Microsoft recently started to push Windows 11 upgrade packages to users who use Windows 10 2004 (and above). The new UI design is really impressive. However, this update also introduces a serious performance problem. Some users have found that the memory usage of File Explorer (Explorer.exe) seems to be ridiculously high.
Windows Latest pointed out: After installing Windows 11, users have successively reported many performance problems. AMD quickly confirmed that the performance problem was caused by the new security features of Windows 11. However, there is obviously another bug in Microsoft’s redesigned file explorer.
On Reddit and forums, users have been complaining that their Windows 11 devices are experiencing extremely high memory usage, which has a negative impact on overall performance (such as game frame rate drops). It is reported that Microsoft has followed the Windows 10 era file explorer design on Windows 11, while applying the updated Windows UI library.
With the support of the new version of WinUI, Windows 11 users have seen new icons, modern controls, buttons, and other visual adjustments in File Explorer. Compared with the simple texture of Windows 10, Windows 11 uses a layered material called Mica in the command/title bar to better fit the desktop background and application windows.
In addition, the right-click menu of File Explorer is now updated with Fluent design elements to match the rest of the operating system. According to user reports, the new version of File Explorer in Windows 11 sometimes causes 70~99% of peak resource occupancy, which increases CPU usage. And every time it is opened, the memory usage of Explorer.exe will increase.
Join RealMi Central on Telegram, Facebook & Twitter
What makes people feel speechless is that as early as last month, Insider testers reported to the Windows development team a bug with high memory usage in Windows 11. However, the Dev test channel before the official version was pushed to the public still ignored this point.
Based on the constantly emerging user reports, it is not difficult to speculate that the above problems are related to the memory leak bug of Windows 11 File Explorer. Referring to a Feedback Center post at the end of last month, Microsoft claims that it has implemented improvements in Build 22454.
Unfortunately, unless you are a tester of the Dev channel (it is said that you have been testing for more than a month), you may have to wait a few more weeks before you receive a patch from Microsoft.