Microsoft wants to make the File Explorer faster with this trick
Microsoft is making some more changes to File Explorer in Windows 11. Thankfully, it's a break from the trend of shoving AI everywhere , and focuses on performance and usability improvements that most people will probably appreciate.
Similar to how Microsoft sped up the Photos app last year, the idea here is an optional setting to preload File Explorer in the background, essentially loading it at startup, to improve launch times and performance. The latest developer preview builds of Windows 11 have the preload option.
To be more specific, the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) is now available, and along with a faster File Explorer system, other changes include a revamped context menu that reduces clutter and space used by apps, which should help clean up the overall experience. By preloading the File Manager, machines that are not as powerful should see improved performance. Once the feature is toggled on, the app will load automatically without any visible changes to end users.
Here's what Microsoft had to say during its announcement: "We're exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance. This shouldn't be visible to you, outside of File Explorer hopefully launching faster when you need to use it. If you have the change, if needed, there is an option you can uncheck to disable this called 'Enable window preloading for faster launch times' in File Explorer's Folder Options, under View."
It's worth noting that most modern PCs won't need to take advantage of this optional setting, as they're more than capable enough. These performance tweaks follow a move in May 2025, where Microsoft started preloading Office apps in a similar fashion, which it called Startup Boost.
For those keeping track, this means that, along with everything else that starts up when you first boot a machine, Windows is also preloading Photos, Office apps, and soon, File Explorer. It sounds like the strategy here for improving performance is to offload a bunch of tasks to RAM. However, some or all of those options might not be enabled by default.
This latest Preview Build 26220.7271 (KB5070307) also includes an Xbox fullscreen experience on PC, point-in-time restore for Windows, more fluid dictation in voice typing, makes it easy to resume using Android apps from a phone on your PC, and added support for uninstalling Microsoft Store-managed apps from the library page, among other things. As a reminder, this feature is currently available only in developer channels and is not yet ready for general use. Microsoft has requested feedback, and it'll likely consider any reports before this File Explorer change is rolled out in a future update to all users.
Source: Windows Blog
