[SOLVED] Explorer.exe slowly building up and using more ram until PC freezes

Barumamook

Reputable
Jul 10, 2017
11
0
4,510
Needing some help, my explorer.exe task slowly builds up memory usage until it finally starts lagging, blacking out the screen and windows, then crashes.

If I restart the process, it fixes the blackout and freezing, but it's still very laggy.

Once I restart my PC it is fine again.

Seems like a indexing issue, except all my storage is basically brand new. No really sure what could be causing it.

Done a clean boot

scanned for virus and malware with three different scanners.

Not really sure what to do now.
 
Solution
Does it happen in safe mode?

  1. go to settings/update & security/recovery
  2. under advanced startup, click restart now button
  3. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  4. choose troubleshoot
  5. choose advanced
  6. choose startup options
  7. click the restart button
  8. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  9. Pc will restart and load safe mode

could tell you if its a software problem or hardware
if it stops, it could be drivers
if its still there, its likely hardware fault.

Cj-tech

Admirable
Jan 27, 2021
536
68
8,940
Needing some help, my explorer.exe task slowly builds up memory usage until it finally starts lagging, blacking out the screen and windows, then crashes.

If I restart the process, it fixes the blackout and freezing, but it's still very laggy.

Once I restart my PC it is fine again.

Seems like a indexing issue, except all my storage is basically brand new. No really sure what could be causing it.

Done a clean boot

scanned for virus and malware with three different scanners.

Not really sure what to do now.
You say your storage is basically brand new… If this is the only drive, did you do a fresh install of Windows 10 when you installed it? Also, please list your full system specs in a new post or by editing the original post.
 
Needing some help, my explorer.exe task slowly builds up memory usage until it finally starts lagging, blacking out the screen and windows, then crashes.

If I restart the process, it fixes the blackout and freezing, but it's still very laggy.

Once I restart my PC it is fine again.

Seems like a indexing issue, except all my storage is basically brand new. No really sure what could be causing it.

Done a clean boot

scanned for virus and malware with three different scanners.

Not really sure what to do now.
Turn off indexing.....test.
 

Barumamook

Reputable
Jul 10, 2017
11
0
4,510
You say your storage is basically brand new… If this is the only drive, did you do a fresh install of Windows 10 when you installed it? Also, please list your full system specs in a new post or by editing the original post.


I've got 5 drives,

2 HDD, 2 NVME, and one regular internal SSD which windows is installed on.
The 2 HDDs are brand new, they were quite old (10+ year) and I replaced them last week since I was worried they would be going bad and I needed more space.
The two NVMe are less thana year old, and the SSD is 5 years old but in great health and not a ton of writes since I don't use it for anything but windows.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Does it happen in safe mode?

  1. go to settings/update & security/recovery
  2. under advanced startup, click restart now button
  3. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  4. choose troubleshoot
  5. choose advanced
  6. choose startup options
  7. click the restart button
  8. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  9. Pc will restart and load safe mode

could tell you if its a software problem or hardware
if it stops, it could be drivers
if its still there, its likely hardware fault.
 
Solution