Excel slow down

[dgallup]

Any idea why my Excel would be running slower? I get files with digital oscilloscope data that have about 3000 rows of data, 6 to 12 columns. I usually have to zero and scale the data so I create additional columns. It used to take a couple of seconds to paste the formula into 3000 cells and let me proceed to the next operation. Now it is taking several minutes to do the same thing.Excel is using 100% of one CPU core the whole time.

I have looked through the tools/options but I have not found anything that made a difference.

 

[electricpete]

I don't know what would cause that. Sometimes I have a suspicion there can be subtle stuff within the formula structure that slows things down when copying a block with many formulas... references that cause the same cell to re-evaluate more than once. Calc time may be quicker to copy one column at a time although that's more work... facilitated by the methods described in the other thread thread770-265235

Side note: If you are trying to scale for plotting purposes only, this might help:

http://home.comcast.net/~electricpete/eng-tips/PlotInteractiveRev4.xls

=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.

 

[TomBarsh]

Try setting the calculation mode to Manual (F9). It will at least you proceed until you can figure out what the problem is.

 

[GregLocock]

My work computer slows down every day for 2 hours while it does its idiotic antivirus thing.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[IRstuff]

Try turning off your AV software. Any external file is bound to be scan by the AV software. Norton can be particularly annoying in this regard.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[IDS]

Which version are we talking here?

If it's 2007 have you got the latest updates?

Have you installed any other new software at about the time of the slow down?


If you want to post a sample file we could check if it is slow on other computers.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[dgallup]

Turning off automatic recalc did not help. Doing a manual recalc happens in the blink of an eye.

It's Excel 2003 SP3. We do the automatic update thing so it should have all the latest patches. I have not installed any software but with the automatic updates Windoze & Office are always changing stuff on me. I can't control it, it's all done by corporate group policy. Same with the AV, it's McAfee, I can't turn it off.

The files are all on local network so there should not be any scanning going on but who knows.

I'll try to strip out some proprietary info and post a file.

 

[dinjin]

If you rerun it and it is still slow, then it is not the
virus software kicking in.

 

[zelgar]

Another thing you might try is to copy the data into a new spreadsheet. I've had spreadsheets get a corrupted cell that has caused a lot of problems (including crashing Excel with a GPF error while running a macro. The macro was fine, but having a corrupted cell created a lot of problems).

Unfortunately, sometimes the "fix" that shouldn't make a difference is the answer

 

[cherrypicker]

Often wondered if this is something to do with the clipboard overload combined with undo capability. I normally close Excel down, restart and it seems to work OK then.

Anyone else have a solution?

 

[dgallup]

I tried putting integers 1-3000 in column A then putting the equation A1+500 in cell B1. Then I copied & pasted this into B1 through B3000. It took about 40 seconds. I swear this used to take less than 4 seconds. Anyone care to try. This was with a new blank file.

 

[jghrist]

[quote[I tried putting integers 1-3000 in column A then putting the equation A1+500 in cell B1. Then I copied & pasted this into B1 through B3000. It took about 40 seconds. I swear this used to take less than 4 seconds. Anyone care to try. This was with a new blank file.[/quote]
Less than 2 seconds.

 

[dgallup]

Thanks for trying that. I didn't think it was just in my head. I tried it again with the task manager running. Excel is using 100% of one core and the idle process is using 98% of the other core so it is something in Excel itself.

 

[IRstuff]

1-4000 in Excel 2000 on a Q8200 running Vista 32b. Copies in the time my finger completely lifts from the CTRL-V

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[dgallup]

Got it figured out. I had an add in called XL Calcs loaded that was the culprit. I've actually had this installed for a long time without this problem. I only use it occasionally. If fact, I only installed it because I downloaded a spreadsheet that did press fit friction force calculations that required it. The original version I had of the add in did not cause a slowdown or at least not a severe one. My free license had timed out & I needed to use the press fit calcs again so I had re-registered and installed the latest version. I just removed it and I can copy 3000 cells in the blink of an eye.