Windows 7: W7 taskbar>toolbar>'desktop': extremely slow

This is my first post here. Please forgive me if I did not search hard enough to see if my question already has been answered in another thread.


My 64-bit Windows 7's taskbar's toolbar for the desktop is taking half an eon (15-20 seconds) to show the (otherwise hidden) shortcut icons, when "cold" (first launch), even though I have less than a hundred shortcuts for it to find. How come? Is there a setting somewhere that I should change?

I have noticed that running CCleaner really helps, but I don't know which of the many options caused it. After some hours it only helped a little, and the next day it no longer helped at all. Of course I can put CCleaner into Start, but I would prefer first to understand either which setting in CCleaner is doing the miracle, so I don't have to activate too many options - and/or, how to make Windows 7 taskbar > toolbar > desktop stop wasting my time. Do 'you' know the answer(s) I am looking for?

Re-edited:
I have no desktop gadgets or widgets, and I never use Desktop Peek.
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