samo Posts: 4 17/02/2026	samo Posts: 4 hi Gian, I have a very old symenu installation I'm using daily for many years. I'm using syncthing on my 4 computers, to sync the whole symenu folder, 11GB, and I noticed a weird behaviour. Maybe it was partly present before, but now it started to be very noticable. 1, The startup of symenu takes 1-2 minutes now. While "frozen", the splash image is displayed with 50% brightness, and symenu systray icon has a green square blinking rapidly in its bottom right corner. 2, at random time while using PC, symenu UI freezes completely. Sometimes while clicking on symenu systray icon, sometimes while browsing options, doing app updates, etc. This freezed state lasts 2-3 minues, after that, symenu continues to work as usual. This is not an issue of having all apps in root, discussed here on forums before. I have maybe 60 entries in symenu, apps and a few custom exe file launchers. see the screenshot here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sar-DplI-VFQif7hj9xEHLD5KIV7cmWD?usp=sharing could you advice on how to debug this, before I embark on a difficult way - installing a fresh new symenu and copying all my apps and settings there? edited by samo on 17/02/2026
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Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1380 14 days ago	Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1380 Now the problem is finally clear. Windows uses a component called the Network Redirector to manage communications with network drives. Unfortunately, it has a very long default timeout (10-20 seconds) before declaring a unit unreachable. As we know... networks can be slow by definition. In my previous attempt, I only partially solved the problem. I used an API that 'wakes up' the Network Redirector on the first unit checked (X: in Masspuck's case). This still required those 10-20 seconds for the first check, but at least the Redirector was smart enough to realize that other units on the same IP were also down. Good boy, Redirector. Before this update, SyMenu didn't trigger this behavior, causing timeouts to pile up one after another. Since there’s no way to change how Windows works, I decided to run every check on separate threads in parallel. Why didn't I do this in the first place? Because SyMenu loads so fast that I was afraid a user might click on a unit before it was actually ready. With hindsight... well, who cares? If a user is that fast, they’ll be smart enough to understand they just need to try again. As I get older, I tend to become more and more cautious, so now the behavior is slightly different: you won't see a network unit until it's confirmed as ready. So, if you’re quick enough, you might actually see a mapped unit appear in 'My Computer' right before your eyes. I’m quite confident the problem is now solved, but I’m looking forward to your feedback. A word for Maaspuck: Without your help, I couldn't have solved this. You have been great, fast, and precise in your reporting. If all users were like you, SyMenu would have been bug-free for years! The new beta is here: https://www.ugmfree.it/public/SyMenuBeta/SyMenu.8.12.9564.beta.zip
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