Icon Cache seems to be not working in Windows 7

[kevindd992002]

Every time I restart Windows 7, it has to rebuild my icon cache. I say this because every time I open a folder with files that have icon pictures on them, they load for about 5 seconds. This is also true for icons in the Start Menu.

I'm on a Crucial M4 SSD and disabled Superfetch as it is recommended to do so with these new SSDs. I read that Superfetch has to do something with this issue, is this true?

I already tried rebuilding the icon cache database to no avail. Please help me. Thanks.

 

[kevindd992002]

bump!

 

[Arc]

Hello Kevin

You said it is 5 seconds, ok no problem. Sometimes it takes much more, depending the number of file /folders in the folder or drive. As many folders of files are there, windows are to read/generate that many thumbnails, so it happens.

Disabling the thumbnail cache may improve it a bit. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10794-thumbnail-cache-enable-disable.html .

 

[kevindd992002]

Hello Kevin

You said it is 5 seconds, ok no problem. Sometimes it takes much more, depending the number of file /folders in the folder or drive. As many folders of files are there, windows are to read/generate that many thumbnails, so it happens.

Disabling the thumbnail cache may improve it a bit. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10794-thumbnail-cache-enable-disable.html .

There aren't "many" files, really. What I'm wondering is if Superfetch has got to do something with caching thumbnails?

 

[Arc]

You may try SuperFetch ... I have never used those, so dont know it clearly. What I have experienced that when a window is opened containing files and folders, it takes a little time to load all the icons properly, in almost every system I have seen .

EDIT : Set the view to list or details , it may change the situation, coz those views dont use any thumbnails.

You are to give the time to generate the thumbnails.

 

[kevindd992002]

You may try SuperFetch ... I have never used those, so dont know it clearly. What I have experienced that when a window is opened containing files and folders, it takes a little time to load all the icons properly, in almost every system I have seen .

EDIT : Set the view to list or details , it may change the situation, coz those views dont use any thumbnails.

You are to give the time to generate the thumbnails.

Well, I am on details view and what I mean is the ICON of the files not the thumbnails. In the details view, you can still see the icons of the files especially if they are programs. My system loads those every after restart of the system. What do you think?

 

[kado897]

You might try this and see if it helps. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hello Kevin!

I don't believe Superfetch has something to do with the issue you're experiencing. SuperFetch has two goals: it decreases boot time, and makes sure applications that you use the most load more efficiently. SuperFetch also takes timing into account, in that it will adapt itself to your usage patterns.

More Info

 

[kevindd992002]

You might try this and see if it helps. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html

I hope you read my Original Post regarding cache rebuild.

Hello Kevin!

I don't believe Superfetch has something to do with the issue you're experiencing. SuperFetch has two goals: it decreases boot time, and makes sure applications that you use the most load more efficiently. SuperFetch also takes timing into account, in that it will adapt itself to your usage patterns.

More Info

So what could it be then?

 

[kado897]

You might try this and see if it helps. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html

I hope you read my Original Post regarding cache rebuild.

Yes sorry. I missed that.

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hello Kevin!

I don't believe Superfetch has something to do with the issue you're experiencing. SuperFetch has two goals: it decreases boot time, and makes sure applications that you use the most load more efficiently. SuperFetch also takes timing into account, in that it will adapt itself to your usage patterns.

More Info

So what could it be then?

It maybe related to a bad user Profile. Create a new Windows account and test it there. Fix a corrupted user profile

 

[kevindd992002]

Hello Kevin!

I don't believe Superfetch has something to do with the issue you're experiencing. SuperFetch has two goals: it decreases boot time, and makes sure applications that you use the most load more efficiently. SuperFetch also takes timing into account, in that it will adapt itself to your usage patterns.

More Info

So what could it be then?

It maybe related to a bad user Profile. Create a new Windows account and test it there. Fix a corrupted user profile

Tried that already to no avail.

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

So what could it be then?

It maybe related to a bad user Profile. Create a new Windows account and test it there. Fix a corrupted user profile

Tried that already to no avail.

Run a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html

 

[kevindd992002]

It maybe related to a bad user Profile. Create a new Windows account and test it there. Fix a corrupted user profile

Tried that already to no avail.

Run a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html

Done that as well.

 

[karlsnooks]

which method did you use to fix a corrupted profile?

Create a new profile. Make no changes to the profile. Put nothing there. Simply use the new profile to test if your problem is profile related.

Be sure and posts the results of running in SFC /SCANNOW as explained in this tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[UsernameIssues]

...they load for about 5 seconds....

Other threads in this forum suggest that increasing the size of the icon cache may help the speed issue... but I don't see any changes when I mess with that.

See this article:
Icons change incorrectly in Windows

 

[Arc]

And finally you may follow the http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/220165-troubleshooting-steps-windows-7-a.html suggested by gregrocker .

 

[kevindd992002]

which method did you use to fix a corrupted profile?

Create a new profile. Make no changes to the profile. Put nothing there. Simply use the new profile to test if your problem is profile related.

Be sure and posts the results of running in SFC /SCANNOW as explained in this tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

The method above and yes I did not make any changes to that new profile.

Regarding the sfc/ scannow, I did that a while back and don't have the results with me now but I will try to do it again.

...they load for about 5 seconds....

Other threads in this forum suggest that increasing the size of the icon cache may help the speed issue... but I don't see any changes when I mess with that.

See this article:
Icons change incorrectly in Windows

Thanks, I'll try that. But the thing is that even with the default size, I should have no proplems. How do I "analyze" the icon cache database? Is Windows really deleting that cache everytime it is restarted?

 

[UsernameIssues]

......
Thanks, I'll try that. But the thing is that even with the default size, I should have no proplems. How do I "analyze" the icon cache database? Is Windows really deleting that cache everytime it is restarted?

You are correct, things should work just fine (and fast via SSD*) using the default size. That is why I'm curious to see if you have any improvement. If you see an improvement, then we have our fix and are left with the "why did that fix it" question.

I don't know how to "analyze" the icon cache database. I looked at the database file size, increased the max setting, restarted and checked the file size again. There was no change in the size of the file, so it seems that the size is related to the number of icons being stored and not the size limit. Maybe if I installed a bunch of programs into the VM that I'm playing with, the size of that icon data base file would grow.

Edit *The icon database file loads into RAM and then the icons are read from there. I'm just not sure precisely when all of this happens. Maybe the file loads into RAM before any icons are requested - or maybe it loads into RAM when the first icon is needed.

 

[karlsnooks]

I'll await the results from your fresh run of SFC.