Speed of file opening

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G

Guest

I work with a file that takes me at least 10 minutes to open. It is a large
file with a lot of finctions, however, when the originator opens it, it takes
less than 2 minutes. We have the exact same machine (IBM T42). Does anyone
have any ideas?

Thanks!

Mike
 
First thing I'd try is to clean up the windows temp folder.

Close excel
windows start button|Run
%temp%
is a quick way to get there.
 
Mike,

This does not seem as an Excel problem. Your machine can take more
time to open certain files due to hardware components (slow CPU,
minimum of RAM etc.).
Also look ate the task manager to see if there are inutile processes
that are running and stop the ones you don't need.
This might help.
You can ase well defragment the hard drive, clean and compact the
registry.

FG
 
But they both have the same exact machine--so it shouldn't be a hardware issue.

But maybe it is another process--To the OP...Maybe shutting off the AntiVirus
(just temporarily) would be worth testing on the slow pc.
 
Dave,

Actually I will be surprised if the entry level BM T42 opens fast a
large file with multiple formulas.
Some of them were shipped initially with only 256 MB of RAM at a very
low speed compared to todays' machines.
Maybe his friend is a tech guy and added extra 512 RAM (at least), he
is disabling the recalculation feature and stopping all the inutile
processes.
Also it is good to note that sometimes a serie of production is
custmized with additional option if requested by the buyre.
So maybe they are bothe T42 Architecture but wih different somponents.
He got the entry level of T42 and the other was upgraded ... I guess.

Regards,
FG
 
Where I worked, each pc that was distributed at the same time had the same
hardware configuration and same harddisk image.

It made the life of the IT folks much easier--not too bad for the typical user,
but irritating for the power user who needed a non-standard configuration.

I thought 2 minutes to open a file was pretty slow.

To the OP:
One more thought. Where is the file located? Any chance that the user with the
slow opening workbook is having network problems?
 
Dave,

I noticed your first comment in this thread was to clean up the temp folder.
Thought I'd look at mine by your suggested method, running %temp%. My Temp
is chockers with Folders....many of them empty, but many not. When you say
clean up, do you mean delete all those folders? Is there any risk in doing
that? Or should I look at each folder and decide if it can be
deleted...which would be difficult!

Rob
 
I'd close all running programs and delete everything I could. You may get an
error message that a file/folder cannot be deleted because it's in use. Skip
that one and delete the rest.

I clean up this folder any time I want. I figure that if a program relies on
the temp folder as a permanent location, then that's not a program that's
behaving nicely.

On the other hand, I have seen some people use that folder to store files they
need. If you do this, stop doing this right now. Move your important files to
a nice location and delete the rest.

(My HP Printer puts files out there each time I turn the pc on--these are always
in use and I can't delete them--so I work around it.)
 
Thanks Dave, I'll give it a go with fingers crossed. I might do a ghost of
the HDD first to be safe!

Rob
 
When you say
clean up, do you mean delete all those folders?
Click to expand...

Kill all of them. You'll get an error if you attempt to delete a file in
use. Anything else is fair game to be wiped out.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel, 10 Years
Pearson Software Consulting
www.cpearson.com
(email on the web site)



RobN said:
Dave,

I noticed your first comment in this thread was to clean up the temp
folder. Thought I'd look at mine by your suggested method, running %temp%.
My Temp is chockers with Folders....many of them empty, but many not.
When you say clean up, do you mean delete all those folders? Is there any
risk in doing that? Or should I look at each folder and decide if it can
be deleted...which would be difficult!

Rob
Click to expand...
 
Did that, and my computer still works, breathing a sigh of relief. I
actually did a search for all Temp folders on my computer and there were
about 6 or so. I deleted their contents as well (what I could anyway), and
all seems to be well.

Rob

Chip Pearson said:
When you say
clean up, do you mean delete all those folders?
Click to expand...

Kill all of them. You'll get an error if you attempt to delete a file in
use. Anything else is fair game to be wiped out.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel, 10 Years
Pearson Software Consulting
www.cpearson.com
(email on the web site)
Click to expand...
 
Does that mean that the excel workbook opened as quickly on this pc--or just
that you didn't turn the pc into a boat anchor?
 
Dave, I think you might be directing this question to the original poster.

But for me, deleting all the temps hasn't improved my performance. Which
leads me to another question......Why is it advisable to delete these
file/folders?

Rob
 
I did mean that for the OP. Sorry.

And excel uses that temp folder to store stuff--files used for controls on
worksheets and userforms. If there are lots of items in that folder, it can
slow down excel when it tries to figure out what it needs to use/retrieve. (Not
a technical response, but one that satisfies me!)

Kind of like when you open a folder in windows explorer. If there are tons of
files in that folder, you'll see the flashlight while Windows gets all the
names/info it needs.
 
Thanks Dave. That satisfies me too!

Rob

Dave Peterson said:
I did mean that for the OP. Sorry.

And excel uses that temp folder to store stuff--files used for controls on
worksheets and userforms. If there are lots of items in that folder, it
can
slow down excel when it tries to figure out what it needs to use/retrieve.
(Not
a technical response, but one that satisfies me!)

Kind of like when you open a folder in windows explorer. If there are
tons of
files in that folder, you'll see the flashlight while Windows gets all the
names/info it needs.
Click to expand...
 
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