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Introduction: A Long-Overdue Victory for Windows Users
For decades, Windows users have shared a common frustration. Whether deleting a massive virtual machine image, cleaning up years of backups, or removing folders packed with thousands of small files, File Explorer would often freeze with the infamous “Calculating…” message before finally beginning the deletion process. It became one of those annoyances that users simply accepted as part of the Windows experience.
In 2026, Microsoft is finally taking meaningful steps to eliminate this decades-old bottleneck. With the release of Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.8935, the company has introduced significant File Explorer optimizations that dramatically improve deletion performance for large fragmented files, while also delivering a faster Home page, improved responsiveness, better search capabilities, and the beginning of a complete modernization of File Explorer’s aging architecture.
These improvements represent more than a simple speed boost—they demonstrate Microsoft’s continued effort to transform one of Windows’ oldest components into a modern, high-performance file management system.
Microsoft Accelerates File Deletion in Windows 11
One of the headline improvements in Build 26300.8935 is noticeably faster deletion of large fragmented files.
Microsoft officially states that File Explorer now performs file deletion more efficiently in “certain scenarios,” particularly when removing large files that have become fragmented across storage devices.
Earlier in June, Microsoft promised at least a 30% improvement in bulk deletion performance. The latest Insider build is the first release where users can begin experiencing those promised optimizations in real-world situations.
While Microsoft
Large virtual machine disks
Database files
Backup archives
Video editing projects
Game installations
Massive folders containing thousands of files
For professionals who regularly manage terabytes of data, these changes could save considerable time.
Why Windows Was So Slow at Deleting Large Files
The performance issue largely comes down to one word:
Fragmentation.
When storage devices are mostly empty, Windows writes files into one continuous block of storage.
As the drive fills over time, however, Windows is forced to split files into hundreds—or even thousands—of separate fragments scattered across available free space.
Deleting such files becomes significantly more complicated.
Instead of removing one continuous entry, Windows must locate and clean every individual fragment while updating the NTFS file system’s metadata and free-space records.
On traditional hard drives, this process becomes even slower because the read/write head must physically move between fragments.
Although SSDs eliminate mechanical movement, they still require NTFS to update metadata for every fragment individually, meaning fragmentation continues to affect deletion speed even on modern storage devices.
How Microsoft May Have Solved the Problem
Microsoft
However, the improvements strongly suggest that File Explorer now processes fragmented file cleanup much more efficiently.
Rather than performing expensive metadata operations sequentially for every fragment, Windows may now batch or optimize those updates internally, reducing overhead while preserving NTFS integrity.
The improvement
Instead, Microsoft appears to have optimized the deletion workflow inside File Explorer, making an old operation behave far more intelligently.
File Explorer Home Now Opens Faster
Deletion performance
Microsoft has also optimized the Home page inside File Explorer.
Users running the latest Insider builds report that File Explorer launches faster, feels more responsive, and spends less time loading recent files.
These improvements build upon previous enhancements introduced through KB5095093, which improved:
Address bar responsiveness
Home page loading speed
General Explorer startup performance
Even lower-powered virtual machines demonstrate measurable improvements after installing the latest build.
On modern hardware, the experience feels considerably smoother.
Touch Devices Receive Better Navigation
Microsoft has also improved usability for touchscreen devices.
The Recommended section on the Home page now supports touch scrolling, making navigation more intuitive for Windows tablets and touchscreen laptops.
While File Explorer still
Search Performance Continues Improving
Search has long been another weak point of File Explorer.
Microsoft continues rebuilding Windows Search using modern indexing and performance improvements.
Future updates will deliver:
Faster search results
Better relevance
Improved indexing
Reduced delays while searching This PC
These changes are expected to benefit both personal users and enterprise environments handling millions of indexed files.
The End of the Windows 95 Properties Window
One of the most symbolic upgrades is
For nearly three decades, Windows has relied on the classic Win32 property sheet originally introduced during the Windows 95 era.
Microsoft is now replacing it with a modern WinUI-based interface featuring:
Native dark mode
Modern controls
Improved responsiveness
Better accessibility
Cleaner visual design
Although the change seems cosmetic, it reflects
Fixing Years of File Explorer Complaints
Microsoft has openly acknowledged throughout 2026 that File Explorer has lagged behind user expectations.
Several updates throughout the year have addressed long-standing complaints, including:
Faster right-click context menus
Readable file sizes in Details View
Reduced UI flickering
Better startup performance
Improved reliability
Faster Home page loading
Each release gradually removes another bottleneck that has accumulated over decades of Windows development.
The Hybrid Architecture Still Limits Performance
Despite the improvements, File Explorer still carries architectural baggage.
Today’s File Explorer is a hybrid application combining:
Legacy Win32 components
Modern WinUI interfaces
Older shell extensions
New rendering technologies
This mixture creates inconsistent behavior.
For example, the Gallery section scrolls smoothly because it’s fully built using WinUI.
Other areas continue using legacy components, producing noticeably less fluid scrolling.
Microsoft previously admitted that this hybrid architecture is one of the primary reasons Windows 11 File Explorer performs worse than its Windows 10 predecessor in certain situations.
The long-term goal appears to be gradually replacing these older components without breaking decades of compatibility.
Microsoft’s Broader Vision for File Explorer
The latest Insider build demonstrates that Microsoft is no longer treating File Explorer as a forgotten system utility.
Instead, it is becoming one of Windows
Current development efforts include:
Faster deletion performance
Improved search engine
Modern Properties window
Better touch support
Faster Home page
Reduced UI lag
More responsive navigation
Ongoing migration toward WinUI
Together, these upgrades suggest Microsoft is laying the groundwork for a fully modern File Explorer capable of matching today’s hardware performance expectations.
Deep Analysis
Microsoft’s optimization likely focuses on reducing NTFS metadata overhead rather than fundamentally changing the NTFS filesystem itself. Fragmented files require thousands of metadata lookups, and optimizing these operations can significantly reduce deletion latency without altering disk structures.
Administrators can still monitor fragmentation and storage performance using built-in Windows tools:
Analyze disk fragmentation defrag C: /A /V
Optimize SSD/HDD
defrag C: /O
Check filesystem integrity
chkdsk C: /scan
Display filesystem information
fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo C:
List logical disks
Get-Volume
Measure storage performance
winsat disk
Monitor disk activity
resmon
View storage health
Get-PhysicalDisk
Advanced users working with virtual machines, large databases, media production, or backup repositories stand to benefit the most from these optimizations. As Microsoft’s WinUI migration progresses, additional bottlenecks inherited from legacy Win32 components may gradually disappear.
The modernization effort also signals a strategic shift. Rather than replacing File Explorer outright, Microsoft is incrementally rebuilding it while maintaining backward compatibility with decades of software. This cautious approach minimizes enterprise disruption while steadily improving responsiveness.
If Microsoft continues optimizing NTFS operations, UI rendering, and search indexing together, File Explorer could eventually become one of the fastest and most polished components in Windows 11.
What Undercode Say:
Microsoft fixing the infamous “Calculating…” delay is far more significant than it first appears.
This issue has existed across multiple generations of Windows.
Millions of users simply learned to wait.
Enterprise administrators deleting backup repositories experienced it.
Developers cleaning build folders experienced it.
Gamers uninstalling large titles experienced it.
IT professionals removing VM images experienced it.
Everyone knew the delay.
Few expected Microsoft to prioritize solving it.
The interesting part is
Instead of introducing one revolutionary File Explorer rewrite, Microsoft is quietly replacing individual bottlenecks.
That approach reduces compatibility risks.
It also allows continuous improvements without breaking existing workflows.
The migration toward WinUI is equally important.
Legacy Win32 interfaces have served Windows well for decades.
But modern hardware demands GPU acceleration, smoother rendering, and asynchronous operations.
Those requirements align naturally with WinUI.
The faster deletion algorithm may also indicate deeper NTFS optimization work happening behind the scenes.
If Microsoft is improving metadata processing today, similar gains could eventually appear during copying, moving, indexing, and compression operations.
Another positive sign is Microsoft’s willingness to publicly acknowledge File Explorer’s weaknesses.
For years, performance complaints were largely ignored.
Now the company is actively publishing performance improvements in Insider changelogs.
That transparency builds confidence.
Businesses managing large storage environments should particularly welcome these updates.
Even saving several seconds per operation scales dramatically across thousands of daily administrative tasks.
The remaining challenge is architectural consistency.
Some Explorer pages already feel modern.
Others still resemble Windows from twenty years ago.
Users immediately notice the difference.
Until every component transitions to WinUI, the experience will remain uneven.
Still, the overall direction is encouraging.
Microsoft appears committed to making Windows faster rather than simply adding new AI features.
Performance improvements often provide more daily value than flashy capabilities.
If this development pace continues throughout 2026 and beyond, File Explorer may finally become one of Windows’ strongest rather than weakest components.
For everyday users, this update means less waiting.
For professionals, it means greater productivity.
For Microsoft, it represents rebuilding trust in one of Windows’ most frequently used applications.
✅ Fact: Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.8935 introduces improvements to File Explorer’s deletion performance for certain large, fragmented files. This aligns with Microsoft’s Insider release notes and ongoing File Explorer optimization efforts.
✅ Fact: NTFS fragmentation increases deletion overhead because filesystem metadata must be updated for every fragment. This is a well-understood characteristic of the NTFS filesystem and affects both HDDs and SSDs, although mechanical seek times only impact HDDs.
✅ Fact: Microsoft is modernizing File Explorer by gradually replacing legacy Win32 components with WinUI interfaces, including a redesigned Properties dialog and broader performance improvements throughout Windows 11.
Prediction
(+1) Microsoft will continue accelerating File Explorer development over the next year, expanding these optimizations beyond file deletion into copying, moving, indexing, and cloud synchronization. As more legacy Win32 components are replaced with native WinUI implementations, Windows 11 users should experience a noticeably faster, more consistent, and visually modern File Explorer that finally overcomes many of the performance limitations inherited from previous generations of Windows.
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References:
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