Is this why Windows takes so long to delete things?? Presumably those reads aren't done when using del from a console as that always seems a bit faster.
Its slowness is also a function of security software or any other file system "filters" (I believe they're called) are installed.
For example, I run TortoiseGit which has a caching feature which is supposed to make it faster at showing what to commit. Disabling it increases the number of items I can delete per second in my Windows Explorer from about 1000 to about 3000 while making not making TortoiseGit operations meaningfully slower (that I can tell).
This is a Dev Drive [0] on my machine, it would probably be slower on my C: drive which has full Windows Defender real time file scanning.
`rmdir /s /q` in a command prompt is significantly faster than Windows Explorer.
Yes C: is slow due to filters and Dev Drive is faster; but this difference can only be felt when using the command line; Windows Explorer has so much additional overhead that the overhead from file filters is insignificant in comparison.
Sure, my point wasn't that Windows Explorer is faster or slower compared to the command line or other OSes, but that deletion can be faster or slower (for Windows Explorer) depending on other factors too, like as per my example where it speeds up by 200% when I turn off that TortoiseGit option, which is nothing to scoff at.
Your dismissive tone implies you think I’m lying or something about my stated (and reproduceable) experience that deletions absolutely run a 1/3rd slower with certain software installed.
You gave an example of a third party program (TortoiseGit) slowing down deletion and implied Defender would also make it slower.
Im saying I have Win10 with everything ripped out, no defender, no logging, no tracelogging, no telemetry, zero filesystem filters/hooks. Delete speed is in the same ballpark as on freshly installed system.
For example, I run TortoiseGit which has a caching feature which is supposed to make it faster at showing what to commit. Disabling it increases the number of items I can delete per second in my Windows Explorer from about 1000 to about 3000 while making not making TortoiseGit operations meaningfully slower (that I can tell).
This is a Dev Drive [0] on my machine, it would probably be slower on my C: drive which has full Windows Defender real time file scanning.
[0]: https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/dev-drive/