# Windows 2000 context menu and directory dropdown pauses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345 "2003-04-04T01:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/1 "2003-04-04T01:14:24Z")
In windows 2000 when you click the right mouse button there is a longish pause before the context menu appears, and when you click the dropdown button in open/save dialog boxes the directory dropdown takes even longer. Why is it doing this, and how can it be stopped? Thankingyou. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/2 "2003-04-04T01:18:50Z")
I dunno, but it does the same thing in XP too. It’s extremely annoying, and I hope someone has a solution. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/3 "2003-04-04T01:24:09Z")
My XP (at home) doesn’t do it (I don’t think it does anyway) We have 2 windows 2000 machines at work. both of them do it. ---
**Author:** ![Meros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Meros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meros)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/4 "2003-04-04T01:25:34Z")
How much RAM do you have? Win2k, IIRC requires a minimum of 64MB and it has been my experience that in order to get anywhere near decent performace you want to go quite a ways above the minimum. If you’re RAM is ok take a look into the process viewer to see if you have any programs that are sucking up a lot of CPU cycles. Instead of looking at the usual applications tab select the processes tab. If you then click on the heading “CPU” it will sort the contents of the window by CPU usage. Most of the time the majority of your cycles should be devoted to the “System Idle Process”. If you have a process that is sucking up a lot of cycles and your CPU load at the bottom of the window is at or near 100% you may have foud the culprit. Killing the guilty process would be at your own risk, if it belongs to a program you can identify and know won’t give your system a stroke then feel free to kill it. If it doesn’t match both of those criteria then make a good effort to identify it before you try anything. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/5 "2003-04-04T01:32:16Z")
There is 256MB of ram. The in all other contexts the computer(s) run absolutely fine, there is very little on them sucking up cpu cycles. There’s just the consisten pauses. It’s not as if it’s doing something while it is pausing, it’s almost as if it’s programmed to pause. No offence **Meros** but I have ruled out the obvious (cpu hungry programs) before posting. It is the fact that nothing is eating up cpu tiime that makes this phenomenon so strange, and therefore post-worthy. Again, no offence. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/6 "2003-04-04T01:33:37Z")
I tell a lie. there are **3** windows 2000 machines (nearby) at work. all 3 have exactly the same pauses. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mr.Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Matthew)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/7 "2003-04-04T01:34:04Z")
This works in XP to shorten the Start menu delay. Open Regedit and navigate your way to HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay. There is a default value of 400 milliseconds (0.4 seconds). Change the 400 to a lower value or even 0 and reboot. As with all changes to the registry, research this before you do it and only attempt it if you’re comfortable. I’ve done it and thanked Og for how it speeded things up. ---
**Author:** ![Meros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Meros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meros)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/8 "2003-04-04T02:13:34Z")
No offense taken **Lobsang** it’s just that I work as an Admin/Helpdesk at a local university and learned very quickly to always ask about the obvious first. You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I could tell about how stupid some, otherwise brilliant, people become the moment you set them in front of a computer. And before anyone can second guess…I am _not_ calling you or implying you are stupid…its just that habits are hard to break when you have to do them 8 hours a day every day. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/9 "2003-04-04T02:22:03Z")
Understood **Meros** I agree with you about asking the obvious. [blowing my own trumpet] I am very computer literate [/blowing my own trumpet] and yet I do sometimes miss the bleedin obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/10 "2003-04-04T03:17:16Z")
So…, does anyone else know? Today is the first day I have been using windows 2000 (yestarday the NT machine crashed, and has been replaced with this), and I use the context menus an awful lot. It is already driving me insane (the pause). The status of this machine as a pile of bits underneath a broken window is becoming increasingly likely . ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/11 "2003-04-04T03:49:38Z")
I’ve noticed the same thing (at least with the context menus). I think that it has to do something with the context menu checking its settings and buildling the “new” list each time. However I have noticed that it pauses the first time I use it, but if I use it again in a short period of time, there isn’t a delay - so I think that it caches this in memory for a period of time. critter42 ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/12 "2003-04-04T04:02:28Z")
Have you tried unchecking **Use transition effects for menus and tooltips** on the **Effects** tab of the **Display** applet in Control Panel? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mr.Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Matthew)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/13 "2003-04-04T04:12:14Z")
You might also look at [this article](http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/jump/0,24331,3323284,00.html) and [this one](http://yippee.i4free.co.nz/html/win/internet/title13599.htm) for some information dealing with slow context menus in IE under Windows 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/14 "2003-04-04T04:13:12Z")
Just tried that **Number**. No luck. Everyone - I have worked out that the delay is only on internet webpages (for the context menu) and not everywhere. (the directories dropdown delay is in outlook, so dar) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/15 "2003-04-04T04:21:03Z")
Thanks Mr Matthew! That settles it. I now need to either a) ask our tech quys to log into this as administrator and run the patch, or b) log in myself and run the patch (and run the risk of being told off by the big red-faced time-bomb manager) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mr.Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Matthew)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-2000-context-menu-and-directory-dropdown-pauses/166345/16 "2003-04-04T04:46:04Z")
Glad I could be of service. Lord knows I’ve learned all sorts of things from the wonderful posters here.