Slow Performance

[williammorrisjr]

I just updated to Office 2008 and Entourage is really slow to respond.
When I send mail, it will take sometimes 30 sec to complete the event
with no attachments.
When I check off a task as complete, another 30 sec with my processors
screaming at 75%.
I have turned off the spotlight function, removed the old database
daemon from the startup items.
When I click on the calendar, again more than 30 sec to respond.
Running 10.4.11 on a PowerPC G5
Please advise.

 

[Diane Ross]

I just updated to Office 2008 and Entourage is really slow to respond.
When I send mail, it will take sometimes 30 sec to complete the event
with no attachments.
When I check off a task as complete, another 30 sec with my processors
screaming at 75%.
I have turned off the spotlight function, removed the old database
daemon from the startup items.
When I click on the calendar, again more than 30 sec to respond.
Running 10.4.11 on a PowerPC G5
Please advise.

I'm not seeing this behavior. Try logging out/in and hold the shift key to
disable other applications. Test Entourage in this environment with the
Progress window closed. Let me know what you find.

How much Ram do you have? What other applications are running at the same
time?

If I am running a processor intensive process like creating a DVD, my entire
system slows to a crawl. You seem to indicate the slowdown is just in
Entourage. Can you clarify? My system:

G4 Dual 1.42 GHZ, Memory 2GB, Mac OS X 10.5.1

 

[williammorrisjr]

I'm not seeing this behavior. Try logging out/in and hold the shift key to
disable other applications. Test Entourage in this environment with the
Progress window closed. Let me know what you find.

How much Ram do you have? What other applications are running at the same
time?

If I am running a processor intensive process like creating a DVD, my entire
system slows to a crawl. You seem to indicate the slowdown is just in
Entourage. Can you clarify? My system:

G4 Dual 1.42 GHZ, Memory 2GB, Mac OS X 10.5.1

Diane,
I logged in and out and it didn't make any difference.
I also just cloned over to a larger drive and now have 540 GB of free
space.
I have 8GB of RAM.
I shut down all my other programs and am running just Entourage.
It seems to be responding better now with email.
However, I opened a new main window and clicked on the calendar button
and it takes about a minute to come up.
During that time it is using 95% of my CPU. I checked through the
Activity Monitor and Entourage and Microsoft Database Daemon were
using the CPU.
Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 8GB RAM 10.4.11

 

[Diane Ross]

Diane,
I logged in and out and it didn't make any difference.
I also just cloned over to a larger drive and now have 540 GB of free
space.
I have 8GB of RAM.
I shut down all my other programs and am running just Entourage.
It seems to be responding better now with email.
However, I opened a new main window and clicked on the calendar button
and it takes about a minute to come up.
During that time it is using 95% of my CPU. I checked through the
Activity Monitor and Entourage and Microsoft Database Daemon were
using the CPU.
Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 8GB RAM 10.4.11

Just to be clear....did you exclude the Identity folder in Spotlight Privacy
tab?

AFAIK, the progress window being open on Intel machine with Office 2008
installed causes a bad memory leak.

Create a new Identity in Entourage and test with a new blank Identity. Does
the lag time still occur and does the CPU spike?

Oh, did you check for multiple Microsoft Database daemons in Startup Items.
You should have only one. If you have more, delete all and let Entourage
Crete a new one at startup.

There is a lag time when selecting new windows in Entourage like Address
Book and Calendar. MSFT is aware of this problem.

If you didn't experience the problem in a new Identity, you might look for
corrupt event in your calendar.

 

[williammorrisjr]

Just to be clear....did you exclude the Identity folder in Spotlight Privacy
tab?

AFAIK, the progress window being open on Intel machine with Office 2008
installed causes a bad memory leak.

Create a new Identity in Entourage and test with a new blank Identity. Does
the lag time still occur and does the CPU spike?

Oh, did you check for multiple Microsoft Database daemons in Startup Items.
You should have only one. If you have more, delete all and let Entourage
Crete a new one at startup.

There is a lag time when selecting new windows in Entourage like Address
Book and Calendar. MSFT is aware of this problem.

If you didn't experience the problem in a new Identity, you might look for
corrupt event in your calendar.

I did exclude the identity folder in the spotlight privacy tab. Both
2004 and 2008.
I have created a new identity and everything works fine with it.
I checked for and deleted the database daemons in startup items.
What's interesting is the small calendars in the folder list are
missing.
Both in Calendar view and Mail view.
There was another post in the forum where someone else is experiencing
the same lag time.
I tried archiving the database and importing it into a new identity,
but all of my formatting with categories is lost and I can't afford to
lose that.
Also, the office reminders wouldn't function.
So, it appears to be some corruption in the database. I have rebuilt
it and don't know what else to do.
BTW when I first upgraded into 2008, I received the message that there
was a problem with the database and I it needed to be rebuilt.
It wouldn't open until it was fixed.

 

[Kerry]

I did exclude the identity folder in the spotlight privacy tab. Both
2004 and 2008.
I have created a new identity and everything works fine with it.
I checked for and deleted the database daemons in startup items.
What's interesting is the small calendars in the folder list are
missing.
Both in Calendar view and Mail view.
There was another post in the forum where someone else is experiencing
the same lag time.
I tried archiving the database and importing it into a new identity,
but all of my formatting with categories is lost and I can't afford to
lose that.
Also, the office reminders wouldn't function.
So, it appears to be some corruption in the database. I have rebuilt
it and don't know what else to do.
BTW when I first upgraded into 2008, I received the message that there
was a problem with the database and I it needed to be rebuilt.
It wouldn't open until it was fixed.

You should phone MS. The one thing I've noticed is just how much
faster Entourage is now that it is UB over 2004. As fast as Apple's
mail etc. Something must be wrong in your system.

 

[williammorrisjr]

You should phone MS. The one thing I've noticed is just how much
faster Entourage is now that it is UB over 2004. As fast as Apple's
mail etc. Something must be wrong in your system.

Actually, I bit the bullet and archived my database, created an new
identity, imported the archive into the new identity, and all is well.
I didn't want to do that, because for some odd reason, Entourage won't
archive categories.
So, I had to setup my entire system again, but it's working fine now.
The bottom line is sometimes the upgrading process isn't as efficient
as doing an archive and clean install.
Good for now.

 

[Diane Ross]

Actually, I bit the bullet and archived my database, created an new
identity, imported the archive into the new identity, and all is well.
I didn't want to do that, because for some odd reason, Entourage won't
archive categories.
So, I had to setup my entire system again, but it's working fine now.
The bottom line is sometimes the upgrading process isn't as efficient
as doing an archive and clean install.
Good for now.

I have found that Leopard especially and Entourage 2008 isn't as forgiving
as prior version. Glad you are working again. Now be sure you create a
backup scheme for your data.

Entourage and Time Machine (creates chronological backup of Identity can be
used by both Tiger and Leopard)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/entourage_and_time_machine.html>

Alternative method to use Entourage and Time Machine

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/alternative_method_to_use_entourage_
and_time_machine.html>