Saving as/Opening file, cannot see desktop

This is a bit odd and our IT people cannot figure it out, so I turn to you for help.

Whenever I save a file to the desktop, whether its in Word, Excel, etc my save window does not see any folders or files on the desktop. I click on Save as, window dialog box opens, and on the left side of the window I click on Desktop and nothing loads. It literally takes about 4-5 minutes for the icons to populate. It doesn't matter which program I'm using. Its frustrating having to wait several minutes before being able to save to the desktop.

Anyone have any ideas?

I have about 10 folders and 20 icons, nothing insane.

I did change a folder icon, using stock photos from windows.

I have 232gb free on my main partition out of 300gb

Neither of the suggested fixes worked. Still getting major lag

Try testing with a new user account/profile - perhaps enabling/using the Guest user account for that test. If it does not happen while logged in as Guest, then go back to your normal user account and move every object (folders/shortcuts) to a temporary folder that is not on the desktop. If that cures the issue, then put the objects back on the desktop a few at a time until you find the offending object(s).

MilesAhead said:

... desktop.ini may be messed up....

I would suspect this too.

I would also suspect some software that hooks to explorer/context menu.

See if Safe Mode is ok, and then try a clean startup if above recommendations fail - Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup