Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • #11815
    BMiller
    Participant

    Hi,

    I have a couple of questions relating to a multi-user environment. Using ver. 2.14.3.

    1: We have one user who frequently uses both excel and newviews. Excel crashes quite often when she has been working in it, minimized it, and then performs a task with newviews, such as printing a cheque. Excel shows in the processes list of task manager, but cannot be accessed.

    2: All three users tell me that if they’ve had newviews open and then minimized for a while, it takes 3-4 minutes to get up to speed again. The power settings on the server are set to always on. I had thought that maybe the hard drive was shutting down, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

    An access database on the same server does not seem to suffer from this quirk.

    Any and all help appreciated.

    Thanks
    John

    #14061
    DFinch
    Participant

    We’ve noticed issue #2 as well. Now we make sure never to minimize the nv2 window on our server. The same would apply to clients.

    The cause is a Windows “feature” which immediately swaps out minimized programs, even if there’s plenty of memory to spare.

    If you have a large amount of ram, it might be a good idea to disable swap altogether, which should resolve this issue.

    http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/DigeratiPrime/No_Paging_File.png

    If developers read this, Microsoft has an article describing one way to defeat the swap-on-minimize feature, though it might not be an easy fix.
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293215

    #14062
    DFinch
    Participant

    I’ve looked into it a little more, and think the NV2 developers might find SetProcessWorkingSetSizeEx to be an easier workaround than the one suggested in the Microsoft article on the swap-on-minimize issue:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686237(VS.85).aspx

    #14064
    KAnderson
    Participant

    #2 is an on-going problem for me and I do not use a server. The only way I can resolve this is to close out completely and re-open the application. – Not very efficient.

    #1 happens to me all of the time. At first the only way to ‘find’ the other Excel files was to start the shutdown procedure and eventually Windows would as if you would like to close it without saving. The Task Manager didn’t show it was running prior to this, so you couldn’t do anything about it from there. Eventually I caught on to another way to have the files “re-appear” – If you block a section of anything and then print it to display, all of the other files show up again. Time consuming yes, but it is the only work around I have discovered.

    Kristie

    #14065
    BMiller
    Participant

    Interesting…will run this maximized for a bit, see if that changes anything.

    Seem to be a few people with the same problem. I’m a bit surprised that nobody from NV has popped in with suggestions yet.

    I found that the power setting for the network card was allowing it to be shut down. I changed that to always on, to match the other power settings for hard drives, etc.

    The users said that it “might” be a bit better. Weren’t sure, but overall, still had a considerable wait.

    We have found a workaround for the Excel issue. Save any Excel file (even a blank one) on your desktop. When Excel crashes, give it a double click, and if you’re as lucky as we’ve been, you’ll be back in business. It shows up in the taskbar again, with the open files sitting there waiting.

    John

    #14069
    MSchappler
    Moderator

    Hello Everyone,

    I can produce the problem in #1 above and it is a problem in 2.14.4 as well. The solution Kristie has suggested is a correct one for now. I’ll put this problem on the programmers desks to solve for the next update to NV2.

    Some suggestions I have for the swap issue in #2 are to open the System Properties (right mouse click My Computer > Properties or Control Panel and double click on System) and select System Restore. If checked, uncheck it. Every one should be backing up their important programs and files to more than one trusted media source. Click on the Remote tab and uncheck Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance. Click the Advanced tab and select Performance > Settings. Under Visual Performance select Adjust for Best Performance and on the window below check the last two options

    Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
    Use Visual styles on windows and buttons

    Lastly, click the Advanced tab and select Virtual Memory > Change. Click Custom and enter the recommended under Total paging file size for all drives in the Initial Size and Maximum size.

    Regards to all,

    Martin

    #14070
    KAnderson
    Participant

    Hi Martin;

    Thank you for this information. The steps you outlined were excellent and easy to follow. It seems to have done the trick. I left my computer for an hour today and when I returned no delay!

    Thank you so much.

    Kristie

    #14071
    BMiller
    Participant

    Hi Martin,

    Are the settings that you suggest for the server?

    I’ve had minimal luck with system restore, but it has saved the day a couple of times. It’s not practical to backup systems before ‘minor’ software is installed, and it doesn’t always install properly.

    In other words, I’d hate to have to turn this feature off on any of the machines. No other software seems to be affected by this.

    Regards
    John

    #14072
    MSchappler
    Moderator

    Yes, turning off the system restore does help the speed of accessing files. Because the application database files are large and can’t fit into memory, the files are accessed via random access.

    For the server:

    Have 4 Gigabytes of RAM preferably on machine dedicated to NV2. Set the option on the server desktop to service applications. Defragment the C drive of the server where the application databases exist.

    Regards to all,

    Martin

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