Feature: More optimizations for older system and Windows 10

[Faeest]

What feature or improvement do you think would benefit Files?

Right now it's using about 3 - 8% of my CPU constantly, that's 10x more than regular Windows Explorer. I love what Files brings to the table feature-wise, but honestly the performance hit is pretty rough.

The main issues I'm seeing:

• Animations feel choppy and laggy (might work fine on Win11 but struggling on Win10)
• File loading is noticeably slow when browsing folders
• Right-click context menus have this annoying delay. takes like half a second to pop up
• Overall UI feels less responsive than it should
• The UI looks like a Windows 11 app running on Windows 10, which I suspect is part of the performance problem

I want to use Files as my main file manager because the features are great, but the performance makes it frustrating for daily use. On my Windows 10 setup, it just doesn't feel smooth enough to replace Explorer, even though I really want it to.

Requirements

• The UI animations need optimization for Windows 10, they're causing noticeable lag
• Make directory browsing faster
• Make right-click menus appear near instantly
• Bring down that CPU usage to something more reasonable
• The modern Windows 11-style UI elements (blur effects, transparency, fluent design) seem to be causing performance overhead on Windows 10 systems
• Give users options to disable heavy animations or features if their system can't handle them smoothly

Files Version

3.9.1.0

Windows Version

10.0.19045.5854

Comments

This would be a game-changer for Windows 10 users who want to use Files but are held back by performance issues. Maybe consider,

• A "lite mode" or "performance mode" in settings
• Option to disable some or all animations for older systems
• Windows 10-specific UI optimizations (maybe simpler visual effects that don't rely on Win11's graphics improvements)
• Some kind of compatibility check that adjusts settings automatically
• Testing specifically on Windows 10 systems during development

The Windows 11-style UI looks great but seems to be too resource-heavy for Windows 10. Maybe there could be different UI themes optimized for different Windows versions?
I really want to make Files my main file manager, but right now the lag and delays make it hard to stick with. The features are awesome, just need the performance to match

[Josh65-2201]

Thanks for the feedback, Files will have better performance with every update. The file browsing slowdowns mostly are coming from Microsoft WinUI/WinAppSDK, others require big code base improvements that will take time. You can see progress here #4180

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The UI looks like a Windows 11 app running on Windows 10, which I suspect is part of the performance problem

The modern Windows 11-style UI elements (blur effects, transparency, fluent design) seem to be causing performance overhead on Windows 10 systems

Files is designed to look like a WinUI program. WinUI is will always target the look of the latest version of Windows. The version of Windows or UI style isn't changing anything in performance.

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The UI animations need optimization for Windows 10, they're causing noticeable lag

There aren't many animations and also isn't specific to Windows 10. If you're talking about loading a folder those aren't animations, is it just loading the contents. If you talking about another area please say or screenshot where.

[yaira2]

Thank you for your feedback, we're working on improving performance and will continue releasing updates with this goal in mind.