2nd try Help - No one has any ideas?

[May Productions]

Ever since I did the last Office update (that security fix thing) my Mac has
slowed to a crawl -- only with MS products open. Final Cut Pro, Photoshop
and all the Mac apps run fine but when an MS app opens, everything slows,
especially the MS apps. It took Word 1:30 to open! It took :25 to close
the blank document Word created on opening. Entourage is almost as slow.
When I scroll the window, my mail actually seems to read on line by line,
like seeing a picture download with a dialup connection.
I tried repairing permissions. That took hours and hours but it finally
finished and things were OK for a while. Now, I'm getting back to where I
was. Word took twenty-five seconds to open just now. As I type, the words
lag behind by a second or two. It's very difficult to work like this. I
write for a living so this is just devastating to me! Please help!
I've got a dual 1G Mac with 1.5G of RAM.

Pete

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

What version of Office? What version OS are you using?

Try creating a new user account and see if you get the same problems with
Office, to help narrow it down a bit. There are standard troubleshooting
fixes but they are usually per-program, not cross-Office.

Is repairing permissions supposed to take hours and hours?

DM

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

What version of Office? What version OS are you using?

Try creating a new user account and see if you get the same problems with
Office, to help narrow it down a bit. There are standard troubleshooting
fixes but they are usually per-program, not cross-Office.

It looks like issues you could get with corrupted prefs, .plist or cache....
Again, knowing what version of the System and Office would help...

Is repairing permissions supposed to take hours and hours?

No. Even on a complex setup it shouldn't. I wonder whether it takes as long
when you run the command through the Terminal:
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /



Corentin

 

[May Productions]

Is repairing permissions supposed to take hours and hours?

I don't know. I've never had problems like this before. I've never had to
repair permissions before. It just seemed like most fixes in the tech notes
started with repairing permissions.
Anyway, I'm running OS X, version 10.3.6 on a Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 MB L3
cache per processor, 1.5 GB SDRAM. It's Office 2004, I don't know if all
the programs have the same version number but the two I use 99% of the time,
Entourage and Word, are both 11.1.
Peter

 

[May Productions]

No. Even on a complex setup it shouldn't. I wonder whether it takes as long
when you run the command through the Terminal:
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

Should I do it again through the (scary and intimidating) terminal? Or, is
it more like once it's done, it's done?
BTW, I just posted everything I know about the operating system and
computer.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I don't know. I've never had problems like this before. I've never had to
repair permissions before. It just seemed like most fixes in the tech notes
started with repairing permissions.

Yep. You should do this at least once a month. Maybe the fact you never
idd it before explains why it took so long (still, hours???). You shoudl
try doing it once more. The way repairing permissions works shouldn't
require that, but with a system that has never ran the command before I
tend to be careful.

Anyway, I'm running OS X, version 10.3.6 on a Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 MB L3
cache per processor, 1.5 GB SDRAM. It's Office 2004, I don't know if all
the programs have the same version number but the two I use 99% of the time,
Entourage and Word, are both 11.1.

Thanks for that. Did Daiya recommendation work ?? Are applciations
snappier when used from another user account ??

Corentin

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I don't know.

Turns out it isn't, which makes me wonder about your OS. But I don't know
enough to advise on that. Maybe hours was just because you had never done
it before.

Anyway, I'm running OS X, version 10.3.6 on a Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 MB L3
cache per processor, 1.5 GB SDRAM. It's Office 2004, I don't know if all
the programs have the same version number but the two I use 99% of the time,
Entourage and Word, are both 11.1.

And did you see if they behaved in a new user account?
If they do, you can go through the troubleshooting fixes linked from this
page (see also the Word/Excel specific ones):
http://mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/index.html
But if you decide you need to reinstall Office, see here first:
http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/RemoveReinstall.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)
If Office fails in a new user account, remove and reinstall may be the best
first step, though I suppose it could also be damaged fonts in that case.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Should I do it again through the (scary and intimidating) terminal? Or, is
it more like once it's done, it's done?

Nope, you need to do this on a regular basis. Many application have a
nasty tendency to play tricks on permissiosn and they need to be reset
to their default values from time to time.
You don't have to use the Terminal though. DiskUtility should do it just
as well (all it does is actually presenting you with a nice use
interface for the same command).
If you're not comfortable with the Terminal, don't bother. I was just
worried about the fact that it took so long.

BTW, I just posted everything I know about the operating system and
computer.

I saw that and I answered to the other post you sent )

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Thanks for that. Did Daiya recommendation work ?? Are applciations
snappier when used from another user account ??

Two more little things:
- do you have plug-ins installed ? ( Acrobat, EndNote...)
- do you also have a copy of Office X on the Mac ??

Corentin

 

[Ramón G Castañeda]

Should I do it again through the (scary and intimidating) terminal? Or, is
it more like once it's done, it's done?
BTW, I just posted everything I know about the operating system and
computer.

Repairing permissions takes a few short minutes. I suspect you have other
issues. At this point I would check both hardware and software. Run Disk
Warrior, run Apple's Disk Utility while booted from the CD so you can
"Repair Disk", a function not available when the disk is the startup disk.