Microsoft Tackles Windows 11 File Explorer's Resource Drain with Search Optimizations

Microsoft is planning a significant update for the built-in file manager and system menu in Windows 11. The primary goal of the upcoming changes is to reduce the load on computer hardware resources and simplify interaction with the operating system.

According to information published in a developer blog, the company's engineers have focused on overhauling the search algorithm inside File Explorer. The current implementation, based on the Windows Search indexing service, sometimes creates excessive load. This manifests in re-scanning the same data, increasing RAM usage, and straining the CPU and disk.

The new mechanism is designed to recognize and prevent such parallel indexing processes. As a result, a reduction in background service activity is expected, which should directly improve interface responsiveness and overall system stability.

In parallel, work is underway to restructure the right-click context menu. Over the years, it has been filled with numerous entries from third-party apps, often making it difficult to quickly access core functions. To solve this problem, Microsoft is testing moving a number of additional options—such as "Compress to" or "Copy as path"—into a separate nested sub-menu. Its working name in test builds is "File Management" or "More Actions."

The first results of this work can already be seen in the preview build 26220.7523, available to Windows Insider program participants. If testing is successful, a stable version of the update for all Windows 11 users could be released in late January or early February 2026.