Hey Vijay, sorry to hear your system’s grinding to a halt because of this explorer.exe issue—14GB of committed memory is totally out of the ordinary, so let’s break down what’s happening and how to fix it.

First, let’s clarify what that "commit charge" means: it’s the amount of virtual memory the process has requested from the system. Unlike actual physical memory usage, not all of this is necessarily being used right now, but a number that big will hog system resources, starve other apps, and definitely cause the slowdown you’re seeing.

Common causes for this massive commit in explorer.exe: #

• Corrupted system files or misbehaving shell extensions: Explorer handles your desktop, file management, and all those right-click menu options. If a core system file it relies on is damaged, or a third-party shell extension (like a plugin for a photo editor or cloud service) is buggy, it can leak memory nonstop, ballooning the commit charge over time.
• Out-of-control thumbnail cache: If you’ve got tons of large files (4K videos, high-res images, etc.) stored on your drives, explorer’s thumbnail cache might get corrupted or fail to release old cached data. It keeps trying to generate or load thumbnails without cleaning up, leading to that huge memory footprint.
• Malware injection: Some malicious programs inject themselves into explorer.exe (since it’s always running) to hide their activity. This can cause the process to gobble up memory as the malware runs in the background.
• Buggy sync tools or background tasks: Cloud storage apps like OneDrive or Dropbox integrate tightly with explorer. If their sync logic glitches, or an automated file-organizing tool is running amok in the background, explorer can get stuck in a loop that eats up memory.

Step-by-step fixes to try: #

• Restart explorer.exe first: Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find "Windows Explorer" in the Processes tab, right-click it and select "End task". Then go to Task Manager’s "File" menu > "Run new task", type explorer.exe and hit Enter. This will reset the process and temporarily free up memory—if the slowdown eases, it confirms the issue is with explorer itself.
• Clear the thumbnail cache: Open "This PC", right-click your C: drive > "Properties" > "Disk Cleanup". Check the "Thumbnails" box, then click "OK" to delete the cache. You can also just restart Windows Explorer via Task Manager to reset the cache on the fly.
• Troubleshoot shell extensions: Open msconfig (type it in the Start menu), go to the "Services" tab, check "Hide all Microsoft services", then disable all remaining services. Restart your PC—if explorer’s memory is normal now, enable services one by one to find the problematic one. Alternatively, use a tool like ShellExView to sort and disable non-Microsoft shell extensions (look for ones with recent dates or from unknown publishers).
• Repair system files: Open Command Prompt as Administrator, run sfc /scannow—this will scan and fix corrupted system files. If that doesn’t work, follow up with DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to repair the system image itself.
• Scan for malware: Run a full system scan with Windows Defender or your preferred antivirus tool. Malware hiding in explorer is less common but worth ruling out.
• Check cloud sync tools: If you use OneDrive, Dropbox, or similar, pause sync temporarily. If explorer’s memory drops, try resetting the sync app or reinstalling it to fix the integration glitch.

If none of these steps work, try creating a new user account—sometimes corrupted user profiles can cause explorer to misbehave. If the new account works fine, you can migrate your files over or repair the old profile. As a last resort, a clean Windows reinstall would fix it, but that’s only if all other options fail.

备注：内容来源于stack exchange，提问作者Vijay