elementary OS Login screen question and files are slow.

[SIZE=2][FONT=arial][COLOR=#333333]So I use eOS. I recently did some updates that required me to restart my computer so I did. When the login screen came up though there was a little gear at the right hand corner. I do not think that was there before. When I clicked it, it said I could choose Pantheon or Ubuntu interfaces. I googled the login screen to see if other people have this and it turns out some do and some don't. Some of the pictures I saw people had other ones like Gnome too. I am just wondering if that was something I unintentionally did or if I just never saw the gear? Another thing which is unrelated is that recently when I open up files if I try to go into a folder or switch directories it will take longer than I would expect out of eOS. When I click the folder it will pause for a second then go into the folder. Everything else opens fast but just the files are slow. [/COLOR][COLOR=#444444]Also when I booted eOS in a virtual machine the files were fast and snappy like they should be.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]