Windows Explorer slowing down over time

I have a very weird issue on a fresh set up of Windows 7 x64 on a DELL M6600 machine. It goes like this:

1. Log in to Windows. Browse local disks using Windows Explorer. All is blazing fast, as it should be with a 16GB RAM with SSD OS disk drive machine


2. Work a few hours. Browse local disks using Windows Explorer. Changing folders takes time (there is an up to 1 sec delay) and right click context menu also shows up after a delay (and an hourglass)


3. Work a few more hours. Browse local disks using Windows Explorer. Changing folders takes even more time (there is an up to 2-3 sec delay) and right click context menu also shows up after a long delay (and an hourglass)


4. Log out, log in again - all is blazing fast again.

All other apps seem to work ok at the same time. Downloaded Explorer++ and it runs smoothly at the same time as Windows Explorer crawls.

I have already uninstalled bunch of stuff that I have been adding in the course of configuring this workstation - including Tortoise SVN, a few not really needed and potentially interfering Office 2010 components (SharePoint Workspace, Groove DLL), disabled Windows Defender, which was enabled by default (I am running AVIRA). All updates are set up, all DELL drivers are up to date.

Anyone has any idea, what might be causing this? What to do to investigate further?

Reinstalling everything from scratch is not really an option, as it took me a few days to set this system up with all that I needed (development related stuff) and I use it daily for my work. This setup was supposed to speed me up, not slow me down, and this issue is extremely frustrating.

Again, my setup is:

• M6600 DELL, 16GB RAM, Win7 x64 and software on a Kingston Hyper-X SSD, data on a HDD; machine is docked and hooked up to two external screens, which makes it 3 monitors setup

Answer

It turned out to be a WHQL NVIDIA driver issue.