After Mavericks upgrade, finder hangs showing files

Try the following. Select (triple-click to select the entire line), then control-click and from the contextual menu, select Services > Reveal in Finder:

~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.finder.savedState

Drag the selected folder to the Desktop.

Re-launch the Finder by following the instructions here: Mac OS X: How to quit an unresponsive application using Force Quit

Determine if that results in any change.

Same here... I'm using a late 2011 15" MBP. Before mavericks everything worked so smooth, it seems like a bug that Apple need to work on.

I open finder and try to select anything, hangs for about 12 secs and then comes back to normal. The only solution I've got so far is to leave finder minimized.... very strange.

Same exact problem here. Consistently hangs (sometimes with, sometimes without spinny wheel) for 10-12 seconds then comes back. All four views have same issue. Also, noticed that in view Apple+4 it show the preview of the wrong file--very consistent.

Same issue here. Exception is mine is a new iMac. Finder hangs every now and then with simple copy and paste.

My 4 years old mbp is smoother than this new machine.

Also try this - it has made a difference for me:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/11/24/slow-open-save-dialog-problem-mac-os-x/

I tried John Galt's approach, then killed the PID in Terminal. I also went to the posted link and tried the fix (though it's primarily for network mounted devices). I still have the issue, ESPECIALLY, but not limited to, working with external drives.

I'm using a mid-2009 Macbook Pro with 10.9. Interestingly, I just went to pull software updates and the update button is greyed out in the App Store. Simple reboots have also not resolved the issue, though everything was working fine until a day or two ago, and I've made no changes.

Hi folks, obviously a bit late but I think I figured out the problem.

Aliases are slightly or completely corrupt. I had the freez problem when I tried to open a file on the Desktop. Once I deleted all the aliases off the Desktop everything seems to work.

I don't know if re-creating them will cause the problem to return.

Yes! TechieJustin, you have figured it out! I've been looking for months for a solution and this works! I copied all of the aliases into a folder and put it in my documents folder, then deleted the aliases, then tried to attach a doc to an email and it worked like it should! I then put the Alias folder back on the desktop and one by one added all the aliases back to the desktop and tried to attach a file using Office, and it worked for all of them. There must have been some kind of inexplicable glitch in the aliases that interfered with attaching any docs using Finder. It affected all programs that allow me to attach a file, including Facebook. I haven't tried that yet but will. Thank you! (Not sure how to get you the green marker and 10 points.)

Actually not so fast! Outlook works when I remove the aliases but now that they're back the problem is there. I didn't realize that it's only when I attach files on the Desktop that that's when the freeze occurs. I'll have to try and do the process of elimation of aliases again to see if it's one of them in particular that's causing the problem.

I had exactly the same problem with Outlook (and other programs) when I tried to open a file or folder on the Desktop but the above solution by Steve Rogers worked for me. Opening the Desktop is still a bit slow compared to other folders, but it doesn't hang the app anymore.

booting to safemode, removing the startup items fixed it for me