Can too many people surfing the internet slowdown programs that rely on the LAN

[jgratton]

I am constantly getting drafters complaining about their slow drafting apps. I suspect they have compromised their systems with too much surfing! Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IT will slap them down soon if they don't clean up their acts.

Here's the question, apart from hardware issues and too many applications running and all that stuff I know about, can it be said that too many people on the internet can slow down apps that have to look at the servers?

In otherwords, what can slow down a file...open....(search network) type activity? I want to put this in language that everyone will understand.

Forgive me from posting here, since it's not a cad issue, I didn't know where else to go.

[Sammie]

I am constantly getting drafters complaining about their slow drafting apps. I suspect they have compromised their systems with too much surfing! Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IT will slap them down soon if they don't clean up their acts.

Here's the question, apart from hardware issues and too many applications running and all that stuff I know about, can it be said that too many people on the internet can slow down apps that have to look at the servers?

In otherwords, what can slow down a file...open....(search network) type activity? I want to put this in language that everyone will understand.

Forgive me from posting here, since it's not a cad issue, I didn't know where else to go.
My compuet runs EXTREMELY slow on CAD applications. I've had IT tell me because of the huge files I work with, and the fact that some are linked to the server, it bogs everything down. Do the drafters work exclusively on drawings from the server?

[jgratton]

Yes, I think in the past there may have been issues caused by their slowness to apply the latest 2005 patch. But now I think maybe there are too many temp files, etc. Has anyone had any luck with Disk Cleanup. I tried running it on my puter and it did not seem to remove anything.

[CGM]

Yes, I think in the past there may have been issues caused by their slowness to apply the latest 2005 patch. But now I think maybe there are too many temp files, etc. Has anyone had any luck with Disk Cleanup. I tried running it on my puter and it did not seem to remove anything.Hi jgratton,

I had this problem in the past. The source of the problem was CAD draughtsmen downloading videos of the latest films to watch at home during the weekend. (Dishonest I know, ~shrug~, I can only tell management, I can't actually make them do anything about it.) What was slowing everything down was this fella (http://www.emule-project.net/home/perl/general.cgi?l=1), this software hoovers up the bandwidth. It shows up as a little icon on their task-bars when they're running it.

I do hope this is not the source of your problem, but it might still be worth getting IT to eliminate it from the list of possible causes. Just a thought.

[.T.]

One thing that helped our situation here was going to 1000mb (Gb) and consolidating various hubs/switches that were spread all over to a couple of really good stackable switches. It required me to run a couple thousand feet of wire (I still cough and hack even thinking about crawling around in the suspended ceiling), and install several network cards, but the improvement was astounding. :shock:

[truevis]

I always use startup.exe (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) on computers I use. People have so many unneeded apps running at startup, it's amazing. Even new Dells have a pile.

For networks, also watch out for bittorrent clients. They can use all the bandwidth you've got, I reckon.

Make sure your AV apps are ignoring your CAD files, too (IMO).

[Railrose]

Corp changed our server fairly recently. It has a slower response time than the one we were using. They insist it's better. :screwy: To regain working speed, I now have to check the drawing out of the server file & save it to my hard drive & work locally. :banghead: This is a major deal when working with image files.

[ekubaskie]

AutoCAD doesn't work directly with the drawing files anyway - it works with temporary copies on your C drive. This is NOT true of image files, though, and a slow network can hurt you - and rasters can be huge files. We have a separate server and switch for GIS/CAD files and users - that helps a lot.

Streaming audio/video can hit your network pretty hard. Come down like thunder on anybody who is YouTubing or listening to netradio.

Check the settings for your virus scanner - if it checks all files at each access, it's killing your productivity. Clean up temp folders, make sure there is 10G or so of clear space on your boot drive, and don't have a lot of CTB/STB files in your plot style folder (accessed every time you clikkfirst an object).

[jgratton]

Well whatdaya know? Someone moved and changed the thread name! Thanks, I guess. Got me a few great answers. Prepares me for that looming discussion with IT.

Being a 3d shop, we do all have 1GB min RAM, so no problem there.

bittorrent clients? AV apps? no idea what your talking about there - will have to do some research....

Streaming audio/video - I am having trouble finding an article from a reliable source - I need proof to back this up. As of now we have NO restrictions here and over 500 employees.

I did not realize AutoCAD works with temporary copies on local drive. I have a dual boot - 2000 AND XP, so double the fun!.

Virus scanning is IT territory - losing files due to a worm kills productivity too.

By temp folders, do you mean EVERYTHING (files, folders) below C:\Documents and Settings\ Username|Local Settings\Temp?

What do you mean by ...CTB/STB files ...accessed every time you clikkfirst an object? Is clickfirst a setting? How would plot styles affect anything other than plot command?

[.chad]

Being a 3d shop, we do all have 1GB min RAM, so no problem there.
3d files can get pretty big without alot of effor, if they are being saved and worked on over a network it can easily kill your system.



bittorrent clients? AV apps? no idea what your talking about there - will have to do some research....
bittorrent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitttorrent)is a way of downloading files using peer to peer sharing, without having the cumbersome, bulky interfaces of emule, napster et al.

AV is anti-virus software. norton and mcaffee are two pretty common apps - imo there are much better solutions available that take up alot less system resources.



Streaming audio/video - I am having trouble finding an article from a reliable source - I need proof to back this up. As of now we have NO restrictions here and over 500 employees.
streaming media (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_audio) is another huge bandwith hog. audio and video files are usually large files, which means inorder to deliever content without alot of studdering there is alot of data being pushed quickly. things to look for - youtube, myspace (i know myspace doesnt inherently have streaming, but people *love* to put junk on their pages that streams,) google video, last.fm, pandora. if you have 500 employees and no restrictions - you should look into some sort of guidelines.



By temp folders, do you mean EVERYTHING (files, folders) below C:\Documents and Settings\ Username|Local Settings\Temp?
in the start menu, Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
this utility will get rid of alot of the junk that accumulates as temporary save files, internet cache, installer junk.

running a spyware removal tool will also help clean up alot of junk that ends up on a computer just through general surfing.



What do you mean by ...CTB/STB files ...accessed every time you clikkfirst an object? Is clickfirst a setting? How would plot styles affect anything other than plot command?CTB / STB are plot style files for autocad (they control lineweights when plotting.) CTB are color based, STB are style based. not sure about clickfirst.

[jgratton]

Disk Cleanup doesn't seem to do the job. I checked everything and there's still stuff in the temp folders, each one, not only my own user profile.

That's why I asked if I could safely delete anything inside the temp folder, provided I am not running any other apps but explorer.

[jgratton]

streaming media (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_audio) is another huge bandwith hog. audio and video files are usually large files, which means inorder to deliever content without alot of studdering there is alot of data being pushed quickly. things to look for - youtube, myspace (i know myspace doesnt inherently have streaming, but people *love* to put **** on their pages that streams,) google video, last.fm, pandora. if you have 500 employees and no restrictions - you should look into some sort of guidelines.
.

Thanks for your reconmmendation :beer: , and I'm sure they are all valid points, but our IT dept may not be willing to trust the word of a man who is looking for cannibal recipes. ;)

If anyone can lay their hands on the definitive link on the subject (You know, from Microsoft or Big Blue or some other non-cannibal source. I'd be grateful. In my own searches, I got the impression that it's bad for business for them to own up to performance issues.

[ekubaskie]

Virus scanning is IT territory - losing files due to a worm kills productivity too.

By temp folders, do you mean EVERYTHING (files, folders) below C:\Documents and Settings\ Username|Local Settings\Temp?

What do you mean by ...CTB/STB files ...accessed every time you clikkfirst an object? Is clickfirst a setting? How would plot styles affect anything other than plot command?
What if the virus scan checks the same file a couple hundred times a day? Scanning applications, emails, and word/excel docs should be enough.

I set AutoCAD to use a different folder for its temporary files - just plain C:\temp. It makes it easier to find after a crash. It also makes it easier to clean out the other temp folder - anything older than a couple days should be fair game. Windows alone will put hundreds of files there in a couple months.

The other part I learned by accident. Clickfirst IS a setting - click the object BEFORE you give a command. So, with no command active, you click the object first - and AutoCAD then looks up the object's properties for the properties toolbars and dialog, including accessing the plot style. We used to have about 150 CTBs in the folder, and every time you clicked, even on a simple line, there was a delay of several seconds. It grew to about 10 seconds - not much, until it happens a couple hundred times in a day. Flushed out the folder down to 10-15 and the delay went away. I hate CTBs anyway...

[jgratton]

I think maybe you mean PICKFIRST, I don't have a CLICKFIRST setvar. And it is by default set to 1. I think people would really get upset if I took that away, besides we run lots of 3rd party apps that would set it to suit their programs anyway. It is an interesting thing to consider...

I still haven't heard if I can manually delete all that stuff in the temp folders that disk cleanup is not deleting.

[Mike.Perry]

<SNIP>

I still haven't heard if I can manually delete all that stuff in the temp folders that disk cleanup is not deleting.Hi

Yep! delete anyway.

I personally clear that directory / folder ( as part of my basic weekly PC housekeeping ) on my PC once a week... you can ask my MBH how truly anal-retentive I am about such things...

Have a good one, Mike

[jgratton]

Hi

Yep! delete anyway.

I personally clear that directory / folder ( as part of my basic weekly PC housekeeping ) on my PC once a week... you can ask my MBH how truly anal-retentive I am about such things...

Have a good one, Mike

I will now that you've given me the go ahead. Thanks!

[Mike.Perry]

I will now that you've given me the go ahead. Thanks!Hi Janet

No worries...

HERE'S (http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2006/02/two_simple_solu.html) a little bit more information on the subject.

:beer: Mike

[thomas.glasgow]

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IT will slap them down soon if they don't clean up their acts..
Ask IT to allocate them a specific portion of the network bandwidth for downloading their videos, and not congest the network, and everybody will be happy :D