bug under win7 (utorrent induce explorer porblems)

[technosux]

hi,

I currently use utorrent under windows7.

In the files tab, I can right click on any file and select option: "open containing folder".

Problem is , if I do that many times with different files, I end up

with many process "explorer.exe" in the task manager.

If I do that too many time, the whole system slown down, and that's very annoying.

In comparison , the software "Internet Download Manager", also offer

the option to explore the folder of each downloaded files.

But I do not end in this case with many explorer.exe process.

Thanks

[Ultima]

Eh, this isn't really a Windows 7 specific issue; I can easily reproduce it on Windows XP. Definitely undesirable, though, so I'll pass it along.

Reproduction steps:

1. Select a torrent job with hundreds of files (or thousands, for a more pronounced effect)

2. Select all files in the Files tab

3. Right-click the files, Open Containing Folder

Expected behavior:

µTorrent should only execute as many instances of Explorer as there are distinct container folders for the selected files.

Actual behavior:

µTorrent attempts to open an instance of Explorer for each and every file in the torrent job, even if files are contained in the same directory. This means that if you selected 1000 files, µTorrent will attempt to open Explorer 1000 times.

Partial workaround:

Obtain a set of all container directories first (where "set" means std::set like behavior -- unique items only), then open Explorer for each item in that set. This won't be perfect, and won't necessarily solve the slowdown for all possible cases, but at least it'll mitigate the problem for most common scenarios.

If at all possible, all the files selected in µTorrent for each directory should also be highlighted in the single instance of Explorer that is opened due to this. Yes, it's possible to select single files, but I don't know whether or not it's possible to do it for multiple files, but it's definitely something worth looking into (IMHO).

Note:

Indeed, it's stupid to be selecting so many files and opening the containing folder for all of them in the first place, but at the same time, µTorrent shouldn't make it as easy as it currently does to cause such a potentially horrendous slowdown either.

Of course, if a change is made, it should be made for the relevant menu item in both the Files tab and the Torrent Jobs list context menu.

[technosux]

@Ultima

The bug I encounter is worse than your description.

Let's say that I open ten explorer windows using "Open Containing Folder " option.

Then I close the ten explorer windows.

The multiple explorer process remain on memory !

The only way to recover the memory , is to kill each explorer process one by one.

In short, if I don't want endless memory leaking, I must avoid to use the "Open Containing Folder " option. Also when there is multiple explorer.exe process running, I notice some dysfunctions under windows 7 (beside slow down).

[moogly]

I remember on the thread about 64-bit Explorer a user had complained about running multiple instances of explorer.exe (http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=425475#p425475).

Maybe it can be related to this...

[technosux]

@moogly

I've encountered the problem in both win7 versions : 32 bit & 64 bit.

Currently I only have the 32 bit version to perform tests.

[Ultima]

The core of the issue is that µTorrent is executing way more instances of Explorer than is necessary.

What Explorer itself does after exiting isn't really the issue at hand. At least as far as I can tell, that part of your problem isn't really anything fixable from µTorrent's end (but I don't know the technical details to know for a fact). Either way, I don't really see why there would be any difference between FDM opening multiple instances of Explorer and µTorrent opening multiple instances of Explorer.

[technosux]

@Ultima

Either way, I don't really see why there would be any difference between FDM opening multiple instances of Explorer and µTorrent opening multiple instances of Explorer.

You meant IDM I guess (Internet Download manager) .

The difference is that IDM use the default running explore.exe process , in order

to open multiple explorer window .One instance of process explorer.exe running,

no matter the number of windows I open (default behavior of system by the way).

The other difference, is memory leaking: I can close all the windows opened, by utorrent, the

memory is not recovered. Unless off course I launch task manager, and do "end process" for each explorer.exe instance.