Windows Defender seems to be quite slow at scanning files and when opening folders it causes. By default the downloads folder in windows seems to sort by “Date” and therefore as files accumulate in this folder it takes a very long time to sort when you open the folder. Related: How to use Quick Access in Explorer in Windows 10. The “Date Modified” field is almost instant. The old date field relies on info buried in the files and takes a long time to process.

Does your downloads folder or any other folder in Windows take forever to load the items in order? Chances are you are using the old “Date” field and not the “Date Modified” field.