Delay Opening Folders Caused by SDHelper - Solved!!

[DougCuk]

Some of you are already aware of the "Delay Opening Folders Caused by SDHelper" problem.
I have now located the cause of this problem - which only affects Spybot v1.6.

The long version of the saga can be found in this thread:
Resident SDHelper slow in 1.6 - http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=30943

With the full version of my analysis in this post:
http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.php?p=224574&postcount=54

I discovered that with SDHelper active Windows Explorer/My Computer can spend several seconds checking the Cookies folder and does this for every change of folder.
Clearing the Cookies folder removes the delay.

I am not in the habit of clearing my Cookies folder - this was never a problem under Spybot v1.4 or v1.5
But Spybot v1.6 seems to react badly to excessive numbers (1000's) of cookies.
Something has changed in the way SDHelper interacts with Windows Explorer in the current version of Spybot which causes this annoyng symptom.

So clear your Cookies folder and hopefully you too can use Spybot v1.6 with SDHelper enabled.

The slowdown of the IE7 browser caused by SDHelper - that others have reported - most notably in this thread: http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=30975 must be due to a different as yet unknown quirk of Spybot v1.6 - as I have never observed this problem on my system. So far the only resolution to this has been to disable SDHelper or revert to Spybot v1.5.2 - It does make me wonder if SDHelper is bogging down on some other folder that some users do not clear.

[DougCuk]

UPDATE: It is beginning to look as if clearing the Cookies folder may also be a cure for the IE7 slowdown issue on Vista systems.
Several users have now posted positive results having tried this experiment on computers showing the IE7 slowdown problem.

We have established that the current version of SDHelper has a problem with excessive numbers (1000's) of cookies - but it appears that this results in two different symptoms according to whether you are running XP or Vista.

Under XP you see a delay in Windows Explorer/My Computer
Under Vista you see a delay/slowdown in the IE7 Browser

Clearing the Cookies Folder appears to cure both these problems.

As stated this is a new behaviour for Spybot v1.6 - neither problem occured under Spybot v1.5
This really needs to be addressed by the developers.

[gamebroo]

:yahoo: Thanks for pinpointing the cause of the problem!

I hope Safer Networking see this Post and reply to it. This needs to get fixed!:eek:

[DougCuk]

Anyone who has confirmed that clearing their Cookies Folder has cured a browser slowdown - either in Windows Explorer/My Computer or in Internet Explorer - please vote and comment of this new Bug Tracker item http://forums.spybot.info/project.php?issueid=282

[oneking]

God bless you guys! I've been going crazy, trying to figure this out! I tried downloading .reg files, shutting off certain "services.msc", re-activating the fast-indexing feature, etc, but to no avail. Then I found this forum, and simply shut off my resident helper as an experiment, and BAM! Solved! So, now I have to clear the cookies folder? Are you referring to the internet options/delete/cookies situation, or is there a specific folder in WINNT somewhere or what? Thanks!

[DougCuk]

Not every SDHelper slowdown has the same cause - however for XP users running Spybot v1.6 I think it is a dead cert that excessive cookies will cause a delay opening folders in Windows Explorer/My Computer.

If the Cookies Folder is the culprit then you can just use the Delete Cookies button in the IE Options screen. But be aware this will remove stored login details for websites that use cookies to log you in automatically - you might want to write down any important website Usernames before you clear the Cookies folder. Most sites allow you to retrieve lost passwords if you know your username.

A quick way to check the content of the current users Cookies folder is by entering the word Cookies at the Run prompt on the StartMenu - it opens the folder and the status bar will show the number of Cookies. Anything over 500 seems to start slowing responses - once you exceed 2000 you may experience several seconds delay.

The only other confirmed cause of SDHelper slowdowns (for IE7 browsing) is the Google Toolbar and maybe some other security Toolbars.

[casper_uk]

On vista, confirmed clearing cookies solved the slow internet explorer problem. Very happy now as it's scary browing the internet with the Spybot SD-IE protection add on turned off!

[DougCuk]

Initial tests of a new version of SDHelper are looking good.
It seems to eliminate the slowdown caused by a large Cookies Folder.
Anyone wanting to test and give feedback on the new Beta version please check this Bug Tracker thread:
http://forums.spybot.info/project.php?issueid=282

[user139]

I experienced the same slowdown after upgrading to SDv1.6, that was in late July.
Reading through this thread and the two others confirmed my initial approach - revert immediately to SDv1.52

I am using regularly CCleaner, after swiching internet sessions, and before powering down my PC.
If cleaning the cookies cache is a solution it should have worked, no?

I found also very annoying the pop-ups in SDv1.6 everytime I opened a program, SD had to analyse it something.

For the moment I just pay attention to deselect MainProgramUpdate and TeaTimerUpdate when running the SD update,
I am not inclined and have no time to be a beta tester for v1.6, but many kudos to all of you who did and posted here.