Very slow to open files from windows explorer - ok within application

Sometimes if I open a file by double clicking it in windows explorer, it will sit doing nothing (and that explorer window is then tied up) for a few minutes! Then the file opens normally in the correct application. But opening the application first, and getting it from the file open menu, or dragging the file into the open application is ok. The problem goes away if I reboot windows, but can come back again later for no apparent reason. Any idea where to look to start tracking down this problem?

this might help.. disable your icon template.. via folder options.. view>> check (always show icons, never thumbnails)... and on the screen... right click>>view>>details... cuz it eats up of CPU usage when it is viewed as icons..

hope this helps..

I have a very fast machine, and there isn't a problem with cpu usage. There is sometimes a huge delay where it doesn't pass the file over to the application when I open a file from recent items on the start menu etc, but sometimes it's instantaneous. I think it's more of an error in DDE? Or whatever it's called.