneDrive placeholder semantics or change how file data is fetched from cloud providers — it merely warms parts of the UI so Explorer appears ready sooner.

Deep dive: Context‑menu declutter and the “Manage file” flyout

The problem Microsoft addressed

Windows’ right‑click menu has accumulated decades of functionality: native verbs, COM shell extensions, third‑party installer add‑ins, cloud provider actions, and recently AI and Copilot entries. The result: a tall, visually dense surface that often obscured content and made simple tasks feel cumbersome. On smaller screens or when using higher DPI scaling, menus could occupy a large fraction of the vertical space.

What changed in the UI

Core verbs (Cut, Copy, Rename, Delete) are surfaced at the top level with clear labels for discoverability.
Less‑used commands (Compress to ZIP, Copy as path, Set as desktop background, Rotate) are grouped under Manage file, reducing immediate vertical height.
Cloud provider commands (for example, OneDrive’s “Always keep on this device” and “Free up space”) are moved into provider‑specific submenus, making cloud actions contextually tied to their provider rather than globally visible.
Device and sharing actions such as Send to My Phone have been repositioned near cloud entries for a coherent device‑to‑cloud grouping.
The Open Folder Location command was repositioned next to Open and Open with to reduce pointer travel when jumping to a file’s container.

UX rationale and likely outcomes

Reduced visual noise: By grouping infrequent actions, the top level becomes shorter and more focused on the verbs most users use daily.
Preserves functionality: Nothing is removed; commands are nested. Power users still have immediate access via the nested flyouts or the legacy “Show more options” path.
Better behavior on small screens: A shorter top-level menu reduces the risk of menu overlap and mis‑clicks on laptops and tablets.

Early tests indicate a meaningful reduction in menu height in many configurations, though the exact percentage of reduction varies with installed shell extensions, screen resolution, and scaling. Microsoft has described the label Manage file as experimental and likely to change as feedback arrives.

Potential downsides and friction points

Discoverability for infrequent users: Some non‑technical users who rely on specific secondary verbs may initially be confused by the nested placement — particularly if they are unaware of the “Show more options” path.
Third‑party add‑ins: The menu still includes third‑party entries at the top level unless those providers opt to group under the new flyouts; poorly designed shell extensions could continue to inflate the top level.
Consistency across devices: Because availability depends on Insider distribution and staged rollouts, users may see different behavior across devices and corporate estates, creating intermittent support scenarios for help desks.

How to test or opt out (practical steps)

If you’re an Insider or test the new build, Microsoft provides immediate control:

Open File Explorer.
Select View → Show → Options (or search for Folder Options).
Switch to the View tab.
Uncheck Enable window preloading for faster launch times to disable the preload experiment.
Click OK to save.

For the context menu, functionality is preserved — use the Manage file flyout to access grouped verbs, or choose Show more options to restore the long legacy menu if you prefer the older layout.

Cross‑checks, corroboration and rollout expectations

Multiple independent outlets and community testing have confirmed the same set of changes in Build 26220.7271: the preload toggle and the context‑menu reorganization. Hands‑on reporting by mainstream outlets describes similar findings and cautions that the improvements are perceptual and experimental; Microsoft has not yet committed to a firm public rollout schedule and will refine the implementation with Insider feedback. It’s also worth noting Microsoft recently paused a separate File Explorer change — the “recommended files” feature and StorageProvider APIs rollout — while the company assesses feedback, underscoring that even first‑party experiments can be staged back if telemetry or user feedback demands additional work. That pause is a reminder that staged, gated rollouts are Microsoft’s default approach for high‑visibility surfaces.

Security, privacy and enterprise considerations

Security surface: Preloading prepares parts of Explorer and may load or exercise preview handlers and shell extensions earlier. Administrators should watch for edge cases where third‑party code executes in background contexts. While there’s no public evidence of security regressions tied specifically to the preload experiment, it’s a plausible area for compatibility testing in managed environments. This is a cautious inference and should be validated by telemetry on representative hardware. Treat unsupported assumptions with care.
Group Policy / MDM: If Microsoft opts to ship the preload behavior broadly, expect enterprise controls (Group Policy/MDM settings) to follow. Until then, the opt‑out toggle in Folder Options is the simplest mitigation for test fleets.
User privacy: The UI changes do not introduce new telemetry collection beyond existing update/insider telemetry. Preload telemetry will likely measure resource costs and failure modes; enterprises should watch privacy/telemetry settings in their environment but there is no current indication of additional user data collection. This statement is based on Microsoft’s public messaging around the experiment and common telemetry practices; it is not a guarantee.

Practical recommendations

For everyday consumer users with modern hardware (8 GB RAM and above), allow the preload to remain enabled and see whether you notice a meaningful improvement in first‑click responsiveness. The perceived benefit is typically most obvious on slower storage or low‑RAM devices.
For low‑memory devices, battery‑sensitive laptops, or users experiencing unexplained performance regressions, disable the preload via Folder Options and retest. If problems persist, file a Feedback Hub report referencing File Explorer Performance.
For IT administrators: pilot the Insider behavior on representative hardware before broad rollouts. Pay particular attention to:
- Memory pressure on low‑spec machines
- Compatibility of in‑house or vendor shell extensions and preview handlers
- Battery telemetry over a multi‑day sample
- Help desk churn if users see inconsistent menus across corporate devices.
For power users and tweaks lovers: use the new Manage file flyout and the nested provider menus to streamline your workflows, and keep an eye on how third‑party utilities integrate with the new structure. If a favorite command disappears from immediate view, the nested menu preserves access while forcing a small discoverability step.

Strengths and risks — final analysis

Strengths

Perceptible UX win: The preload delivers a real, observable reduction in the “cold start” pause for many testers, improving the day‑to‑day feeling of snappiness. This is a low‑friction, high‑frequency improvement that compounds across repeated interactions.
Low‑risk UX cleanup: The context‑menu reorganization reduces vertical clutter without removing functionality, aligning with solid design principles: preserve function, reduce noise. Grouping cloud actions by provider improves logical discoverability for common cloud workflows.
Reversible and testable: Microsoft exposed an in‑app toggle, letting Insiders, consumers, and administrators test, opt out, and provide feedback without hacks or complex policies.

Risks

Memory and battery trade‑off: Keeping Explorer warmed consumes memory and could subtly affect battery life on constrained devices. Independent benchmarks are still emerging and Microsoft hasn’t published fixed budgets yet.
Third‑party compatibility: Background initialization may surface obscure bugs in poorly written shell extensions or preview handlers earlier, producing stability or behavior differences compared with legacy on‑demand initialization.
Transition complexity: Staged rollouts can create disparities across devices in mixed environments. Help desks and knowledge bases will need to account for both legacy and experimental behaviors while Microsoft tunes the experience.

Where the balance lands will depend on large‑scale telemetry and real‑world compatibility testing across the PC ecosystem. Microsoft’s staged, opt‑out approach is sensible: it reaps low‑hanging performance gains without committing to a permanent, non‑reversible architectural shift.

Conclusion

The File Explorer updates in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 are pragmatic, incremental improvements focused on immediate user pain points: the “cold start” pause and a top‑heavy right‑click menu. The preload experiment improves perceived responsiveness by warming parts of Explorer in the background, and the context‑menu reorganization reduces visual clutter without removing existing functionality. Both moves favor preservation over radical change, and Microsoft has exposed simple controls so users and administrators can opt out while the company gathers feedback.
These changes are not a cure‑all: they do not replace deeper fixes for network or thumbnail‑handler latency, and they introduce trade‑offs around memory and compatibility that should be validated in real environments. Still, by addressing high‑frequency pain points with low‑risk experiments and clear opt‑out controls, Microsoft has taken an iterative approach that is likely to benefit a wide range of users — provided the company continues to listen to feedback and publish clear guidance and controls as the features move beyond the Insider channels. End of analysis and coverage.

Source: pc-tablet.com Microsoft Makes Windows 11 File Explorer Faster, Clears Clutter

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft is testing an opt‑in background preload for File Explorer that keeps a warmed portion of the app resident so folder windows open almost instantly, surfaced to Insiders in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 with a user toggle labeled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.”

Background

File Explorer's cold‑start lag has been a persistent complaint among Windows users for years: after sign‑in or on a system where no Explorer window is resident, opening File Explorer commonly produces a one‑to‑two‑second pause before the UI is fully interactive. That delay is an aggregation of many initialization costs — UI composition, registration of preview and thumbnail handlers, enumeration of large local and network folders, and loading third‑party shell extensions — rather than a single simple bottleneck. Microsoft’s current approach, tested in the Insider program, adopts a warm‑start pattern: perform predictable initialization work during idle time so that the first user‑initiated open is perceptually instant.
The preload appears as part of the 25H2 preview stream and was announced in the Windows Insider release notes for Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307). Microsoft describes the change as an exploration and exposes the behavior with an explicit Folder Options checkbox in File Explorer so Insiders can turn it off if they prefer to conserve resources or encounter regressions.

What Microsoft shipped in Build 26220.7271

The visible change

On devices that receive the experiment, the setting appears under File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View as a checkbox labeled:

Enable window preloading for faster launch times

The toggle is enabled by default for recipients of this Insider preview but can be un‑checked to restore legacy behavior without registry edits. Microsoft frames this as a reversible, low‑friction experiment.

Accompanying tweaks

The same preview build bundles related File Explorer refinements, notably a reorganized right‑click context menu that groups less frequently used commands into nested flyouts and moves cloud‑provider actions into provider‑specific submenus. These UX tweaks are intended to complement the faster startup by reducing top‑level clutter.

How preloading likely works (technical sketch)

Microsoft’s release notes intentionally remain high level; they describe the intent but not the exact implementation. Community and engineering analysis — guided by precedents like Microsoft Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s scheduled prelaunch tasks — supply the likely mechanics:

A lightweight Explorer UI skeleton (command bar, address bar, and common controls) is instantiated or prepared in the background so the first paint completes without those initialization costs.
Small in‑memory caches (icons, thumbnails, common navigation state) are primed so the visible elements fill immediately.
A minimal set of preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension registrations may be pre‑registered to avoid first‑use stalls from third‑party components.
The warmed instance is probably kept dormant or suspended to minimize CPU use while reserving RAM for rapid resume.

This warmed‑process approach trades a small, predictable background memory footprint and occasional CPU wakeups for a dramatic reduction in perceived launch latency. That trade is pragmatic and familiar: it has proven effective for other first‑party apps and is easy to roll back for testers.

Measured benefits and early reports

Early hands‑on reports from Insiders and community tests consistently point to a notable improvement in perceived launch speed — especially on systems where the cold‑start penalty was previously most noticeable (HDD‑based machines, low‑RAM systems, or devices with heavy shell extension loads). Several forum threads and early coverage report Explorer opening “near‑instantly” after enabling the preload, with fewer visual stutters on first navigation. However, these observations are largely anecdotal, device‑specific, and influenced by configuration (SSD vs HDD, RAM size, installed shell extensions, OneDrive integration). Independent benchmarking that isolates the preload’s memory and CPU footprint across a representative device matrix has not been published by Microsoft at this time. Treat claims about “only a few megabytes” or universal improvements as provisional until formal telemetry or independent lab results appear.

The trade‑offs: what you gain and what you might pay

Preloading is not a bug fix to Explorer’s internal subsystems; it’s a perceptual optimization. Understanding the trade‑offs helps users and administrators decide whether to enable the experiment.

Benefits
Faster perceived launch times: The most immediate user benefit is the near‑instantaneous appearance of File Explorer windows after a click.
Smoother first interactions: Reduced “partially rendered” windows and fewer initial UI stutters during the first navigation.
Low‑friction opt‑out: A visible toggle in Folder Options lets users disable preload without registry edits.
Costs and risks
Resident memory footprint: Preloading keeps parts of Explorer resident. On high‑RAM desktops this is likely negligible, but on 8GB systems and especially sub‑8GB devices the impact can be meaningful.
Battery and CPU wakeups: Although the warmed state is intended to be dormant, background resume or housekeeping tasks could incur battery costs on laptops and tablets.
Compatibility surface: Explorer hosts many third‑party shell extensions and preview handlers that have historically caused instability. Preloading may cause some extensions to load earlier or in contexts they previously did not, potentially surfacing bugs in the background.

Microsoft has not published a formal resource budget for the preload in this flight, so early reporting and community observations are the only guidance available until broader telemetry or engineering notes are released. Exercise caution and test on representative hardware if resource constraints or mission‑critical third‑party integrations exist.

Enterprise and IT perspective

For IT administrators, the preload experiment raises realistic questions around imaging, VDI, battery management, and third‑party tool compatibility.

Pilot before wide deployment: Test the feature on representative endpoints, especially image‑first provisioning and non‑persistent VDI where background preloads can interfere with boot‑time optimization strategies.
Validate critical shell extensions: Vendors shipping context‑menu handlers, sync clients, and preview handlers should be validated; some may assume they will only load on explicit user action and could misbehave if loaded earlier.
Expect management controls later: Because Microsoft exposes the feature as an Insider experiment, Group Policy and MDM controls will likely follow if the behavior is finalized for production channels. For now, toggling in Folder Options is the user‑level control Insiders get.
Watch battery and telemetry: Devices with battery constraints should undergo A/B testing to measure any degradation in battery life attributable to the preload. Use baseline battery tests and compare against a fleet with the preload disabled.

Administrators should incorporate these checks into their standard validation matrix for Windows updates and cumulative patches.

Accessibility and UX considerations

The context‑menu reorganization in the same build is intended to reduce visual clutter by grouping less commonly used commands under a “Manage file” flyout and moving cloud actions into provider‑specific submenus. While this improves the first impression for many users, it introduces discoverability and accessibility risks if not implemented with robust keyboard and screen‑reader semantics.

Verify keyboard navigation paths: Nested flyouts must remain discoverable and reachable through standard keyboard shortcuts and focus traversal.
Confirm screen reader announcements: Grouped items and flyouts should include accessible names and state announcements to avoid regressions for assistive tech users.
Solicit direct feedback: Microsoft is asking Insiders to file any accessibility regressions through Feedback Hub; enterprise accessibility teams should validate the new structure against their assistive‑tech workflows.

How to enable or disable the preload (Insiders)

If your Windows Insider device receives the experiment, control is available in the File Explorer UI. The steps are:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Options (this opens Folder Options).
Select the View tab.
Find and uncheck or check Enable window preloading for faster launch times as desired.

Because the toggle is exposed, no registry edits are required to disable the behavior in preview flights. Administrators can expect more structured controls (Group Policy, MDM) if Microsoft moves the change to broader channels.

How to evaluate the preload’s impact on your device

A pragmatic validation plan helps determine whether the preload is a net win for a given device profile:

Baseline metrics (before enabling preload)
Cold‑start open time: measure the time from clicking the File Explorer icon to the window becoming responsive.
Memory usage: record explorer.exe working set and private bytes via Task Manager or Resource Monitor.
Battery drain: perform a controlled battery loop test (e.g., screen on, idle) and measure discharge rate over a fixed interval.
After enabling preload
Repeat the same measurements, then compare deltas.
Watch for background CPU spikes and check Windows Reliability Monitor for any new Explorer crashes or shell extension errors.
Monitor shell extension behavior and context‑menu latencies in folders that historically loaded heavy providers.

Recommended quick checks:

Task Manager → Details → explorer.exe: watch memory and CPU before and after first open.
Reliability Monitor: look for new Explorer or shell extension faults.
Performance Monitor: collect counters for Process\Private Bytes and Process\Working Set for explorer.exe during representative workloads.

These steps help produce empirical evidence to justify keeping or disabling preloading for specific device classes.

Security and privacy considerations

Preloading can change the timing and context in which third‑party code executes in the shell. That has a few security implications:

Early loading of shell extensions may expose latent bugs that previously triggered only on explicit folder access.
If a third‑party extension executes network calls or custom logic during load, preloading could initiate those behaviors earlier and more frequently.
Malicious or poorly written shell extensions might increase the attack surface if loaded automatically during idle time.

Mitigations:

Keep third‑party components up to date and verify vendor compatibility with the new preview.
Use standard endpoint protection and application allowlisting to reduce the chance of rogue shell extensions.
For managed fleets, consider blocking non‑essential shell extensions and validating critical ones in a lab before enabling preload widely.

What Microsoft hasn’t committed to — and why that matters

Several critical details remain undisclosed in the public notes for this preview:

Exact resource budget: Microsoft has not published a fixed memory or CPU budget for the preload, so claims about negligible overhead are unverified.
Heuristics for enabling: It’s unclear whether Microsoft will gate preload on device RAM thresholds, disk type, battery state, or enterprise policy in a future roll‑out.
Implementation specifics: Whether the warmed state is a suspended explorer.exe instance, a separate preload service, or a hybrid approach is not documented.

These unknowns matter because the final rollout strategy must balance responsiveness against memory pressure, battery life, and ecosystem stability. Early community tests are valuable, but only large‑scale telemetry and formal engineering notes will reveal the true cost/benefit ratio across Microsoft’s enormous hardware diversity.

Recommendations

For everyday Insiders

Try the preload on devices where File Explorer’s cold‑start lag is irritating (HDDs, older machines). Use the Folder Options toggle to revert immediately if you notice negatives.

For power users and creators

Validate heavy‑use workflows that rely on third‑party shell tools and cloud sync clients. If you rely on particular extensions, test their behavior with the preload enabled.

For IT administrators

Pilot the feature on a representative sample of endpoints (workstations, laptops, VDI).
Measure memory, CPU, and battery delta before broad rollout.
Validate critical vendor integrations (backup agents, sync clients, endpoint tools).
Watch for MDM/Group Policy controls — expect them if Microsoft advances the feature out of Insider testing.

For OEMs and ISVs

Test shell extensions and drivers against the preview, focusing on stability and early load semantics. Report regressions through Feedback Hub and vendor support channels.

The verdict: a pragmatic, but partial, improvement

Microsoft’s opt‑in File Explorer preload is a pragmatic experiment that addresses the most visible symptom of a long‑running complaint: the cold‑start pause. By keeping a warmed component in memory and exposing a simple toggle, Microsoft offers testers a low‑bar way to evaluate whether perceived responsiveness outweighs the resource cost on their devices. The approach is consistent with other Microsoft optimizations — Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s prelaunch tasks — and is sensible as an incremental improvement.
That said, preloading is a workaround rather than a cure for deeper Explorer performance issues. It does not directly fix slow folder enumeration on network shares, poorly written preview handlers, or complex cloud placeholder resolution. The decision to enable preloading should therefore depend on device profile, workload, and tolerance for a potential memory/battery trade‑off.

What to watch next

Microsoft telemetry and follow‑up engineering notes that disclose resource budgets and heuristics for enabling preload at scale.
Production‑channel controls (Group Policy, MDM) and enterprise guidance if the experiment graduates out of Insider builds.
Independent benchmarks that quantify memory, CPU, and battery impact across a representative hardware matrix.
Vendor responses and shell‑extension updates to ensure ecosystem compatibility.

Insiders and admins should file regressions and feedback in the Feedback Hub under the File Explorer performance categories so Microsoft can tune the experiment before any broader release.

Microsoft’s experiment acknowledges a simple truth: performance is as much about perception as it is about raw throughput. If preloading turns a daily friction point into a near‑transparent interaction without imposing meaningful costs, it will be a welcome cosmetic but practical win. If the cost is too high on constrained devices, the opt‑out toggle and staged rollout give Insiders and IT departments a direct way to manage the trade‑off while Microsoft collects the data it needs to make a final decision.

Source: Пепелац Ньюс https://pepelac.news/en/posts/id12457-windows-11-file-explorer-speeds-up-with-opt-in-preloading/

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview makes two small, pragmatic changes to File Explorer that address years of user frustration: an optional background preloading mechanism to eliminate the familiar “cold start” pause, and a redesigned, decluttered context menu that groups rarely used actions into logical flyouts. These updates ship in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) and are appearing for Dev and Beta channel testers now, with a staged rollout to the general Windows 11 population expected if telemetry and feedback are positive.

Background

File Explorer is one of the highest-frequency surfaces in Windows: every user navigates files and folders dozens of times a day. Over the past several Windows 11 releases the app received visual and feature work—tabs, improved Home, tighter OneDrive integration—but the single most consistent complaint has remained the perceptible delay when launching Explorer from a cold state and a vertically bloated right-click menu that pushes core actions away from the top. Microsoft’s response in Build 26220.7271 is intentionally incremental: fix what users see and feel without attempting a wholesale shell rewrite. Why incremental? The startup lag is not a single binary bug. It’s the sum of many initialization tasks—UI composition, thumbnail and preview handler registration, shell extensions, and potential network/cloud enumerations. Instead of tackling every subsystem at once, Microsoft is testing two complementary fixes that tackle the most visible pain points: make Explorer launch feel instant, and make the right-click menu easier to scan.

What Microsoft shipped in Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307)

The two headline changes

Preloading File Explorer in the background: an optional toggle that keeps a lightweight portion of Explorer warmed so the first visible window paints faster. The setting appears under File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View as “Enable window preloading for faster launch times.” The toggle is enabled by default for Insiders who receive the change.
Context menu reorganization: rarely used actions—Compress to ZIP, Copy as path, Set as desktop background, Rotate left/right—are grouped into a Manage file flyout, and cloud-provider actions (OneDrive sync options, third‑party providers) are moved into provider-specific submenus. The goal is a shorter, clearer top-level menu that exposes common verbs first while preserving advanced functions one click deeper.

Both changes are explicitly described in Microsoft’s Insider announcement as explorations that will be tuned with telemetry and Feedback Hub input; they are not locked into a final release shape.

Deep dive: How the Explorer preloading works (and what it doesn’t)

The engineering intent

The preloading experiment follows a well-established Microsoft pattern: perform predictable initialization during idle time so the interactive path is shorter. Edge’s Startup Boost and Office’s scheduled prelaunch tasks use similar warm-start heuristics. For File Explorer, the aim is to reduce perceived latency by preparing the UI skeleton and common caches before the user asks for a window. Microsoft frames this as a timing optimization—not a rearchitecture of enumeration, network access, or third-party handler behavior.

Likely technical mechanics (in practical terms)

Instantiate or prepare a lightweight UI skeleton in the background (address bar, command bar, common controls) so first paint is immediate.
Prime small in-memory caches for icons and common navigation state used by the initial view.
Optionally register a limited set of preview/thumbnail handlers and shell extension entry points so the very first context menu or preview actions don’t stall.
Keep the warmed component dormant or suspended to minimize CPU usage while preserving a fast resume path.

Microsoft’s release notes are deliberately high-level; implementation specifics (exact memory footprint, heuristics for when to preload) are not published, so community analysis of the mechanics is currently inference based on prior product behavior. Treat specifics about reserved RAM or CPU patterns as provisional until independent benchmarks are available.

What preloading does not fix

Preloading is focused on launch latency—the moment between clicking and the UI becoming interactive. It does not directly:

Fix slow file enumeration on network attached storage (NAS).
Remove latency due to large folder thumbnailing or expensive preview handlers that run per-folder.
Replace the underlying OneDrive or cloud sync engine behavior.

Those deeper problems require targeted fixes in file system enumerators, preview handler design, and provider integrations. Microsoft’s preload approach is a pragmatic, user-visible shortcut that yields real perceived speed improvements while more surgical work continues.

The context menu redesign: less clutter, better hierarchy

What changed

The right-click menu historically aggregated OS actions, OneDrive verbs, and third-party provider entries in a long vertical list. The redesign creates a two-level hierarchy that surfaces the most-used verbs at the top and hides seldom-used commands behind grouped flyouts:

Manage file flyout: compression, copy-as-path, set-as-desktop, rotate.
Provider flyouts: OneDrive and third-party cloud actions, including Send to My Phone, Free up space, and Always keep on this device.
Reordering of Open, Open with, and Open folder location to sit closer together for improved discoverability.

UX rationale

This is a predictable application of “progressive disclosure”: show the essential actions first, and keep advanced or infrequent operations one step deeper. The result is a shorter visual footprint when a user right-clicks, which is particularly helpful on small-screen Windows handhelds and tablets where tall context menus can obscure content. Microsoft’s own preview imagery and release notes emphasize the cleaner top-level composition and grouped semantics.

Accessibility and discoverability caveats

Grouping must be implemented carefully for keyboard and assistive-tech users. If nested flyouts are not fully keyboard-navigable or don’t expose clear screen-reader semantics, this reorganization could create discovery regressions for people relying on Narrator or other assistive technologies. Microsoft’s Insider notes and early community testing highlight the need for thorough accessibility vetting alongside visual polish.

Practical benefits users will notice

Near-instant Explorer launches on machines where cold starts previously took one or more seconds—particularly HDD-based laptops, low-RAM tablets, and Windows handhelds. Several hands-on reports from Insiders report a visible improvement with preloading enabled.
Cleaner right-click menus that reduce visual noise and make frequent actions faster to find.
Low-risk opt-out: the preloading behavior is exposed as a user-facing checkbox in Folder Options, so testers and admins can easily revert to legacy behavior without registry edits.
Incremental rollout and telemetry-driven tuning: Microsoft is using controlled feature rollout mechanisms to gather data and will adjust the experiments before wider deployment. This reduces the chance of large-scale regressions reaching stable channels prematurely.

The trade-offs and risks: what to watch for

Memory and battery impact

Preloading reserves some resident memory to keep a warmed Explorer instance available. On modern desktops this is unlikely to be consequential, but on devices with 8 GB of RAM or less—or long battery life scenarios—the trade-off could be meaningful. Microsoft has not published a strict memory budget for the feature; early numbers are anecdotal. IT teams and power users should test the toggle on representative hardware before enabling it across fleets. Claims like “only a few megabytes” should be treated cautiously until independent measurements appear.

Background CPU wakeups and scheduling

Even a dormant instance may require occasional scheduling work (for resume checks, cache maintenance, or telemetry). Poorly tuned heuristics could create small but persistent background CPU activity that affects battery life on handhelds. The assumption in Microsoft’s design is that the warmed instance is suspended with minimal active work, but telemetry from real-world usage will be the decisive factor.

Enterprise and managed environments

Large deployments should evaluate:

Interaction with management tooling (Group Policy, MDM profiles) and whether IT can centrally disable preloading for managed endpoints.
Interactions with BitLocker, restore mechanisms, and backup/restore testing—any persistent resident process changes how some diagnostics behave.
Third-party shell extensions and file-provider vendors: vendor extensions that perform initialization lazily may still cause contextual delays even after preloading is enabled. Microsoft’s preview asks Insiders to file regressions so those edge cases can be addressed.

Accessibility regressions

As noted above, nested flyouts must maintain robust keyboard focus order, descriptive labels, and screen reader compatibility. Accessibility regressions are a high-risk area that can disproportionately affect users who rely on assistive technologies. Microsoft’s preview acknowledges the Manage file label may change and solicits feedback—a signal the team is aware accessibility and discoverability need iterative attention.

How to try the features now and how to disable preloading

Join the Windows Insider Program if you haven’t already (Dev or Beta channel).
Update to Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) through Settings → Windows Update.

To confirm or toggle preloading:

Open File Explorer (Win + E).
Click the three-dot menu → Options.
Switch to the View tab.
Look for the checkbox labelled Enable window preloading for faster launch times and uncheck it to disable preloading.

If you see regressions after enabling the toggle, file a bug in Feedback Hub under Files & Folders / File Explorer Performance so Microsoft can collect diagnostics. The feature is explicitly described as an experiment, and Microsoft expects iterative changes based on Insider feedback.

Timeline and rollout expectations

Microsoft is testing these changes in the Dev and Beta channels as part of the 25H2 preview stream. The company describes the features as “gradually rolled out” using controlled feature rollout mechanisms and positions them as experiments subject to telemetry and feedback. Several press outlets and early hands-on reports suggest a broader rollout to all Windows 11 users could come in early 2026 if the experiments prove stable and beneficial. That timeline is provisional and dependent on Microsoft’s staged evaluation. Flag this as a projection rather than a firm shipping date.

What this means for power users, developers, and vendors

Power users: expect a smoother first-launch experience and a tidier context menu. If you run low-memory hardware or depend on power-sensitive workflows, validate the preloading toggle in your environment before enabling it permanently.
Developers of shell extensions and file providers: ensure your handlers are efficient on first run and consider reacting to preloaded explorer behavior—particularly if your logic assumes cold-start initialization. Nested provider submenus are an explicit surface change; update visuals and testing suites accordingly.
IT administrators and endpoint teams: pilot the feature on representative devices and validate backup, BitLocker, and restore workflows. Staged Insider feedback is the time to capture regressions before a wider rollout.

Independent verification and corroboration

Microsoft’s official Windows Insider blog post documents the changes in Build 26220.7271 and the new Folder Options toggle. Independent outlets—including The Verge, Windows Central, and BetaNews—have corroborated the presence of the preloading experiment and the context-menu reorganization in hands-on testing and build notes. Community how‑tos and forum threads also show the toggle location and early user reactions, providing multiple, independent confirmations of the core claims. These cross-checks make the central facts—build number, toggle label, and menu grouping—verifiable today. Caveat: Microsoft has not published micro-benchmarks or a fixed memory budget for preloading, so claims about exact resource costs remain unverified and should be treated cautiously until independent performance analyses are available. Early community reports are encouraging on perceived responsiveness, but they remain anecdotal until formal telemetry or bench tests are published.

Final analysis — pragmatic polish over radical overhaul

These File Explorer changes reflect a design philosophy focused on high-frequency, high-impact wins: if a one-second delay occurs dozens of times per day, shaving that latency dramatically improves perceived quality of the OS. Microsoft’s approach—preload where it matters, regroup the UI where it clutters—is conservative, reversible, and consistent with patterns used in other first-party apps. The opt-out toggle and staged Insider rollout are sensible mitigations for potential regressions.
The strengths of this approach are clear: immediate, visible UX improvements with low engineering cost and minimal API disruption. The risks are manageable but real: memory/battery trade-offs, potential accessibility regressions, and edge cases involving third-party shell extensions. The next few Insider flights and independent performance tests will determine whether the warmed-instance heuristics and menu groupings scale across the diverse Windows ecosystem.
For now, the update is a welcome example of pragmatic engineering that acknowledges where the platform still needs polish. Users who care about every millisecond of responsiveness and organizations managing varied hardware should pilot the change carefully; casual users will likely appreciate the cleaner menus and snappier Explorer without needing to think about the underlying trade-offs.

Conclusion
Microsoft’s Build 26220.7271 brings a targeted, thoughtful response to two long-standing File Explorer pain points: slow cold starts and menu clutter. By experimenting with background preloading and a more hierarchical context menu, Microsoft aims to deliver tangible day-to-day improvements without disruptive platform changes. The experiment’s success will hinge on telemetry, accessibility validation, and measured rollout—but the direction is clear: incremental, user-visible fixes that make Windows 11 feel faster and less noisy, especially on low-end and handheld devices.

Source: The Tech Buzz https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/microsoft-streamlines-windows-11-file-explorer-with-speed-boost/

ChatGPT · Nov 24, 2025

Microsoft is quietly testing a background “preload” for File Explorer in the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview build that promises near‑instant launches while also reorganizing the right‑click menu to reduce clutter — a pragmatic, toggleable experiment shipped in Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) that trades a small background resource cost for improved perceived responsiveness.

Background

Microsoft has long wrestled with File Explorer’s “cold start” problem: after sign‑in or when no interactive Explorer window is resident in memory, opening a folder can produce a visible pause while the UI initializes. That lag is a frequent source of frustration for power users and ordinary customers alike, and Microsoft’s response has historically balanced targeted performance fixes with careful compatibility preservation.
In the November Insider release (Build 26220.7271, KB5070307) Microsoft describes the change as an exploration — an experiment to preload parts of File Explorer in the background so the first visible paint happens faster. The preview materials and independent coverage show the experiment is toggleable via Folder Options and is being evaluated in Dev and Beta channels.

Overview: what’s in Build 26220.7271

The headline changes

Background preloading for File Explorer — an optional setting labelled “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” appears in File Explorer → View → Options → Folder Options → View. If enabled, parts of Explorer are warmed in the background to reduce cold‑start latency; the option can be disabled to return to legacy behavior.
Context‑menu reorganization — less frequently used actions (for example, Compress to ZIP file, Copy as path, Set as desktop background, Rotate Left/Right) have been grouped into a new Manage file flyout. Cloud‑provider items and “Send to My Phone” are moved under provider flyouts for logical grouping, and Open Folder Location has been repositioned next to Open and Open with.
Other build features — the same preview includes additional experiments and previews such as the Xbox full‑screen experience for more PC form factors and the ability to uninstall Store‑managed apps directly from the Library page via the three‑dot menu. These items are part of the broader KB5070307 release.

What “preloading” actually means (technical sketch)

Microsoft’s release notes are intentionally high level about implementation, so a degree of inference is required. The experiment follows a familiar pattern used elsewhere at Microsoft:

Prelaunch or warm‑start a lightweight portion of the application runtime so that the first interactive action is significantly faster.
Keep those components in a dormant or paused state; resume them when the user opens Explorer.
Expose user control so the behavior can be disabled if it causes regressions.

In practice this probably means the File Explorer UI skeleton — elements such as the command bar, address bar wiring, and common controls — and some internal caches are instantiated earlier or held ready, reducing the time spent on process startup and UI composition when a user clicks to open Explorer. This mirrors techniques used by Edge Startup Boost and Office prelaunch tasks. The exact internal mechanics (suspended window instance vs. background helper process vs. preloaded service) are not published and remain unverified hypotheses.

Why Microsoft chose this path

The team is pursuing a pragmatic trade‑off: improve perceived responsiveness quickly without attempting a full, invasive rewrite of Explorer’s extensibility surface. Rewriting File Explorer and its many third‑party extension contracts would be slow and risky. Preloading is a faster, lower‑risk optimization that can be tuned and gated by heuristics (e.g., device memory, power profile) while remaining reversible via a user toggle.
Benefits Microsoft is explicitly aiming for include:

Faster perceived launch time from cold starts (most visible after sign‑in).
Fewer partial renders and fewer visible UI stutters on first navigation.
A reversible, low‑intrusion method that can be iterated through Insider telemetry.

Early test results and caveats

Early community tests and Insider reports indicate measurable perceptual gains: cold‑start times dropping from multi‑second stalls to sub‑second paints on many modern systems. Reported idle memory overhead varies widely in early test anecdotes (commonly cited as tens of megabytes), but Microsoft has not published a fixed resource budget for the experiment. Any specific numbers should be treated as provisional until Microsoft or independent labs publish controlled benchmarks. Flagged unknowns and caveats:

Exact memory footprint and battery impact are not published and will vary by device configuration and installed shell extensions.
Preloading is not a fix for slow network share enumeration, poorly written preview handlers, or slow thumbnail generation — it targets launch latency specifically.

Context menu overhaul: what changed and why it matters

The right‑click menu in File Explorer has become increasingly tall and cluttered as Windows core features, cloud providers, and third‑party shell extensions added entries. Build 26220.7271 attempts to reduce top‑level noise by:

Moving rarely used actions into a Manage file flyout so the primary menu surface presents the most common tasks first.
Grouping cloud provider sync options under provider flyouts (for OneDrive and other providers).
Repositioning related actions (like Open Folder Location) to reduce pointer travel and streamline the workflow for common tasks.

These are cosmetic and organizational changes — functionality remains available but one or two extra clicks may be needed for some legacy actions. For many users, the cleaner top‑level menu will feel less overwhelming; for power users who relied on direct top‑level items, there’s an initial adjustment cost.

Technical risks and trade‑offs

Memory and power

Preloading trades a small amount of resident memory and occasional CPU cycles for faster foreground responsiveness. On mainstream desktops this cost will often be imperceptible. On low‑RAM devices, VDI images, or battery‑constrained laptops, the trade could be material.

Expect the idle memory impact to vary by installed shell extensions and device architecture.
Microsoft historically gates similar features with heuristics (minimum RAM, disk characteristics, energy saver checks) in other products; effective heuristics will be crucial here to avoid regressions at scale.

Third‑party shell extensions and stability

File Explorer is an extensible environment hosting many third‑party handlers for context menus, previews, thumbnailing, and namespace extensions. Those components are a frequent source of Explorer crashes and hangs.

Preloading may load some extensions earlier or in contexts they previously didn’t run, which can reveal latent faults in the background rather than at user action time.
A robust preload should minimize early initialization of risky extensions, or include compatibility gating and easy administration options to disable problematic extensions in preloaded states.

Privacy and network side effects

A preloaded Explorer must avoid unintended access to network locations or cloud metadata while idle. Any background access to network shares, cloud content, or credentialed endpoints must honor user sign‑in state and enterprise network policies. Microsoft’s prior caution with preview pane behavior shows that subtle features can carry privacy and credential risks if not carefully designed.

Enterprise implications

For IT administrators and large deployments the key concerns are manageability, policy control, and predictability:

The preview exposes the behavior as a user‑toggle in Folder Options. Enterprises will expect Group Policy and MDM controls before allowing a broad rollout in production images.
VDI and multi‑user hosts should test preload effects on session host memory budgets and logon performance.
Security, monitoring, and compatibility tests must include backup/endpoint tools, OneDrive and other sync clients, and any legacy shell extensions used by business applications.

Administrators should treat the preview as a test item for pilot rings, gather telemetry on memory and power impacts, and request formal administrative templates if Microsoft proceeds to broad release.

How to confirm and control the feature today (Insiders)

If you are enrolled in the Windows Insider Program and received Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307), the toggle is straightforward to find:

Open File Explorer.
Click View → Options (Folder Options).
Select the View tab.
Look for Enable window preloading for faster launch times and uncheck it to disable preloading (or recheck to enable).

For cautious testing:

Use a non‑production machine or VM.
Reboot to ensure a clean cold start.
Measure “time to interactive” from click (taskbar or Win+E) to usable window with the toggle on, then off.
Monitor explorer.exe resident memory, CPU spikes, and battery drain during the first 5–10 minutes post sign‑in.
Report regressions to the Feedback Hub under Files, Folders and Online Storage → File Explorer Performance.

Practical recommendations

For enthusiasts on modern hardware: try the feature in an Insider preview on a spare device or test VM. Many users report real perceptual gains for cold starts. Measure with a simple stopwatch or automated tool to quantify improvements on your own hardware.
For battery‑sensitive laptop users: be conservative. Wait for broader telemetry and official heuristics from Microsoft showing negligible battery impact before enabling on your daily driver.
For IT teams and VDI admins: pilot the preload in a representative ring and insist on Group Policy/MDM controls before broader deployment. Validate third‑party extension behavior and backup/AV agent compatibility in the warmed state.
For everyone: remember preloading addresses perceived startup latency only. If you experience slow folder enumeration on network storage, poorly performing preview handlers, or OneDrive sync delays, those remain separate problems to be solved by other fixes.

Broader context and verdict

This preload experiment is classic Microsoft incrementalism: apply a low‑risk, high‑perception optimization rather than attempting a sweeping rewrite of long‑standing, compatibility‑sensitive subsystems. That pragmatic approach has worked elsewhere in the Windows ecosystem (Edge and Office preloads) and is likely to yield tangible day‑to‑day improvements for many users while minimizing compatibility risk.
Strengths:

Immediate, visible UX improvement for many users.
Low‑risk rollout model: Insider channels + user toggle + telemetry.
Consistent with prior, proven startup boost patterns.

Risks:

Memory and battery trade‑offs on constrained devices need quantification.
Early background loading of third‑party extensions could surface stability issues.
Enterprises will demand explicit management controls before a broad rollout.

The experiment’s fate should be decided by telemetry and real‑world feedback: if Microsoft applies sensible gating heuristics (skip preload on low‑RAM or battery‑saver modes), limits risky extension initialization, and ships clear admin controls, the feature will likely graduate to wider release. If those elements are absent or the resource cost is higher than expected, Microsoft may restrict or rethink the approach.

Final thoughts

Preloading File Explorer is an elegant, narrowly scoped fix to a very visible user complaint: one that improves how Windows feels without demanding an upheaval of its extensibility model. The change in Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) is deliberately experimental and reversible, which is the right play for such a widely used component. Enthusiasts and admins should test it in controlled environments, measure the real-world trade‑offs for their hardware and workloads, and file feedback so Microsoft can tune heuristics and deliver a balanced experience at scale.

Source: extremetech.com Microsoft Tests Background Preloading to Speed Up File Explorer Launch Times

Navigation section

Windows 11 File Explorer Preloading for Instant Launch (Insider Preview)

What Microsoft is testing: the feature explained​

How preloading will work (in principle)​

What the simplified context menu does​

Why this matters: benefits for everyday use​

Technical trade-offs and potential risks​

Memory and battery trade-offs​

Third‑party shell extensions and instability surface area​

Privacy and network effects​

Power-user discoverability and control​

Telemetry and transparency​

Enterprise and IT management considerations​

Where this fits into Microsoft’s broader strategy​

Practical guidance for users​

Design trade-offs: simplification versus power​

What remains unknown and what to watch for​

Final assessment: sensible optimization with caveats​

AI

Background​

What “preloading File Explorer” actually means​

The technical idea in plain terms​

How this differs from traditional caching or warm processes​

Why this matters: benefits for everyday users​

The trade‑offs and risks Microsoft must manage​

Memory, battery, and CPU wake-ups​

Third‑party shell extensions and stability surface area​

Privacy and network side effects​

Telemetry and transparency​

What Microsoft has shipped in Preview so far​

Enterprise and IT management considerations​

Practical guidance for users and admins​

For everyday users​

For power users and IT administrators​

Critical analysis: strengths, gaps, and recommendations​

Strengths​

Gaps and potential missteps​

Concrete recommendations for Microsoft​

Cross‑referenced verification of claims​

How to test the change safely (step‑by‑step)​

Final assessment​

AI

Background​

Why Microsoft is preloading File Explorer​

The problem: perceived latency versus underlying causes​

What Microsoft shipped to Insiders​

How preloading technically differs from the existing shell model​

Explorer.exe is the Windows shell; that’s not the whole story​

What “preloading” actually does​

What this means for performance, RAM, and battery​

Expected benefits​

Real-world trade-offs​

What we do not know (and must treat as unverified)​

UX changes: compact context menu and “Manage file” flyout​

How to test and how to turn it off​

Enterprise and IT implications​

Deployment considerations​

Compatibility and third-party integrations​

Security and privacy considerations​

Testing notes and community observations​

A critical look: strengths and risks​

Strengths​

Risks and limitations​

Practical recommendations​

What to watch next​

Conclusion​

AI

Background / Overview​

What the numbers actually say​

Why Windows users are testing Zorin OS 18​

Timing: Windows 10 end of mainstream support​

Familiarity-first desktop design​

Cloud continuity: OneDrive and Web Apps​

Windows app compatibility: Wine 10 and migration tooling​

Modern base and improved hardware support​

Strengths: why this is a meaningful moment for desktop Linux​

Risks, unresolved questions, and why downloads aren’t adoption​

Practical, risk‑managed steps for users considering the switch​

What this means for Microsoft, OEMs, and the Linux ecosystem​

How to read the headlines: measured optimism​

What Microsoft is testing: the feature explained

How preloading will work (in principle)

What the simplified context menu does

Why this matters: benefits for everyday use

Technical trade-offs and potential risks

Memory and battery trade-offs

Third‑party shell extensions and instability surface area

Privacy and network effects

Power-user discoverability and control

Telemetry and transparency

Enterprise and IT management considerations

Where this fits into Microsoft’s broader strategy

Practical guidance for users

Design trade-offs: simplification versus power

What remains unknown and what to watch for

Final assessment: sensible optimization with caveats

Background

What “preloading File Explorer” actually means

The technical idea in plain terms

How this differs from traditional caching or warm processes

Why this matters: benefits for everyday users

The trade‑offs and risks Microsoft must manage

Memory, battery, and CPU wake-ups

Third‑party shell extensions and stability surface area

Privacy and network side effects

Telemetry and transparency

What Microsoft has shipped in Preview so far

Enterprise and IT management considerations

Practical guidance for users and admins

For everyday users

For power users and IT administrators

Critical analysis: strengths, gaps, and recommendations

Strengths

Gaps and potential missteps

Concrete recommendations for Microsoft

Cross‑referenced verification of claims

How to test the change safely (step‑by‑step)

Final assessment

Background

Why Microsoft is preloading File Explorer

The problem: perceived latency versus underlying causes

What Microsoft shipped to Insiders

How preloading technically differs from the existing shell model

Explorer.exe is the Windows shell; that’s not the whole story

What “preloading” actually does

What this means for performance, RAM, and battery

Expected benefits

Real-world trade-offs

What we do not know (and must treat as unverified)

UX changes: compact context menu and “Manage file” flyout

How to test and how to turn it off

Enterprise and IT implications

Deployment considerations

Compatibility and third-party integrations

Security and privacy considerations

Testing notes and community observations

A critical look: strengths and risks

Strengths

Risks and limitations

Practical recommendations

What to watch next

Conclusion

Background / Overview

What the numbers actually say

Why Windows users are testing Zorin OS 18

Timing: Windows 10 end of mainstream support

Familiarity-first desktop design

Cloud continuity: OneDrive and Web Apps

Windows app compatibility: Wine 10 and migration tooling

Modern base and improved hardware support

Strengths: why this is a meaningful moment for desktop Linux

Risks, unresolved questions, and why downloads aren’t adoption

Practical, risk‑managed steps for users considering the switch

What this means for Microsoft, OEMs, and the Linux ecosystem

How to read the headlines: measured optimism

Final assessment and practical takeaways

Background

Overview: what “preloading” means for File Explorer

The difference between the shell and an Explorer window

What the feature actually does (technical summary)