Windows Won't Display Folder Contents

I just got a new PC with Windows 7 installed and have run into this issue twice, both times with a particular folder - let's call it "UsefulDocuments2" (the actual folder name DOES have a 2 at the end, but there is no folder called "UsefulDocuments").

Sometimes, when I try to view the folder contents using Explorer or through Windows Live Mail (in an attempt to include a file in the folder as an attachment), I can't view the contents of the folder. When I access the folder, it has the proper path listed in the address bar of the window and displays the number of items (171) in the lower left corner. However, the status bar just says "Searching for items..." except I can occasionally see it flicker to say "171 items."

While it is "Searching for items..." (which is 99.9% of the time), it doesn't display any of the contents of the folder. The scrollbar on the side of the window constantly flickers - it's recognizing that there are 171 items in the folder and that the scrollbar is necessary, but then keeps re-searching the folder contents, I guess.

Weirdly, if I change the folder name to, say, "UsefulDocuments" it works fine (at least right now). If I then change it back to "UsefulDocuments2" it reverts to its old behavior. Also, if I open a file in it in Word (2010), I can view and access the contents of the folder without any problem at all.

Obviously, I can just change the folder name, but don't really want to for organizational reasons, and also am just curious as to what's going on and how to fix it should it happen to other folders, etc.