Ridiculously slow Excel performance

[Xadism]

Excel is running ridiculously slowly on my 1.67Ghz 17" PB. Typical
times (these are not exaggerations).
App launch: 4 minutes
Open file: 8 minutes
Copy a cell into the clipboard with Cmd-C: 2.5 minutes
Type a single character into a cell: 2.5 minutes

Seriously: I type ONE LETTER into an excel cell, I get the spinning
beach ball for at least two minutes. Then the letter appears, and I
can repeat the process.

I am about to reinstall office, but here is why I am worried: I
already reinstalled office two weeks ago, for the exact same reason.
It worked for two weeks, then the problem showed up again this morning.

I can't afford to reinstall the stupid thing every couple of weeks when
the problem occurs. I need a better solution.

Thanks ...

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I can't afford to reinstall the stupid thing every couple of weeks when
the problem occurs. I need a better solution.

Don't bother to reinstall Office. That's a Windows-oriented solution
that's almost never necessary on a Mac - applications themselves very
rarely become corrupted. Unlike Windows installers, which often write to
the registry, reinstalling Office on a Mac doesn't reset the preference
files.

OTOH, I don't have a clue what could slow your XL down to that extent -
does it happen with other apps, too?

Every workbook?, or just one (if just one, could be corrupted)? Are the
file(s) on a network drive?

Do you run Entourage? Any change if it's not running?


Things I'd check:

1) Memory - more is faster, you need a minimum of 512 MB. But that's not
the genesis of your problem.
2) Disk Permissions - repair them using the Disk Utility application (in
the Utilities folder of your Applications folder).
3) After repairing disk permissions, restart. That will clear out any
swap and temp files.
4) If those don't help, try, with all Office apps closed, renaming your

~:Libraryreferences:Microsoft

folder. If that helps, you can add back the non-XL preferences.

 

[dr.holly.feelgood]

Try rebuilding your preferences files. To do this open up your
macintosh hd and go into users. double click on your main user and go
into library. Once in library open up the preferences folder. Locate
com.microsoft.Excel.plist and DRAG it to your Trash. Scroll further
down the preferences list and you will se a folder titled Microsoft.
Open the microsoft folder and locate com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist
and drag it to your Trash. Close all screens and empty the Trash.
Next open your macintosh hd and go into Applications. Double click on
utilities. Double click on disk utility. Once it loads on the left
single click your macintosh hd to highlight it, on the right single
click the first aid tab to make sure you are on it, the on the bottom
of the screen click on the repair disk permissions button. when that
is finished running click on the verify disk permissions button. When
that is complete close all windows and YOU MUST restart your computer.
Once the computer is back on your Excel should be working fine.