Pictures now take a minute to open - used to be OK

It may be your AV program holding it up. I had this problem with one innocent little program that would take 4 minutes to open because MSE had an issue with it. I put it on the MSE exclusion list, and the problem was solved.

unfortunately, rebuilding the db was only a temporary solution. The problem returned after the rebuild. I wonder if the program can't handle the number of pictures I have (nearly 10,000)

Thanks whs for the reply, but it's not my virus scanner. I used MSConfig and disabled everything, restarted, and the problem still occurs. I checked MSConfig, and indeed, all but a couple of essential services are disabled, and nothing else is running on the computer, yet WLPG still takes several minutes to open a photo.

Pictures open instantly with Microsoft Office Picture Manager, Windows Photo Viewer, Internet Explorer, and in Digital Image Suite 2006, but several minutes (most of the time) in WLPG. Note I say "most of the time" because sometimes WLPG does open them right away, but too often I'm sitting waiting.

I should add that I uninstalled and reinstalled all WL programs, but this didn't resolve the problem. One has to wonder why a program specifically designed to open photos would have so much trouble with the comparatively simple task of opening a photo?

I like WLPG - I think it's the best photo manager and simple editor on the market, but it's really frustrating when it hangs regularly.

WLPG is ok although I use Fast Stone Image Viewer. Btw: there are some optional programs for WLPG. My WLPG loads really fast. I have a 9500GT graphics card. No clue why it would be so slow on your system. Must be a conflict with another process.