Since upgrading from 13.6 to 13.7, there is an issue that's really unpleasant. When I open a lister, there can be up to 3 seconds delay until the folder tabs become responsive. After opening, there is a delay before the edge colors on the tabs are filled in, my hard drives start thrashing, then the tab edge colors paint and the tabs become responsive. Depending how long that thrashing lasts, I sometimes have to click three or four times on tab until it activates. I noticed that the status bar total labels were counting up during this time, so I edited the status bar to not show these it but the lag/thrash still happens.
I was sure it only started with 13.7 as it is extremely annoying and I would have noticed, so have just re-installed 13.6. There is definitely a difference in behaviour. 13.6 has a (smaller) lag while the listviews remain blank, then in one quick flash they are painted along with all the tabs and the tab edge colors, and tabs are responsive by the time I am able to click on them.
Are you aware of any change that could have had this effect or anything I can do to mitigate it?
What's configured under Preferences / Labels / Label Assignments (and In Specific Folders below it, if applicable)?
Is there anything there which would take a long time to calculate (e.g. filters based on file contents)?
Do any folder tabs point to network shares that don't exist or are not accessible?
Similarly, is anything on your toolbars or Favorites pointing to such shares? (Or using icons that live on them.)
Is the problem only happening when particular folders are read?
Does it happen each time, or only the first time after a restart or similar?
Any scripts installed? Does the problem still happen if they're disabled?
Timing might be tricky if it only lasts a couple of seconds, but if you can generate some process snapshots while the delay is happening, we can hopefully use those to see what's happening during that time. Here's how to make them:
Just turned on my machine for the day and opened my first Lister (13.6) and there was no thrashing and the tabs were quickly painted and responsive. Hugely different to what I've been experiencing on 13.7 for the last week or so. Just mentioning because of the cold start.
My machine is stand-alone, but tree has a "Linux" node with a "\\wsl\ubuntu" child before it is started, then changes to "Ubuntu" child when running. Issues happen without starting it. It is also located on an NVMe so doesn't explain HDD thrashing. There is a Dropbox folder that is a bit special. I'm not aware of any other shares.
Default Lister is dual pane, initially one view on D: (SATA - thrasher), other on P: (NVMe). Each pane has multiple tabs to locations on all drives (except M:).
I have Everything installed and that's the default search.
It happens every time a Lister is opened - that's why it's so annoying. It gets slightly better when warm (Listers opened shortly after another one), but still very noticeable even if opening another one immediately. It's not a long interval until a new Lister has the full thrash/lag.
None (that I'm aware of). I really don't consider my Listers to be heavily customised, just dual pane with folder bookmarks, and a couple of toolbar buttons. The config has been brought along through a few versions of Opus, so there could be legacy stuff in it.
It's long enough that you can sit and watch it happening, so not something that you need twitch reactions to catch, so I will look at link and see if I can get something meaningful (after upgrading again to 13.7 - just a bit reluctant as I'm happy again with 13.6).
I am only using labels based on file types or file dates
No
I only regularly open my default lister which is a dual lister top/bottom with 16 tabs all pointing to local folders and the delay happens anytime I open it, maybe a little less delay if previously opened. I tried removing the columns based on an "Evaluator" and script but no help.
I have one script that creates a lister column with only the first 10 characters of the file name.
Been using it for years. I also have an "evaluator" column showing the age of folders/files based on the file date.
I don't see how to generate a process snapshot since it happens so quickly after the lister folder tabs are populated. Prior to 13.7, once the lister tabs were populated I was immediately able to click on them an obtain results. In 13.7, I get no response when clicking on them for maybe 1 to 2 seconds... I know this doesn't seem like much but it never happened prior to 13.7. I wish I had more to offer since this may be difficult to resolve without more definitive information. I did try 13.7.5 Beta with the same results.
I installed 13.7 again and have created the dumps. Will PM a link to you shortly. The lag did come back and caught me a few times when I clicked and thought "huh?" and then had to click again. Weird how you train yourself to work around problems - after going back to 13.6 a few days ago I found myself waiting a few seconds after opening a Lister before even trying to click anything
Most of the activity and disk access looks due to calculating folder sizes in all the tabs at once.
The settings under Preferences / Folders / Folder Sizes can help there.
If you have Everything installed, it can also massively speed up calculation on indexed paths, and there's an option to only do automatic calculation when it can be used. Manual calculation can still be done via Edit > Calculate Folder Sizes (Ctrl+K).
The settings on Preferences / Folders / Automatic Reading can also help, by making folders only load when you activate the tabs instead of right away.
You may also find the current beta more responsive, but I'd still recommend changing those settings as automatic folder size calculation in every folder is a bad idea unless it's done via Everything. You don't want to be reading the directory listing of your whole C:\ drive when you go to the root of it, for example; at least not until you really need that information.
If you have Everything installed, it can also massively speed up calculation on indexed paths, and there's an option to only do automatic calculation when it can be used.
Can you tell me where this option is? The only thing I see that sounds similar is "Use Everything to count files where possible", but that doesn't seem to be the same function.
Calculate automatically even if automatic calculation is otherwise disabled, directly below that option. (And turn off the first option on the page, so automatic calculation isn't done otherwise.)
I'm already using Everything, and the "Calculate folder sizes automatically..." was already unchecked. I re-installed 13.7 to try "Calculate automatically..."
This has the effect that the thrashing stops (and the labels in the status bars don't count up the bytes), but there is still a lag - it was quite easy for me to click on a tab and get no response after opening a Lister. Same if I uncheck "Use Everything...".
The questions as to why 13.7 differs from 13.6 remains unanswered. In my opinion, there has been some rearrangement of the order that things get done - probably something that used to always happen, but after the tabs became responsive, has been moved (or conditions changed that it now wins the startup race). With 13.6, I still hear the disks going, but after I've already navigated the tabs so it doesn't worry me that I'm waiting for it to finish.
I know it's a game of Whack-a-Mole, but what's happening now is the folder tab is immediately responsive, but the folder tree is not reacting correctly. This happens every time a Lister is opened and a folder tab is click on within a short period (almost every time for me).
Open a Lister and click a tab immediately, incorrect folder tree highlight (color changes from initial correct color for that root) and folder for tab not selected:
