file access getting slower and slower...

[cyber49]

New PC - plenty fast - Athlon 800 / 256 / win 98 / udma 100 20 gig.
Workstation is on a peer to peer 98 network
but all these files are local. The problem seems to persist regardless of whether they are on the network.

After Word 2000 is open for a while, when the user attempts (through the "open" icon of WORD 2000) to open any files in the (very large - 30+ folders for a law office) My documents folder,
the files and folders display slower and slower.

Eventually, (15 to 20 minustes of Word being open) the folders display so slowly, you can almost read the names as fast as they pop up. .

If we close WORD, and reopen WORD immediately, no reboot, then the problem is completely gone for a litte while (about 10 to 15 minutes).

FYI, I already checked...

1. Nothing running in the background
2. Virtual memory settings apppear normal
3. uninstalled Office and reinstalled it
4. swapped hard drive and set up as 100% new again with Windows.

This is quite irritating to the user, and to me. I have provided service and PC's to them for over 3 years.

Sorry for the second post here, but I'm desparate.

Any ideas? Help please!

[Gabriel]

I suspect that the Problem is Drive Oriented.

As you said when you Open Word for the Second time the Files Shows FAST - Because it is from the Cache in the memory.

I don't think the Problem is in the Drive - Though it may be.
Run Scandisk + Defragment and let me know

[AHTTech]

Do you have any AV software running? If so, try disabling temporarily.

[cyber49]

regarding both previous replies...

Scandisk and defrag were not it. I had tried those, and also swapped HD's.

Antivirus SW - I will disable Norton and see if that's it. Thanks. That's the one thing I had assumed was fine, so I left it active.
I'll post back. Any other suggestions, all please post !!!

Thank you

[tiffin_tom]

(posted in your other post)
1. Make sure you don't have OSA (Office Startup Assistant) loading.

2. Make sure you don't have Find Fast loading.

3. Open Outlook (even if you've never opened it before), go to tools, options, under the first tab, click on Journal Options, make sure all the checkmarks are cleared next to each MS Program.

4. Apply all the changes.

5. Restart the computer.

Hope this helps.

[techleet]

Ok, if you've swapped out hard drives and did a clean install of the OS, it's obviously not the HDD or the OS itself. Could be a software conflict. Any special software loaded?

I'm thinking it's a memory issue.

256mb RAM on a Win98 box is NOT GOOD. It will actually be SLOWER than 128mb. Sounds crazy, I know, but it's just the way Win98 handles memory. 128mb should be more than enough. Also, check to see how big your virtual memory is. Should be 1.2-1.5x the size of your physical memory, or just let Windows manage it.

[SB]

cyber49 please don't post duplicate topics

[3fingersalute]

If you're running Norton, try going into the opitions and disabling the option to autocheck files as they are used!....I read this earlier, and that was my first thought, but you said "Nothing running in background", so I figured you had no Virus Scanner active!!!!

[cyber49]

I'm still waiting for feedback from the user, but here's an update...

1. OSA, Findfast, Journal Options were all fine, not runn, etc. but thanx.

2. too much ram. I've heard that before, but never seen it really matter. I thought it was an urban myth! If I get nowhere this week, I'll make a trip down there and pull it for a 128. I had been thinking maybe BAD ram (?), but hadn't considered too much.

3. NAV is now completely disabled. If that does the trick today, I'll play with the settings. I'm afraid it won't though, since it runs fine on other pc's in the office.

4. When I said "nothing running in the background", I considered Norton irrelevant since it's on 6 other computers all doing the exact same thing in in the same office that are all working fine.
Sorry to mislead you though. You're right. NAV certainly ain't "nothing".

Thank you all. I got NO replies to my first post over a week ago. Please keep any other ideas coming...

I won't get there to change out any ram until Monday

[Poseidon]

I had a similar problem with one of our workstations. MS Word literally crept along shortly after launching. When you selected any of the standard toolbar functions (File, Edit, View, etc) the submenus opened extremely slow.

Come to find out, despite the usual warnings, the user had inadvertently installed a third party memory manager.

I ended up “Ghost”ing her hard drive to put it back to standard and it took care of the problem.
Needless to say, system policy is now installed on her workstation and thanks to a few other creative tweaks she can not even change her background. Can't say she wasn't warned.

[techleet]

Originally posted by xPoseidonx:
<STRONG>I had a similar problem with one of our workstations. MS Word literally crept along shortly after launching. When you selected any of the standard toolbar functions (File, Edit, View, etc) the submenus opened extremely slow.

Come to find out, despite the usual warnings, the user had inadvertently installed a third party memory manager.

I ended up “Ghost”ing her hard drive to put it back to standard and it took care of the problem.
Needless to say, system policy is now installed on her workstation and thanks to a few other creative tweaks she can not even change her background. Can't say she wasn't warned.</STRONG>

I totally agree, but considering he did a clean install, a third party program is almost completely factored out. The only thing I would check besides the memory issue is drivers of course and getting the latest NAV engine. Good luck!

[Triumph]

I do know that TX chipsets for the Pentium ran slower over 64 megs because the chipset only cached up to 64 megs of RAM but I haven't heard anything over 128 megs causing slow systems as of late. I run 384 megs of RAM here at work fine. I use Cacheman to keep my memory peaked. I believe this is a network issue and not a software/hardware issue per se. File sharing causes systems to run slowly too but I don't think that is it.

[Triumph]

I do know that TX chipsets for the Pentium ran slower over 64 megs because the chipset only cached up to 64 megs of RAM but I haven't heard anything over 128 megs causing slow systems as of late. I run 384 megs of RAM here at work fine. I use Cacheman to keep my memory peaked. I believe this is a network issue and not a software/hardware issue per se. File sharing causes systems to run slowly too but I don't think that is it.

[techleet]

Originally posted by Triumph:
<STRONG>I do know that TX chipsets for the Pentium ran slower over 64 megs because the chipset only cached up to 64 megs of RAM but I haven't heard anything over 128 megs causing slow systems as of late. I run 384 megs of RAM here at work fine. I use Cacheman to keep my memory peaked. I believe this is a network issue and not a software/hardware issue per se. File sharing causes systems to run slowly too but I don't think that is it.</STRONG>

I haven't heard anything about the TX chipset and RAM but I know for a fact that speed actually drops off if you're using over 128MB with Win98. I don't have the exact details, but it has something to do with the way Win98 handles memory.

Win95 uses 16bit memory addressing which in effect would limit the physical memory usage to 64mb. The funny thing is, if you put 128mb in your system, Win95 would recognize it but it wouldn't actually USE over 64mb. (Correct me if i'm wrong, it's been quite a while

I believe when Win98 came out, these issues were corrected. However, if you look at performance graphs on physical memory size vs. performance, Win98 does relatively poorly over 128mb. WinNT/2000 of course do extremely well with memory over 128mb with the great 32bit memory addressing. Just a thought. Thanks!

[techleet]

Originally posted by Triumph:
<STRONG>I do know that TX chipsets for the Pentium ran slower over 64 megs because the chipset only cached up to 64 megs of RAM but I haven't heard anything over 128 megs causing slow systems as of late. I run 384 megs of RAM here at work fine. I use Cacheman to keep my memory peaked. I believe this is a network issue and not a software/hardware issue per se. File sharing causes systems to run slowly too but I don't think that is it.</STRONG>

Thanks for the tip on TX chipsets! I just checked out an article on the web mentioning it! Of course, TX chipsets are deader than Elvis, but still good to know! Thanks! <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">