Why does Windows File Explorer take more time to open from the task bar than from a keyboard macro?

Solution 1:

I compared both traces and found 1 difference. When you start Explorer via Taskbar, some nvidia shell extension files (nv3dappshext.dll, nvapi64.dll) get loaded when Windows loads the context menus (shell32.dll!HDXA_QueryContextMenu):

Line #, Process, Stack Tag, Stack, Count, Weight (in view), TimeStamp, % Weight
9, , ,   |    |    |    explorer.exe!CTaskBand::CLauncherTask::_Launch, 645, 645,322890, , 2,14
10, , ,   |    |    |    |- explorer.exe!LaunchNewInstanceWithOptionalElevate, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
11, , ,   |    |    |    |    shlwapi.dll!SHInvokeCommandWithFlagsAndSite, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
12, , ,   |    |    |    |    shlwapi.dll!SHInvokeCommandOnContextMenu2, 642, 642,320335, , 2,13
13, , ,   |    |    |    |    |- shell32.dll!CDefFolderMenu::QueryContextMenu, 626, 626,236799, , 2,08
14, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |- shell32.dll!HDXA_QueryContextMenu, 625, 625,236799, , 2,08
15, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |- nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
16, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
17, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nv3dappshext.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06
18, , ,   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    nvapi64.dll!?, 619, 619,161526, , 2,06

The hotkey trace doesn't show this nvidia DLL load. Use ShellExView to disable the nVIDIA extensions.