Slow, errors, and support has no clue!

[tmearl02]

Our company has been using pt for 7 years. But it is sooo slow. I have purged, ran integrity checks and tried all pt has told me to try with still no improvement. Is it normal for a G/L report to take 15-20 minutes to pull up? It also takes the main computer (out of 2) a good 10-15 minutes to open my company each day. Even down to printing an invoice is a good 5 minute task instead of instantaneous. What is up with the performance of this program?

[Jacky Tse]

There're many factors affecting the performance of Peachtree:

- No of transactions
- Computer performance ( the hardware configuration like cpu, disk, ram, etc. )
- Network performance ( if you're in a network )
- Software efficiency ( which can be improved by upgrading to a higher version )
...

If you tell us more information, may be we can find out the bottleneck for you.

[tmearl02]

We purchased a new 800mhz Pentium III 126MB Memory and a 20GB Hard Drive back on 10/27/00 for use as main computer. The other comp. is Pentuim I 233 with 16MB Memory and 6.4 hard drive. We use a peer-to-peer network. I am not too fimilar with the network performance, but I did install pt by following the directions in manuals for peer-to-peer. It seems to get worse with time or when ever I do upgrade. As far as transactions we average around 2000 invoices a year using inventory. Hope this helps. Thank-You.

[Deborah Bean]

The problem is probaply the 233 computer. I wouldn't run with anything less than 650 MHZ (if you can find one) and 128 MB RAM. Also- what kind of peer-to-peer cabling and OS are you using? There is a significant slow-down with coax vs 10-Base vs 100-Base ethernet.
But if it's the old computer that is running the reports - start there.

[tmearl02]

Thank-you. I have a consultant coming in on Friday and will pass all the information along to him. I'm not sure what cables we are using. They are made up for us. I hope all the information is helpful to him. Any more suggestions or ideas that he may check for would be great. :) Thanks again!

[Deborah Bean]

Well, if a consultant is coming in-- I like Windows 2000 for OS - definately NOT XP. Make sure the NIC's are a good brand and use the same brand of hub-- believe it or not, it does solve problems. Actually, I recommend 256MB for the server, not 128. Make sure you have a GOOD backup procedure in place. I set up a server-automated hourly backup with daily and weekly backups automatically done also to a second server harddrive (sort of the poor man's RAID). I also recommend daily backups to a workstation harddrive using days of the week = Monday.ptb, Tuesday.ptb, etc. Then I have my yearly Permanent backups. Backup media - you can't beat CD-R right now. It is actually more reliable than tape. That is also done nightly.
If I sound paranoid - yes I am where backups are concerned. I have had 3 sets of backups go bad and glad I had the 4th all within days of each other.
Another sore point - good UPS's on EVERY machine, hub, and computer line. It's saved the life of more than one customer, including myself. All you need is one momentary blackout in the middle of posting to teach you that. Email me with any other questions.