Accessing files in the Dropbox folder is extremely slow due to updates not cleaning up the registry

The longer the you have dropbox installed the worse the issue will get. It doesn't clean up keys linked to its previous version, so every query loops through leftover keys that are useless or non-existent.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\StateRepository\Cache\Package\Index\PackageFullName\DropboxInc.Dropbox_183.3.6853.0_x64__wkt425jdc3sga
HKCU\Software\Classes\PackagedCom\Package\DropboxInc.Dropbox_183.3.6909.0_x64__wkt425jdc3sga

And so on for every version since you first installed on the device.

The solution is to delete all previous version entries listed in

HKCR\PackagedCom

Then of course the issue of double personal folders showing up explorer pane when you have teams and personal, also a registry fix but that ones more complicated as dropbox will recreate it if you delete it, so you need to change the permissions to deny and leave it there.

Then there's the other registry hack to change to locations when the UI fails to do so (surprisingly often).

Basically Dropbox has no process for managing the registry while it develops newer versions. Sooner or later you'll need to go around digging in it to sort out some issue it has.

Note to dropbox: Clean up your act when it comes to the windows registry, so many issues stem from the client not cleaning up properly or creating not needed entries. This should be the easy part of the development process compared to all the other features and infrastructure, its 90% proper documentation and 10% cleaning up after yourself. Its been going on for years already. Pretty close to moving my teams account elsewhere, the only thing keeping me is inertia, plenty of competitors with better clients, better options, and lower cost.