Windows 11 users have discovered a funny bug that benefits older computers. With two keystrokes, you can significantly improve the performance of the program, make icons appear instantly and improve the search experience.
Activating this bug is simple: you need to press F11 twice to enter full-screen mode, and then exit it. That's it: now the "Explorer" is much more responsive. The improvement is valid only for one session: when you open the Explorer again, you will have to repeat the procedure.
This random function was discovered by VivyVCCS / Twitter user X (former Twitter) under the nickname Vivy. Then she was checked Switching File Explorer to and from full screen (F11) drastically improves performance, folder listing, thumbnails generate instantly + search works flawlessly! Even in new XAML-fied File Explorer! / Reddit users on Reddit and confirmed that it really works. It is noted that the life hack is suitable for any Windows 11 releases — from the launch to the current beta preview of Canary.
"I checked this on a folder with music, which has more than 1800 subfolders and over 25 thousand files. Everything opens instantly, it's just a delight. This is the level of performance that was in Windows Explorer 7. Perhaps all the problems with the operation of Explorer were actually caused by a stupid bug that appeared due to some great Microsoft developer, which in the end was never fixed in 2 years," err404t.
In the comments on Reddit, they also expressed the hope that now Microsoft may pay attention to the performance problems of the Explorer and fix them by the release of 23H2 (although it is hard to believe, of course).