Nautilus sometimes spins and doesn't load everything in a dir (even a small dir)

We've proven that logging into a different user account solves the problem. This isolates the problem to something in your normal user account.

Let's first check your file system...

boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB in “Try Ubuntu” mode
open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T
type sudo fdisk -l
identify the /dev/sdXX device name for your "Linux Filesystem"
type sudo fsck -f /dev/sdXX, replacing sdXX with the number you found earlier
repeat the fsck command if there were errors
type reboot

Update #1:

Let's try and find out what's in your normal user directory that is causing the problem.

Step #1:

Next, let's try the quickest things first... in terminal...

Step #2:

Step #3:

If the first two quick fixes didn't help, we'll have to try something slightly more difficult.

There are three critical folders in your /home directory that can cause problems... .cache, .config, and .local.

We'll start with .cache...

rename the .cache folder to .cache.HOLD
IMMEDIATELY log out
log in
a new .cache folder got recreated at log in time
see if the problem is resolved
if it is resolved, then something in the .cache.HOLD folder was causing the problem
- move items from .cache.HOLD folder back into the new .cache folder...
- BUT DO NOT REPLACE EXISTING ITEMS in the new .cache folder.
if it is not resolved, then the .cache.HOLD folder is not the culprit, and we need to put it back
- to restore the original .cache folder...
- rename .cache to .cache.NEW
- rename .cache.HOLD to .cache
- IMMEDIATELY log out
- log in
- move/delete the .cache.NEW folder
- consult with me for the next steps... (.local, then .config)

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