Microsoft has recently placed great emphasis on the quality performance of Windows 11. After Windows Insider head Marcus Ash released a closely watched "progress report" claiming that it had fulfilled its previous commitments on performance and reliability improvements, Microsoft said it had pushed a large number of performance fixes and stability optimizations to the system for the needs of advanced users.
However, when Microsoft Windows Shell leader Tali Roth posted a post on X to celebrate the team’s fulfillment of this batch of performance update promises, it rekindled the old topic about Windows 11 File Explorer. Many users are skeptical about the current improvement in startup speed, believing that Microsoft's "preloading" File Explorer to speed up startup is just a stopgap measure to waste system resources, rather than optimizing the underlying code of this old application from the root.
In the continuous discussion, Roth rarely publicly elaborated on Microsoft's multi-level transformation ideas for this "long-term problem." She admitted that many users will obviously feel that the File Explorer is slower than the Windows 10 era when using Windows 11. This is largely due to the fact that Microsoft has superimposed modern UI frameworks such as XAML and WinUI 3 on top of the ancient Win32, resulting in additional performance overhead caused by the hybrid architecture.
In order to alleviate the problem of slow startup, Microsoft previously introduced the "background preloading" mechanism in Windows 11: the system will pre-cache the resource manager-related components into the memory before the user clicks. In theory, it can achieve an almost "second to start" experience. However, actual measurements show that this mechanism will occupy about 35MB of additional memory. For modern PCs, this number is not high, but what users are really dissatisfied with is that preloading only improves the first startup. After entering the application, folder navigation, thumbnail rendering, right-click menu pop-up and other operations still seem heavy and dragging.
Because of this, some advanced users choose to turn to third-party tools, such as File Pilot. According to tests, this type of alternative file manager can achieve instant startup and smooth navigation without relying on aggressive background caching, proving that it is entirely possible to circumvent the performance burden of the current Windows 11 official resource manager through more efficient implementation.
Faced with the question that "preloading is just crude opportunism", Tali Roth responded on X that Microsoft is not choosing between two paths. "Like many questions, the answer is 'AND'." She said that Microsoft is now looking at startup performance from a holistic perspective and using multiple means to ensure that users can get a sufficiently agile response in the areas they visit most. Preloading key components is just one piece of the puzzle.
More importantly, Roth clearly emphasized that the real underlying optimization work is progressing simultaneously. She listed several types of engineering improvements currently being implemented by the Windows Shell team, including: fine optimization of the startup process, shortening cold start time by adjusting the loading order and accelerating critical path calls; proactively cutting "bloated" logic, removing unnecessary background work and visual animations, and reducing perceived latency; implementing deeper fundamental corrections to fundamentally reduce redundant disk reads and reduce the probability of various stuck scenarios.
These architectural-level transformations are expected to alleviate the "in-application sluggishness" problem that preloading cannot touch. For example, reducing unnecessary disk access directly affects the speed at which the file list is filled in after the user clicks on a directory. This type of experience improvement cannot be achieved by preloading alone.
Roth said that these basic optimizations will be gradually pushed out in increments over the next few months. At present, some results can already be seen from the latest Windows Insider test version: for example, in dark mode, the annoying "white screen flashing" phenomenon in the File Explorer has been removed, and the overall navigation experience has become smoother. At the same time, the old "Properties" dialog boxes that date back to the Windows 95 era are also being replaced by the new WinUI 3 style and modern interface that supports dark mode, showing Microsoft's determination to systematically update the UI and basic framework.
For the outside world, Microsoft has rarely chosen a higher degree of transparency on File Explorer performance issues. To some extent, it is a positive signal: the company does not intend to simply rely on "multiple memory points" to cover up the performance losses caused by hybrid frameworks. Instead, it acknowledges the complexity of the problem and attempts to solve it in a parallel way with preloading and underlying slimming. If Microsoft finally succeeds in combining smart preloading with leaner, more efficient code, Windows 11’s File Explorer may have a chance to truly surpass Windows 10 in terms of experience.