Twitter user Vivy found by switching File Explorer to full-screen mode (by pressing F11) and then exiting full-screen mode (by pressing F11 again) folder contents and generation of thumbnail previews for files are nearly instantly uploaded. The search function within File Explorer becomes more responsive and snappier.

Users on the r/Windows 11 subreddit are reporting that a bug in File Explorer actually improves the loading time. One Redditor said:

“I tested it on a music folder with 1800+ subfolders, and 25,000+ files: Everything opens instantly, awesome. This is the performance that we had in the Explorer of Windows 7.”

Another wrote added: “I just tried it on an i7-7700HQ on 22H2... And it works. I can't believe it. It's so snappy suddenly. I don't know if I should be happy or jaded by this.”

We tried it and confirmed that it works on full screen.  We had just assumed that it was because we had an underperforming, low powered PC. it would be rather nice if we had this sort of performance without having to hit a key.