Deleting… dialog box stays on screen for over a minute when deleting one small file

Question

Every now and again I log into a Windows Server 2003 box with a remote desktop connection and delete one small file. When I do this, the Deleting... dialog box appears and remains on the screen for well over a minute.

After the dialog box disappears, if I delete another small file, the Deleting... dialog box appears then disappears quickly.

Why does it take so long to delete the first file after logging into a Windows Server 2003 box with a remote desktop connection?

Is there a trick to speeding it up?

Answer 1

Empty the recycle bin. When it's full windows needs to scan the entire bin for the oldest items to delete when adding a new item.

Answer 2

I find it faster to delete from a command prompt, especially when deleting many files.

For example, to delete all file in a directory and subdirectories

del /S /F *.*