Word 2007 files take forever to open in Vista (was: Will an SSD help?)

[JorgeA]

Just my 2 cents but did you try to disable "repaginating" in word options (You need to be in normal mode to be able to disable it) ?

allen2,

Intriguing idea, but I couldn't find any reference to repagination in the Word options. A search of the Office Help files under "repaginate" and "repagination" didn't turn up anything, either.

I'm using Office 2007. How do I get to the repaginate-when-opening setting? Or is it located somewhere outside of Word, as such?

--JorgeA

[dencorso]

WOW!!! That is a huge improvement. So changing the processor should not help.

Sorry, but I remain in doubt. 2:21 min is not so far from the shortest time you obtained in the main machine, JorgeA. While there the values seem to cluster around 3:00 min, this might have been an incredibly lucky single try. To believe it's really different, I guess some more tedious work is needed. We only have facts when they are reasonably validated... So, I suggest you time the opening of the big document 7 times in the Pentium 233, and further 7 times in the main machine. And, then, let's compare the *median* value of each set. If it turns out that the median value of the opnening times in the Pentium 233 is really smaller than in the main machine, then I'd say BlouBul's conclusion is warranted.

[BlouBul]

Sorry, but I remain in doubt. 2:21 min is not so far from the shortest time you obtained in the main machine, JorgeA. While there the values seem to cluster around 3:00 min, this might have been an incredibly lucky single try. To believe it's really different, I guess some more tedious work is needed. We only have facts when they are reasonably validated... So, I suggest you time the opening of the big document 7 times in the Pentium 233, and further 7 times in the main machine. And, then, let's compare the *median* value of each set. If it turns out that the median value of the opnening times in the Pentium 233 is really smaller than in the main machine, then I'd say BlouBul's conclusion is warranted.

Still to be beaten by a Pentium 233 with a lot less Ram tells me it is not the processor. He can repeat it once or twice (I don't think 7 times is really neccessary and he did it already a couple of times on his new machine. It is not a scientific benchmarking survey, it is just to try and identify the problem (or in this case what is not the problem)

Just to put it in perspective: The new machine is 15% slower on its best time and 27% slower on average than the 10+ year old machine (although the average for the pentium is taken over only one try as mentioned).

[allen2]

I'm talking about this "enable background repagination"

[GrofLuigi]

Optimize Word: 1 2 3

But I still think it's Symantec.

GL

[dencorso]

It is not a scientific benchmarking survey, it is just to try and identify the problem (or in this case what is not the problem)

Well, first of all, my gut feeling is the same as yours: it's not the processor.

Now, it's sure not a scientific benchmarking survey, inasmuch as we're comparing things done in different OSes and most probably different versions of Office. But repeating mesurements a significant number of times and taking averages or, much better, medians (because they are robust), is just scientific enough, and, although somewhat tedious, not so hard to do, IMHO. And it'd bolster a lot our confidence in the significance of the result. I do quick and dirty tests all the time, but since this is a quite perplexing issue, I feel it's plenty warranted to do it as scientifically as the PITA factor allows. Of course, that's just my 2¢.

[BlouBul]

Well, first of all, my gut feeling is the same as yours: it's not the processor.

Now, it's sure not a scientific benchmarking survey, inasmuch as we're comparing things done in different OSes and most probably different versions of Office. But repeating mesurements a significant number of times and taking averages or, much better, medians (because they are robust), is just scientific enough, and, although somewhat tedious, not so hard to do, IMHO. And it'd bolster a lot our confidence in the significance of the result. I do quick and dirty tests all the time, but since this is a quite perplexing issue, I feel it's plenty warranted to do it as scientifically as the PITA factor allows. Of course, that's just my 2¢.

I agree partly with you. It is just the question of what will be actually gained by such a thorough investigation. If we see the old computer is on average 10 sec, 20 sec, or 60 sec faster (or slower), it will not tell us anything. Just the fact that it is comparable at all (and especially better!!) than the new machine tells me something else is wrong. I do not want to waste JorgeA's time with tests that will not really tell us anything on how to solve the problem.

Agree about Vista and Office 2007 being resource hogs, but it should stil be a lot faster than the old pentium.

Just my 0.02 ZAR.

[dencorso]

You're failing to see my point, BlouBul.

If it were slower in the P233 machine, it might be processor dependent.

If it's really faster in the P233 machine, it's probably something that's causing the delay in Vista, despite the higher processing power.

But if it takes the *same* time, it may be processor and memory independent, but intrinsic to the way Word processes the file (if, and only if, both versions of word employed do it the same way, that is)...

That's what I'm after!

[BlouBul]

I agree with your logic, BUT, (as you have also hinted in your last post), don't you think there are too many variables to conclude anything other than if the pentium is not a lot slower than the Vista machine, it is something other than the processor?

Won't it be more usefull if he tries to open the document on a friends computer with similar (or slightly less) specifications? That woud be a more comparable result. Lets also wait for his laptop results.

My gut feel (which might be worth less than my 0.02 ZAR) is that a 15 MB file should open in less than 30 sec on his system.

Do you know anything about DDE slowing opening of office files down? I found this post while googling for an answer http://howtotroubles...ow-to-open.html.

Edited September 30, 2010 by BlouBul

[JorgeA]

WOW!!! That is a huge improvement. So changing the processor should not help.

Sorry, but I remain in doubt. 2:21 min is not so far from the shortest time you obtained in the main machine, JorgeA. While there the values seem to cluster around 3:00 min, this might have been an incredibly lucky single try. To believe it's really different, I guess some more tedious work is needed. We only have facts when they are reasonably validated... So, I suggest you time the opening of the big document 7 times in the Pentium 233, and further 7 times in the main machine. And, then, let's compare the *median* value of each set. If it turns out that the median value of the opnening times in the Pentium 233 is really smaller than in the main machine, then I'd say BlouBul's conclusion is warranted.

dencorso,

O.K., I've completed the load time test series on both the Win98SE notebook and the Vista laptop. Here are the results:

98SE Vista

1:43 3:25

1:49 3:25

1:50 3:26

1:54 3:26

1:58 3:27

2:01 3:27

2:03 3:28

Out of curiosity, I also tried loading the same file on Microsoft Works (Vista). Load time there was... 1:12.

Maybe allen2's hypothesis about Word repagination being the culprit is the correct one!

--JorgeA

P.S. Is there some way to show a table properly on a post? When I hit the Tab key while preparing a post, all it does is send me elsewhere on the webpage. My intention was for the "98SE" and "Vista" columns above to be more widely separated, for easier reading. I had to resort to hitting the space key (5 blank spaces between items, but only one shows in the actual post).

[JorgeA]

I do not want to waste JorgeA's time with tests that will not really tell us anything on how to solve the problem.

BlouBul,

I appreciate the concern, thanks! Believe me, whatever we decide to do here will end up saving me either time or money. It's probably already saved me the expense of a solid-state drive, and possibly of a new CPU, too.

Check out the results in my reply to dencorso, and let me know what you think. Especially in light of the load time in Works.

--JorgeA

[BlouBul]

That still tells me (absolutely confirmed), it is not the CPU, but "Something Else" in the Vista/Office 2007/Norton combination. Did you look at the link in my previous post. Maybe disabling DDE will help.

Edited September 30, 2010 by BlouBul

[JorgeA]

allen2,

Thanks very much for pointing me to it! Pretty neat how you got the image directly onto the post.

I looked up that part of the Options settings on my Word and found it in the same place. But like yours, it's both checked and grayed out. Do you know how to disable background repagination?

--JorgeA

Edit: I found this link that shows how to disable background repagination. Trouble is, I'd have to work in Draft mode, which I find more difficult to deal with than Print Layout. But at least now I (we) know there is an option, and how to use it.

Edited September 30, 2010 by JorgeA

[dencorso]

I've completed the load time test series on both the Win98SE notebook and the Vista laptop. Here are the results:

98SE Vista

1:43 3:25

1:49 3:25

1:50 3:26

1:54 3:26

1:58 3:27

2:01 3:27

2:03 3:28

So we have 3:26 min (median) for Word on Vista and 1:54 min (median) for Word on 98SE!!! Wow! So, it turned out that 2:21 min (the 1st try) was in fact biased to higher times, not lower ones! And we don't need to work with gut feelings anymore: 98SE is almost twice as fast! Now, that's a quite definite "faster on the slower machine", so the processor upgrade must be ruled out. And your interesting result with Works on Vista suggests Vista itself is OK, too. So BlouBul is right on the mark. We now must look for "something else", and the place to look is in and around Office itself. The link provided by BlouBul is a great find, and IMO outlines a troubleshooting path worthy of being pursued. allen2's suggestion about repagination and any other idea that actually involves disabling some part of Word's functionality must be left to be tried last. This is my 2¢ right now.

[JorgeA]

That still tells me (absolutely confirmed), it is not the CPU, but "Something Else" in the Vista/Office 2007/Norton combination. Did you look at the link in my previous post. Maybe disabling DDE will help.

BlouBul,

I'm having trouble finding how to disable DDE in Vista. The instructions say to go to Control Panel > Folder Options > File Types, and then from there select Word Documents. I can get as far as the Folder Options, but then there is no choice named "File Types" that I can select, nor any mention of Word.

This seems to be a real change in the OS -- check out this thread, especially posts 9 and 10. (Ignore the jerk who spouted off in #11 without offering any actual help or insight whatever.)

--JorgeA