I don't know if it's just a sims thing, but it's really playing up at the moment, just as I'm trying to declutter my downloads and am in and out of the files all the time. It's just freezing constantly. Google comes up with websites telling me to install their program to fix it, but I'm wary of downloading random programs from websites I've not heard of!! Is this being an issue for anyone else? What to do?

Do you need this File Explorer thing? I've never used it.

Windows Explorer is a part of Windows, you can't uninstall it and it would be a bad idea to do that anyway since Windows doesn't really have any other decent way of exploring the file system.

What are you searching for that is getting you programs to download? When I search I get things like this: https://ugetfix.com/ask/how-to-fix-...-on-windows-10/ Try the things it mentions (except for resetting Windows, and save the registry changes for last in case nothing else works) and see if it fixes the problem.

Thanks for the quick reply! What is 'Cortana'?

You mean the regular Windows file explorer?

Check your Task Manager (right-click the task bar --> select Task Manager). It's possible you've got something hogging either 50-100% of the disc, a large portion of the processor/CPU or a large portion of the memory/RAM on the computer. Either one can cause the computer to slow down, and can slow down and/or crash Windows Explorer. Could be the computer is running an update or something else that needs running, but if it doesn't stop on its own, it's probably some process that keeps restarting, maybe one you need to close down or restart. There's been a lot of those issues going around with especially Windows 10 lately.

Disabling Cortana can help. It's Windows' virtual assistant / search function thingy (that I don't think anyone actually likes).

If you've got high memory use, it's also possible you've got stuck updates.

Oh! It's really interesting you should say that, as I've suddenly started having problems with other games not running as they should be. I've been told it's that I've got a rubbish computer, but maybe there's more too it than that? I have no idea what I'm doing.

What counts as 'a large percent'? At the top it says 30ish% CPU, 46% memory and 1% disk, so that's all low right?

If you're just using the file explorer and a web browser, that seems high for CPU usage, but I don't think it would cause crashes. Might want to see what it is causing it anyway.

And yeah, don't use Cortana. If they're telling you to search for something in Cortana you can probably find it by searching in the regular Settings app.

I know I sound like a right doofus, but how do I find out what's using up the memory and stuff? I seem to have a whole tonne of 'processes' running.

Just sort the processes by CPU usage and see what is at the top and how much it's using.

So do I just end task of the ones at the top?

well, it's Windows, what you expected?

- Disable Cortana and "disc/volume indexing", this is in fact embedded in system spyware, also OneDrive integration
- set up telemetry on 'minimal' (it's only 14 pages of parameters sent to Microsoft - according to MS itself - nothing to worry about ;p ),
- disable anything which is not needed (and there will be probably a lot of vendor and MS bloat),
- debloat and clean this monstrocity (needs repeating after each update ofc, because ... Microsoft),


you should have got ~100 processes running on typical system with around 1.2-1.4 GB RAM consumption at idle.

Be prepared to have random CPU/RAM/drive usage spikes, it's 'Windows normal'.

(you can ofc get a normal OS)

No, you look at them and find out what they are.

Thanks Elaine. I'm so sorry, but I just don't know what you're saying! It's literally like you're talking French! Computers make no sense to me, and my brain doesn't work properly so trying to understand is a losing battle!

The 2 things supposedly using up the most memory and CPU are 'Microsoft OneDrive' and 'Dropbox'. I don't even know what they are? I've found Cortana but I can't see an option to disable. Is End task the same thing?

Thank you for attempting to help me! I'm sorry to be a pain.

(and they say that Windows' supremacy on the market is a thing because it's "simple for normal human being", yeah, I am still waiting when the Bill will finally find the time between one vanity project and another to fund the monument for his greatest benefactor: "The Anonymous Pirate")

sry @Pickles89 but you will need to do some homework. It's inevitable, as much as the whole Forum would want to help you, we're not the helpdesk.The system is purposedly designed to be unwieldy and confusing and it's more than just usual MS incompenetce.

For the beginning:

to have ability to disable some processes and services you need to have got Administrator level of access. Hit WIN+R and type "runas /user:Admin taskmgr" if you want to kill some processes (or see these which are normally hidden).

To disable OneDrive integration you need to get into system setting. [ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...38-6efb09f944b0 ]
Disabling Cortana has become trickier since 2020 (thanks MS!) [ https://www.howtogeek.com/265027/ho...-in-windows-10/ ]
If you do not use Dropbox (and you really should not) just uninstall the dropbox entirely instead playing with services.
In general - go to the settings and uninstall everything you do not need or you do not use. Just do not uninstall GPU drivers or drivers for specific hardware of your machine (camera, touchpad etc.). Anything which you do not use belongs to the rubbish can.

Making Windows 10 somewhat usable is a rather tedious and time consuming process (and needs constant repeating); fortunatelly there are people who got the job done already for the average Joe. [ https://www.christitus.com/windows ]

Proceed with caution though, and read the stuff from top to bottom.

Hey, Dropbox served me very well as a free way to host hacks, before they disabled their public folder, anyway, and then all my hacks suddenly became unavailable while I was busy doing grad school and people kept emailing me going "where are the hacks, I just get an error???"

their privacy and security policies are (and were) a joke (just like the Discord, but who reads these long, boring licenses).

For free storage at somewhat acceptable level get yourself mega.nz (sic!) account, just refresh regularly because free account is cleaned if not used from time to time. Even Google (accessed from throw-away account, preferrably not connected to the existing phone number if possible) is better as long as you encrypt the files. Trusted instance of Nexcloud would be the best ofc.