Strange delay launching Access mdb and/or mde applications

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I have several Access applications that “normally” launch in the “blink-of-an-eye”. Yet, there are days when it takes 10 seconds before the app appears on my screen. Then, adding to the mystery, the day comes where the delay will disappear as suddenly as it first appeared. I’ve determined that size and/or whether the app is split has nothing to do with the delay. All components are stored on the “C” SSD. Access by itself launches normally without delay.

My Win 10 Pro system has not yet updated to the “anniversary” release.

Any ideas as to what might be causing the issue.

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What are you machine hardware specs? Could be that Access is still cached in RAM.

--Joe

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See screenshot below for specs.

A couple of observations:
1) If I open the mdb file directly from Windows explorer there is no delay.
2) Likewise, if I first open Access and then select the mdb directly from recent files there is no delay.
3) It is ONLY if a launch from a desktop shortcut OR a Start menu icon is there a delay.

How could I determine if Access is using RAM as its cache?

From Belarc:

45241-000

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Windows will automatically keep programs in memory until the RAM is needed by something else. According to Belarc, you have 8 GB of RAM. If you use the same programs regularly you have enough RAM that Access will remain in memory for quite a while after you close it.

--Joe

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OH TERRIFIC!!!! I didn’t check before my post a few minutes ago, but now mdb’s and mde’s launch instantly, either from a Start icon OR desktop.

There were NO Win 10 updates or a re-boot during the night.

I have no clue as to the strange behavior.

Bill

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I’ll look at RAM usage the NEXT time the delay occurs, though I doubt that storage is the issue unless there are un-detected hardware problems. BTW, I did try a re-boot but that didn’t clear up the delay issue.

Anything else I could look at that would give a clue?

Bill

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Bill: Check Event Viewer when this happens. My system was clean-installed and I’ve had nothing but bizarre permission problems with DCOM that I’ve had to manually fix thanks to tips I’ve found on Microsoft’s and other sites. From time to time, I’ll get an error that a particular CLSID & APPID isn’t permitted to my user-ID to start an application…but it starts anyway…after a delay. I’d love to know what’s causing this.

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I’m not totally familiar with the Event Viewer in Win 10, but I found the APPID and there didn’t seem to be any problems there. I could find no reference to CLSID at all.

My delay problem persists.

Bill

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I am not saying RAM is the problem. It could be why sometimes you don’t see the problem. It would not surprise me that you see the issue after a re-boot. That is when there is nothing related to Access loaded. When you go to run Access the first time after a boot is when it will take the longest to load. Access plus any common Office modules plus your database must be loaded. Once Access is loaded and you then close Access some/most of it will remain in memory until Windows decides to completely unload it. If you restart Access when part is still in RAM it will start much faster. NOTE: you can not easily tell if part of Access is still in RAM as the RAM is available for use but Windows just keeps track of what is there in case it can be reused.

--Joe

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I understand paging completely and the sometimes troubling performance that stems from systems that don’t have enough memory to adequately support the systems nominal use. In the “old days”, mainframe systems starved for memory could get into what is called “page thrashing” where all of the system resources were busy servicing page faults…………. we’ve come a long ways.

Anyway, I think to some extent that I misunderstood your first post. With my mindset more focused on the general facilities of my PC and its inherent speed, even after a reboot and the initial loading of Access and the designated DB, there’s “normally” little or no appreciable delay with a 1st launch.

So, last night before I quit for the night, the delays for my Access apps were pervasive, like 10 to 12 seconds. As I awoke my system this morning all the delay issues have disappeared. No system updates or reboots were done during the night. The only activity scheduled during the night is the Acronis backup and a scheduled task that copies a couple of files from NAS to a portable hard-drive.

If I gain any insight as to what might be astray here I’ll post again…………. SIGH!

Bill

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Have you run Task Manager to see if there is anything else taking over?

--Joe

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No, but that’s a good idea. The next time my system gets into “its delay state” I’ll look at processes to see if anything in the system is chewing up resources.

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45319-000Delays have returned. I captured the performance tab from the Task Manager as I awaited the completion of the launch. There’s no indication that another task or service is grabbing needed resources. (See screenshot)

I remain clueless,
Bill

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I think I neglected to ask which version of Access and is it up-to-date with patches?

--Joe

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Sorry, I normally would have provide those details un-solicited.

My Win 10 Pro is still on 1511. Office 2003 with all of the available security updates are complete, as far as I”m aware.

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Office 2003 is not test on Windows 10 by Microsoft. It will install and run but there may be issues such as you’ve found. You could try running Access in compatibility mode.

See Which versions of Office work with Windows 10?.

--Joe

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No compatibility mode for Win 10, only Win 8. I tried to run in compatibility with Win 8 but I get the same symptoms. What a pain.

The only reason I haven’t upgraded to 2010 or 2013 is Microsoft dropped support for right-click popups when it went to 2007. I have too many apps that use right-click popup menus and have been un-inclined to convert them to ribbons………………. actually I don’t know how.

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Afraid I can’t help with conversion. If you want any advice on converting to newer versions of Office better to post in the Office General Productivity forum.

--Joe

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BTW, compatibility mode will only show older versions of OS. It helps a program run as though it were running on an older version of Windows. If you did not have a problem running with Windows 7 then you ought to select Windows 7 under compatibility.

--Joe

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