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Slow help file initialisation

Does anyone have any ideas as to why the help files take forever (10 seconds) to load on my pc? Sometimes they appear as a blank window; going back into LV7.1 then clicking on the "click here for more help" in the context help then redraws the window. On occassion, LV crashes completely.
 
I assumed it's because it was searching through a path list, but even so this still seems slow to me.

Thanks!
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Hi,
 
Thanks for your post.
 
There are a number of things that may affect the speed at which the help file loads. Some things to check:
 
- If your hard disk is defragmented,
- Your web browser and operating system is a recent version and is patched with the most recent fixes (as the LabVIEW help file is essentially a compiled html document, it relies on web browser technology to operate),
- Your system resources are not stretched thinly (background operations like email, virus scan, firewall software, etc can sometimes mount up),
 
Without knowing more about your PC spec and history (i.e. if previous versions of NI software have been installed prior to LV7.1) I could not comment any further.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Thanks,
National Instruments | Northern California
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Hi Rob,

The pc is only ten months old, don't think the disk needs defragmented yet, but I'll check. Nor do I think it's a question of resources, there is 1GB of RAM and a big hard disk, with few background tasks running. I think LabVIEW 6x was installed previously on this machine.

 
I have noted that the help file runs more quickly at the start of a LV session. Is it possible that I am reserving, e.g. memory, without releasing it and clogging things up?
 
 
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Hi,

There may be some issue arising from the previous version of LabVIEW having been installed on the machine. It is possible that the uninstallation of LabVIEW 6x may have left registry entries, or files behind that are impacting the performance of LabVIEW 7.1's help file initialisation.

It may be an idea to try opening the 'VI,Function & How to Help' file from the start menu prior to starting LabVIEW. You should find a shortcut to it in 'Start>All Programs>National Instruments>LabVIEW 7.1'.
 
If the slow-down is still present when you do the above, and is becoming detrimental to your system I would advise blanking your system down, reinstalling Windows and installing LabVIEW 7.1 afresh. This may sound extreme, but it is the best way to ensure that the issue is ironed out of your system.
I hope this helps. Thanks,
National Instruments | Northern California
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Hi again,

In answer to your question about memory resources being allocated, and never cleaned up. It is unlikey that this would happen to such an extent that your system falls over. This is due to the fact that memory allocation is automatically handled behind the scenes by LabVIEW. If memory is being 'consumed' by your system, it may be an idea to start with a fresh install of Windows to ensure you are working from a clean foundation.

Thanks,

National Instruments | Northern California
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Thanks for that Rob.

I've just discovered that I have a similar problem with another application on the same machine, so I don't think it's exclusively a LabVIEW problem.
 
I'll check whether it's a adminstrator's rights issue later today and let you know, that's the best I can do without calling in the IT guys (and quite frankly life's too short... 🙂 )
 
 
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Hello again!
 
Sounds like it may be an issue regarding the opening of compiled HTML (help) files on your machine. It is wise to check the user rights on your machine- see if there is something rooted in there. If not it may be a case of speaking to IT, and grin & bear it. Smiley Wink
Let me know how you get on.
Cheers,
National Instruments | Northern California
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Hello all,
I fixed my slow help file loading times by using Internet Explorer as my default internet browser instead of Mozilla. I guess this way LabVIEW uses the IE HTML engine instead of the mozilla one and I'm also guessing it's optimized for IE? Hope that helps!
Cheers 🙂
Jan
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