When Linux computers respond slowly, that symptom can have many causes. Please answer as many of the following questions as you can so that we can more easily isolate the cause of the problem that you are seeing.

What computer are you sitting in front of?

Slowdowns can be caused by problems in the system used to display your windows.

What computer are you typing a command to?

Slowdowns can be caused by problems in the system used to execute your commands or in the network between it and your display system.

What is your current default directory?

Slowdowns can be caused by problems in the system used to provide access to your current files and by softlinks in your current default directory and in your home directory which point to nfs file systems. In general, home directories should not contain softlinks to nfs file systems.

What is your current default search path?

The most common cause of slowdowns is problems in systems referenced early in a search path. In general, search paths should not include any nfs file systems.

What command(s) demonstrate the slowdown?

Slowdowns can be caused by problems in the other systems providing access to the program(s) you are running.

What file(s) are you trying to access?

Please include the full paths of the files. Slowdowns can be caused by problems in the system(s) used to provide access to your data.

-- SeldenBall - 2012-03-16