Disable Thumbnail Caching

This feature disables / enables the thumbnail caching feature in Windows Explorer.

Check mark is set - thumbnail caching is disabled, check mark is removed - caching is enabled.

On Microsoft Windows operating systems (starting with Windows XP), a thumbnail cache is used to store thumbnail images for Windows Explorer's thumbnail view. This speeds up the display of images as the smaller images do not need to be recalculated every time the user views the folder. This effect is more clearly seen when accessing a DVD containing thousands of photos without the thumbnail cache files and setting the view to show thumbnails next to the filenames.

The problem is that the creation of thumbnail for quick previewing of files or images in Explorer slows down the other file operations and severely affect overall computer performance, especially when on initial viewing of folder containing thousands of videos, movies, graphics, photos and other media, as Windows system will access each and every files to generate the thumbnails.

Thus, by disabling the thumbnail previewing feature in Windows Explorer will speed up access to the folder and increase system response time especially when have to browse back and forth between multiple folders.

Description of the Thumbnails from Microsoft, in Windows 10:
    "Windows keeps a copy of all of your picture, video, and document thumbnails so they can be displayed quickly when you open a folder. If you delete these thumbnails, they will be automatically recreated as needed."

System reboot: required

OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10