Mouse sluggish for short while whenever document or website loads

G'day everyone

Often when I open a web page in any of my browsers, or a document in e.g. MS Word or Excel, or any file in its associated program, or sometimes even simply a new Explorer window, the mouse becomes sluggish for a few seconds, and in many cases I can hear the hard drive starting up for a second or two as well.

I get the impression that the sluggish mouse problem occurs when Windows has to load something or render something new or check something "in the background" while I wait.

But wait... it gets weirder: whenever my mouse becomes sluggish like that, the mouse usually overlaps the program that is opening a file, and if I can get my mouse away from that program, the mouse suddenly gets more responsive.

This sluggishness also occurs immediately after I've created a new file or folder, or after I've renamed a file or folder.

What could possibly be happening, and how can I rectify it?

Thanks
Samuel

Welcome
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