Taskbar "lags" sometimes...

[Tha*Lunat!k]

I have an issue that isn't big but happens often enough to make it a nuisance. Basically what happens is my taskbar freezes up for a few seconds at a time randomly. What this means is I cannot click any item on the taskbar, I must alt-tab through the open applications and folders to get where I want for 5, 10, and sometimes 30 or more seconds. When it catches up, however, all clicks made during that time end up registering after all (so if I clicked an app and realized the taskbar wasn't working and then alt-tabbed to the app, once the taskbar catches up it will go on to minimize that app since I have already restored it using alt-tab).

Another thing I notice when this happens is that my AIM window is usually inaccessible or very slow. If I try to alt-tab to the AIM window while the taskbar is lagging it will usually not render the window, or will not allow reasonable input to the chat window. I'm wondering if maybe it's related to AIM somehow or it just has an effect on AIM as a result of something OS-related.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-Lun

 

[poertner_1274]

This is usually due to explorer.exe hanging. I don't know of anything to fix it except just be patient. It happens to me quite often on my older computers, and when it is doing something memory intense like saving a very large document or something of that sort.
So basically this is to say you are not alone, and patience is a virtue

 

[Tha*Lunat!k]

I figured that's what it is, though folders and apps and the browser continue to be accessible during this time. It's odd though because my computer is pretty fast and has nice hardware, so I don't get why Explorer would do that. I would try another shell like Aston or whatever it's called, but I like XP's Explorer quite a bit