Office 2003 slowing me down?

by mrstooie Jan 9, 2006 1:08PM PST

I have Home XP, MS Office Pro 2003 and an Emachine with a 330 celeron D (266 GHz, 256k L2 cache, 533 FSB) and 1.5 GB of RAM.

For awhile now it can be agonizing slow to move from one email to the next, in the reading pane or not. When I want to save a file whether in my email program or Word or Excel ... it doesn't matter if I save it to the default directory or go down a few sub directories, it literally take 10-20 seconds to move each time. Meaning, let's say I am in Outlook (2003) and want to save an attachment. I click on the emai, which could take 20 seconds to access and then when I go to save the file, it can take 10-20 seconds each time I click on a folder before it actually opens it.

I just figured out tonight that it must be Office 2003 causing this as when I am outside of Office using Explore or otherwise directly access the file structure is goes quick like it should.

This sloweness is painful as I use my email ALOT for my business. It is too the point I won't buy another Emachine, but for the fact now I think it is Office. I must be wasting an hour each day because of this.

When I tried to remember if it has always been like this, I don't think it has but I have put up with this so long I don't know. It does seem it might coincide with my installing Office 2003.

Any ideas why this is?

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Known problem in Office 2003.

by Kees Bakker Jan 9, 2006 7:18PM PST

It's a device letter in the mapping in Windows Explorer pointing to a non-existant shere. Unmap it, and everything will be fine.

Here's another example of the same problem: http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7813-0.html?forumID=29&threadID=130332&messageID=1470754

Should be fixed by now in a Service pack, I should say, but apparently it isn't.

Hope this helps.

Kees

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seems to have worked

by mrstooie Jan 10, 2006 2:44AM PST

I deleted some links to drive\directories I had been using (but not often) and it doesn't seem like it would matter but it seems like it has. I do run NAV but have made no changes there. If this sticks, it is a BIG relief. I apprecaite your help and those that have responded.

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Related MSKB article.

by Kees Bakker Jan 9, 2006 7:23PM PST

with a possible hotfix, if you didn't install the latest service pack for Windows XP (better DO install SP2, by the way): http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;839883&spid=2488&sid=307

But removing the mapping from Explorer seems the easy fix.

Hope this helps.

Kees

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Is NORTON ANTIVIRUS in this brew?

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 9, 2006 9:17PM PST

I remember a complaint about this and an issue with Outlook + Norton. Fix? Not a fix in my book, but we changed antivirus.

Bob

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Norton fix

by mrstooie Feb 20, 2006 1:13PM PST

BTW, I appreciate your response to other posts, but here, are you saying you only heard this was a problem, but you switched to another virus program to be safe, or you had the problem and switched and it helped?

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Yes. Some versions tend to slow office applications.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2006 1:26PM PST

Yes. Some versions tend to slow office applications.

But look at how long it took for you to reveal you had norton. Your choice here, but if you don't write back then it goes very slow as we slowly circle around some things to try and the forum members wait to hear back on questions.

Bob

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my mistake

by mrstooie Feb 21, 2006 12:15AM PST

For getting distracted and missing that.

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Question: What version Norton?

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 21, 2006 8:24AM PST

Some are known trouble as they scan incessantly.

Bob

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Norton 2005

by mrstooie Feb 21, 2006 9:06AM PST

I did disable it so it doesn't kick on start up but that didn't seem to make a difference when I rebooted.

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The last 3 items at...

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 21, 2006 9:44AM PST

http://www.slipstick.com/problems/slow.htm

You've done a few, try these.

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Language features

by mrstooie Feb 21, 2006 10:11PM PST

I hesitantly say this might have done the trick. I didn't have all the items listed (nothing in registry to edit) but did have most other items.

My email downloaded much quicker this morning and I will know by the end of the day, given some time, if that follows through to work everywhere else.

I will be back.

Stewart

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The lesson here is...

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 21, 2006 10:35PM PST

Keep trying.

Many don't know these forums are not tech support but people that are willing to get out and help you push your vehicle along and get it going again.

I really hope you've nailed it since I'm running out of any new (or old) ideas.

Best of continued luck,

Bob

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It definitely has worked

by mrstooie Feb 23, 2006 10:22AM PST

Just want to confirm it. No more issues and what a relief. So, I actually had two different things going on. One being the mapping of unused drive letters which slowed down subdirectory access and the other being the language recognition features which really slowed down email.

Thanks again for your persistence.

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Thanks for the report and your...

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 23, 2006 10:40AM PST

Your persistance helped work through the usual and down to the not so usual and finally the last piece. And I see you got a double-team effort too!

Bob

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Email still slow

by mrstooie Feb 20, 2006 6:39AM PST

I started a new thread and it was suggested I also come back to this one. The mapping drive letter suggestion did work and only occasionaly does it slow up again. I am wondering if that is because of my usb external drive that is sometimes on and sometimes off.

Aside from that, Outlook 2003 is still slow and I spend a lot of time there. On the other post, it was suggested to flip DMA off and on. That doesn't seem to have worked. I am looking for any ideas. It is such a pain to setup a new computer with all the programs and files I need for work.

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About the DMA.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2006 8:29AM PST

You need to do more than flip it. If you didn't research this as suggested and use the steps noted in the XP DMA article then it will have no effect.

It is possible that some pointers to recent documents to non-existant drive letters can slow the machine, but such do clear up if you stop moving drive letters.

Best of luck,

Bob

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About the DMA

by mrstooie Feb 20, 2006 8:52AM PST

I was keeping it simple in what I thought the article said. I will go back and do read some more and come back then. I haven't moved any drive letters around so I don't think that is contributing.

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To clean out old document pointers, consider...

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2006 11:43AM PST

CCLEANER from http://www.ccleaner.com/

I was hoping you'd echo back the steps or even the link to the procedure so we can check that off the possibilities list and go for other items.

How about Norton?

Bob

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Norton

by mrstooie Feb 20, 2006 1:01PM PST

I haven't gotten back to double checking the steps I took, but what if I just disabled Norton, wouldn't that have the same effect as not using it, or would there be something as part of the installation that could cause a problem? I guess I will go ahead an uninstall it, but I have to make sure I have the original program file first, of which it was a net download. I will get back here and let you know what i have done.

Office 2003 slowing me down?

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