Windows Insider build intros background loading for faster launches, sidestepping questions about app's sluggishness

Microsoft is tackling File Explorer's sluggish launch times - not by stripping out the bloat or optimizing code, but by preloading the application in the background.

The update to File Explorer arrived in a Windows Insider build for the Dev and Beta Channels, alongside the Xbox full-screen experience for PC and a point-in-time restore feature for recovering from failed updates.

File Explorer has ballooned over the years. In 2018, Microsoft open-sourced the original Windows File Manager, a lean, mean file-wrangling machine.

Clocking in at just over 700 kB, the venerable application allowed users to perform file system activities, both on and off the network. It shipped with Windows 3.0 and was eventually put out to pasture with Windows NT 4.0 (although Windows Explorer had arguably superseded it in Windows 95 and beyond).

Windows Explorer eventually became File Explorer, and the application's utility increased, as did its weight ...