Picture folders open slower over time

I've got around 3GB's of pics in around 50 folders. I've got thumnails enabled.
When I have a fresh install of XP all my picure folders open fairly quick. It' stays this way for a few months. But then all of a sudden it will start slowing down when you view the folders. If I'm looking in one folder at thumbnails then hit the back button it will take around 8 seconds or so to refresh. Where as it only took a very short time before. It will eventually get longer and longer as time goes on till I do a reinstall of XP.

Is there anything I can clear like cache or something that will speed this backup?

set your folders to display hidden files and then delete the Thumbs.db file in the folders and see if that speeds them up.

Defrag?

HaTE said:

set your folders to display hidden files and then delete the Thumbs.db file in the folders and see if that speeds them up.

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No go, didn't help at all.

CyberFed said:

Defrag?

Click to expand...

Tried defragging in the past when this has happened and it didn't help either.

Thanks for the suggestions though. I appreciate it. I'll try anything anyone has to offer.

I've had this problem and its not with just picture files but any files in the directory. If theres a large amount of files in the dir it seems to take longer to go forward, go back or just open that directory up.

I'd also love to know what I can do to fix this (btw I do not have thumbnails enabled these are normal files).

bdf24... Hartford, WI..... im not more then 15 miles from ya. I live over in Oconomowoc currently (Mapleton).

while this may not be a fix but if you have such a large amount of pictures why not try picasa to keep track of them all and manage them

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

TalRW said:

while this may not be a fix but if you have such a large amount of pictures why not try picasa to keep track of them all and manage them

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

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Thanks for the link. It's not a bad program.