[Bug]: Cannot open powershell full history file : CPU overload during opening and chinese characters appear somehow.

[sebma]

Notepad3 version

7.26.602.1

Build / architecture

x64

Windows version & build

Windows 11 24H2

Last known good Notepad3 version (regression only)

No response

Steps to reproduce

1. open cmd
2. type :
   start notepad3 %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt

Expected behavior

The content of the file is opened successfully as an UTF-8 file.

Actual behavior

Notepad3 shows CPU over load back and forth and the content of the file is displayed with chinese characters layout, see this screen shot :

Additional context

No response

Version & system info (paste from About dialog)

Notepad3 (x64) 7.26.602.1 (f0b1b654)
Compiler: MS Visual C++ 2026 v18.6.2 (VC v1951)
OS Version: Windows 11  Version 24H2 (Build 26100)
Windows Colors 'Dark-Mode' Theme is NO SUPPORTED.
Scintilla v562
Lexilla v549
PCRE2 v10.47
- Process is not elevated
- User is not in Admin-Group
- Locale -> en-US (CP:'ANSI (CP-1252)')
- Default Encoding -> 'Unicode (UTF-8)'
- Current Encoding -> 'Unicode (UTF-8)'
- Screen-Resolution -> 1600 x 900 [pix]
- Display-DPI -> 96 x 96  (Scale: 100%).
- Main-Window -> top-left (86, 2), size 1594 x 626 [pix]
- Rendering-Technology -> 'DIRECT-WRITE'
- Zoom -> 110%.
- Current Lexer -> 'Text Files'

Confirmation

• I searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate.
• I can reproduce this on a clean install (or a fresh INI via Notepad3 /i), not only with my customized config.
• If attaching Notepad3.ini: I've reviewed it for sensitive entries ([Recent Files], [Recent Find], [Recent Replace], Favorites=, DefaultDirectory=) and redacted what I don't want to share publicly.

[hpwamr]

On my side, the "ConsoleHost_history.txt" file opens instantly and correctly.

Try with typing "Notepad" instead of "Notepad3", OR with the full path of "Notepad3". 🤔

1. open cmd
2. type : notepad %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt
   OR
   "C:\Program Files\Notepad3\Notepad3.exe" %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt