Applications folder slow to display

Question

Level 1

20 points

Applications folder slow to display

Only just started happening to me within the last two months or so, but when I log in and open up the Applications folder for the first time in Finder it is extremely slow to display the the applications. Switching folder views does not change this.

I have 135 items listed in the Applications folder, which includes the Utilities of course and some apps are within sub-folders; Toast for example.

Other folders do not behave this slowly when opened.
Ran permissions, cleaned system/user cache as well.

Anyone else getting this?

Mac Mini (2010)/MacBook (Late 2008)Mac Mini (2010), Mac OS X (10.6.6), LED Cinema Display

Posted on Jan 23, 2011 2:37 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

727,091 points

Jan 23, 2011 9:22 AM in response to D M K

Open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and run:

mv /Applications/.DS_Store /Applications/.DS Storeold

(56369)

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Answer 2

D M K Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 24, 2011 8:43 AM in response to Niel

Thanks for the response Niel - but getting the message - 'no such directory' in Terminal.

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Answer 3

D M K Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 28, 2011 2:52 PM in response to D M K

changed the view type settings for this folder - some impovement

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Answer 4

frank135

Level 1

11 points

Feb 14, 2011 2:25 PM in response to D M K

My Applications folder was taking a long time to load as well, I have about 100 apps inside it. I thought this was odd since my computer is quite new.

I put that command into the terminal and it seems to have worked for me.

Not 100% sure what it did, but it works!

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Answer 5

Feb 14, 2011 2:41 PM in response to D M K

I also have the same problem. My finder isn't very slow, but it is annoying. It shows the default icon of a paint brush and pencil on paper for a second, then reverts to the individual icon. I also tried Neil's terminal script, but got the same error. Similarly I have a very new machine : 3.06GHz intel core duo 4GB etc etc. My missus' pc doesn't do this!!

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Answer 6

Mar 3, 2011 2:54 AM in response to D M K

Same problem. Ugh, so annoying. Been like this for a year. I was able to run the terminal command, but I don't have any improvement. Any other suggestions?

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Answer 7

Mar 14, 2011 6:59 PM in response to D M K

I've also been getting this issue in the last few weeks or longer. Applications folder takes ages to load and display. Many of the apps with have the default icon until they slowly update.

Can anyone actually suggest what might be causing this? Seems it's happening to a few of us.

Will try the solution suggested.

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Answer 8

kvnbrn

Level 1

5 points

Jul 15, 2011 7:19 PM in response to D M K

In my case Sophos On-Access Scanning is what is slowing down the Application folder loading the first time it loads.

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Answer 9

dewluca

Level 1

14 points

Jul 20, 2011 1:13 PM in response to kvnbrn

Excluding /Applications/ from my Sophos On-Access Scanning seems to have fixed this problem for me too, but is that a bad thing to do?? Still not sure where the dangers might lurk . . . Sophos hasn't found any threats yet . . . Should I just manually scan the applications folder periodically and leave it out of the on-access scanning?

Thanks for any additional discussion of the slow to view applications issue.

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Answer 10

dewluca

Level 1

14 points

Jul 21, 2011 12:13 PM in response to dewluca

I spoke too soon . . . the next time I shut down and then rebooted the computer I had the same slow reading of the apps folder . . . it looks like it is calculating the size of each app (very slowly!) . . . I'm relatively new to Snow Leopard (having stuck with Tiger and an old PPC mac for many years) so I hope there are additional possible solutions.

Thanks!

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Answer 11

dewluca

Level 1

14 points

Jul 22, 2011 6:47 AM in response to dewluca

Improvement! I turned off "Show Icon Preview" in the Finder > View > View Options for the Applications window. After restart the delay before display of the Applications folder contents was much shorter. It is still taking a long time to list the sizes of all the applications (calculate size is UNCHECKED) but at least the display delay is not so long that I panic thinking all my applications are gone!

Hope this helps someone.

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Answer 12

Aug 7, 2011 3:21 PM in response to D M K

Are any of you using Finderpop? Check your System Preferences to be sure.

I had this exact same issue and I just turned Finderpop OFF and now my Applications folder is zippy again.

I have regrettfully uninstalled Finderpop from my system now. I've loved Finderpop since OS 9 days, but I can't afford to have it causing slowdowns like this, so it's gone.

I hope this helps!

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