Making Logos/Verbum 8 Faster - Brief Guide - 2019 Dec edition

Lots of people remark, correctly, that Logos/Verbum runs slowly on their computers, whether laptop or desktop. Many people request help in speeding things up on the forums. There are lots of things that one can (potentially) do to speed it up to some extent, whether great or small.

Here's a list of things that I hope will prove handy. How exactly to do these things (and why) has already been discussed in other threads easily found via Google.

___

1. Replace your hard drive with an SSD. This solves most speed-related problems instantly and permanently.

2. Make sure you're using Logos/Verbum 8 and that it's fully updated. Run the Update Now command to be sure of program updates and the Update Resources command to make sure that all of your resources are fully updated.

3. Use selective downloading and/or hiding resources to limit the resource on your computer / visible in your library to stuff you might actually use. After doing this or if you have decided not to trim your visible/downloaded library, run the Delete Unlicensed Resources command.

4. Delete unnecessary Visual Filters.

5. Reduce the number of Collections that you have; you can replace them with MyTags.

6. Restart Logos/Verbum and let it finish indexing.

7. Restart your computer at least once per week. Do not just always have it hibernate or sleep.

8. Add more RAM if your device has less than ~8 GB of it or so. This will have more of an effect if you already have an SSD; if you don't, lack of RAM probably isn't the major limiting factor.

9. Prune programs running in the background, etc., that are eating up system resources unnecessarily. In Windows 10, Task Manager is your friend. Pay special attention to your anti-virus software.

10. If you use Logos/Verbum relatively rarely and find that it always needs to update or index when you need to do time-sensitive work, consider booting it up occasionally between those times so that it can update and index in your spare time.

11. If you've had this installation on your computer for years, perhaps updating it from Logos/Verbum 7 or even earlier, consider using the Rebuild Index command and letting it run on its own, potentially for a long time, before trying to do anything else on that device.

12. If using Windows, use the Set Use Ngen to Yes command. To speed up the program's launch on a Mac, try setting Logos/Verbum to open directly to a blank layout, rather than to the home page or any kind of populated layout.

13. If Guides are loading slowly, consider minimizing all or nearly all of their sections before closing in order to cause them to launch faster next time.

____

Veterans, did I miss anything worth briefly noting?

NB: The above list has been edited repeatedly due to feedback given below.

“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Sort by:
1 - 6 of 61

    5. Reduce the number of Collections that you have; you can replace them with MyTags.

    Curious about this one. Why would this one matter?

    Myke Harbuck
    Lead Pastor, www.ByronCity.Church
    Adjunct Professor, Georgia Military College

    Curious about this one. Why would this one matter?

    Collections are built at startup-time. If you have diagnostic logging turned on, you can look into the logos.log file and will see the time it takes to build all of them.

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

    If someone was going to run Rebuild Index, it might be beneficial to first run Delete Unlicensed Resources.

    Thanks to FL for including Carta and a Hebrew audio bible in Logos 9!

    Starting to a blank layout has vastly improved my startup time. Just be mindful of making sure you have your layout saved if you are working on something. I like the convenience of opening to a last layout, but having a blank desktop lets me research things on the fly or starting something new without making an idol of an ongoing work as if I must finish it before doing something else. That Logos is up faster is more agile.

    The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter

    If someone was going to run Rebuild Index, it might be beneficial to first run Delete Unlicensed Resources.

    Delete Unlicensed Resources could very well be beneficial, although it doesn't really matter which order these two commands are run in (as the rebuilding index will ignore unlicensed resources). I have, however, now added Delete Unlicensed Resources to Tip #3, so someone trying all of these things more or less in order will have done it before getting to Rebuild Index. Thank you for the reminder! [:)]

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    5. Reduce the number of Collections that you have; you can replace them with MyTags.

    Curious about this one. Why would this one matter?

    Dynamic collections can be slow. They're all recalculated when loading and every time the library catalog updates. Using the new syntax helps a lot, so my advice would be to delete dynamic collections you don't need and make sure other complex collections use the new syntax. Static collections (ones that just use 'plus/minus these resources') aren't slow.

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

    Curious about this one. Why would this one matter?

    I found this to be one of the great headaches with Logos. One of its most important and best features has to be minimized for it to run optimally. 

    At one point, I had several hundred collections. I had to pare the down to a few dozen (and it did make a difference in speed).

    Kind of a bummer.

    Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.

    At one point, I had several hundred collections. I had to pare the down to a few dozen (and it did make a difference in speed).

    Kind of a bummer.

    Will this work??

    A) keep the original rules for the dynamic collection by saving them to a text document outside of Logos / Verbum. [Logos collection rules.docx ??]

    B) tag the collection with something meaningful.  Use the tags in place of the dynamic collection. 

    C) then it is safe to remove the dynamic collection.  [but save the defining rules some place safe] 

    D) every once in a while check if you have new members that should be in the collection by rebuilding the dynamic collection by using the rule you saved in the text document.  Add tags to any missing members.  Delete the newly rebuild but no longer needed collection (your using tags instead)

    At one point, I had several hundred collections. I had to pare the down to a few dozen (and it did make a difference in speed).

    Kind of a bummer.

    Will this work??

    A) keep the original rules for the dynamic collection by saving them to a text document outside of Logos / Verbum. [Logos collection rules.docx ??]

    B) tag the collection with something meaningful.  Use the tags in place of the dynamic collection. 

    C) then it is safe to remove the dynamic collection.  [but save the defining rules some place safe] 

    D) every once in a while check if you have new members that should be in the collection by rebuilding the dynamic collection by using the rule you saved in the text document.  Add tags to any missing members.  Delete the newly rebuild but no longer needed collection (your using tags instead)

    Will it work?  Yes. And your suggestion may be very helpful to some users who see this thread.

    Are tags as useful or dynamic as collections? Not even close. How would I use tags in other tools where collections show up as a search choice? I suspect FL knows this, or they wouldn't have developed collections in the first place. Its usability simply can't be matched by tagging resources.

    Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.

    2. Make sure you're using Logos/Verbum 8 and that it's fully updated. Run the Update Resources command to be sure.

    If memory serves me correctly, this should be Update Now - not Update Resources - if we want to check for software updates. It's less intensive than the Update Resources command.

    Logos Series X Pastor’s Library | Logos 3 Leader’s Library | 4 Portfolio | 5 Platinum | 6 Feature Crossgrade | 7 Essential | 8 M & W Platinum and Academic Professional | 9 Academic Professional and Messianic Jewish Diamond

    2. Make sure you're using Logos/Verbum 8 and that it's fully updated. Run the Update Resources command to be sure.

    If memory serves me correctly, this should be Update Now - not Update Resources - if we want to check for software updates. It's less intensive than the Update Resources command.

    One of the things you want to check for is resources/resource updates that haven't yet been downloaded, even if just to get the indexing all done in one go. Update Resources does a thorough check of everything; Update Now does not. I prioritized being thorough over being quick, but Update Now is a valid option.

    EDIT: As pointed out below and double-checked in the present Logos Help documentation, Update Resources does a thorough check speciifcally for resource updates. As such, one should seemingly run both commands.

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    One of the things you want to check for is resources/resource updates that haven't yet been downloaded, even if just to get the indexing all done in one go. Update Resources does a thorough check of everything;

    Update Now is the command for software and resource updates that haven't yet been downloaded.

    Update Resources performs a thorough check of your license for any missing resources. This is not the command to use in the context of being up to date.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

    One of the things you want to check for is resources/resource updates that haven't yet been downloaded, even if just to get the indexing all done in one go. Update Resources does a thorough check of everything;

    Update Now is the command for software and resource updates that haven't yet been downloaded.

    Update Resources performs a thorough check of your license for any missing resources. This is not the command to use in the context of being up to date.

    You are correct, per the Logos 8 Help documentation. I have edited my original post.

    Although I note that I've been running the Update Resources almost exclusively for some years and it has always seemed to find whatever program update was available.

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    Veterans, did I miss anything worth briefly noting?

    I read once that closing sections of a Guide (PG, or EG) will allow Logos to restore the layout quicker, then open (triangle points down instead of to the right) the section as you need it.

    •  If the section (say "all commentaries") is expanded then the layout finds the reference in each resource as part of the opening process. If you have several commentary collections then the program is finding the passage in each commentary in each collection.
    • This save start-up time, but introduces a few seconds wait each time a new section is opened. For me I'd rather wait a couple seconds for each section rather than several minutes every time I open a guide.
    •  I find this "closed sections" of a layout is a good compromise between "blank layout" and  a "fully expanded" layout with several guides.

    Making Disciples! Logos Ecosystem = LogosMax on Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (Win11), Android app on tablet, FSB on iPhone & iPad mini, Proclaim (Proclaim Remote on Fire Tablet).

    Veterans, did I miss anything worth briefly noting?

    I read once that closing sections of a Guide (PG, or EG) will allow Logos to restore the layout quicker, then open (triangle points down instead of to the right) the section as you need it.

    •  If the section (say "all commentaries") is expanded then the layout finds the reference in each resource as part of the opening process. If you have several commentary collections then the program is finding the passage in each commentary in each collection.
    • This save start-up time, but introduces a few seconds wait each time a new section is opened. For me I'd rather wait a couple seconds for each section rather than several minutes every time I open a guide.
    •  I find this "closed sections" of a layout is a good compromise between "blank layout" and  a "fully expanded" layout with several guides.

    I do this myself. Added to original post. Thanks!

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    4. Disable/delete unnecessary Visual Filters.

    You have to delete VF's for performance.

    6. Restart Logos/Verbum and let it finish indexing.

    7. Restart your computer at least once per week. Do not just always have it hibernate or sleep.

    Logos performs an Update Now when restarted, and there are sufficient requests for a restart when certain resource updates have been downloaded. So I would disregard this and restart the computer once per week for performance.

    9. Prune programs running in the background, etc., that are eating up system resources unnecessarily. In Windows 10, Task Manager is your friend. Pay special attention to your anti-virus software.

    Your anti-virus software is the place to prune unnecessary functions e.g. web protection could be performed by your browser and anti-virus.

    12. To speed up the program's launch, try setting Logos/Verbum to open directly to a blank layout,

    In Windows, use the command Set Use Ngen to Yes for that purpose, without resorting to a blank layout. It is effective until you set it to No.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

    4. Disable/delete unnecessary Visual Filters.

    You have to delete VF's for performance.

    I've gotten away with changing them to a Bible I never use and to a single book in that Bible. I don't know if I would have gotten even greater performance boost by deleting them but I was happy with my improvement.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

    4. Disable/delete unnecessary Visual Filters.

    You have to delete VF's for performance.

    Thank you.

    9. Prune programs running in the background, etc., that are eating up system resources unnecessarily. In Windows 10, Task Manager is your friend. Pay special attention to your anti-virus software.

    Your anti-virus software is the place to prune unnecessary functions e.g. web protection could be performed by your browser and anti-virus.

    Anti-virus software is definitely a place to prune unnecessary functions, but it is certainly not the only one.

    12. To speed up the program's launch, try setting Logos/Verbum to open directly to a blank layout,

    In Windows, use the command Set Use Ngen to Yes for that purpose, without resorting to a blank layout. It is effective until you set it to No.

    I didn't realize that Set Use Ngen to Yes duplicated that effect.

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    But where do I find the place to "Set Use Ngen to Yes"?

    Type/paste (without quotes) into the GO/Command box

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

    Good advice, but it's sad that it's necessary. Logos should perform better off the shelf.

    As one of the have-nots when it comes to SSDs, I don't mind some performance issues with Logos. I don't mind if startup is slow or that indexing takes time--I don't even mind searches being slow as I don't do all that many of them. I'm more bothered by seemingly simple tasks that should not require accessing a large number of files simultaneously or the index show considerable lag:

    -I do mind that that it takes 30 seconds to switch from my layout to the homepage.

    -I do mind that clicking on a resource shortcut takes several seconds to open the book. Even web pages load faster.

    -I don't know why Logos should hang briefly with a Windows (not responding) error every time I change layouts.

    -Drop-down boxes time to populate--oh dear. Really bad.

    I don't think any of your tips will help with these except #1--and if a standard HDD is really getting challenged by them I doubt an SSD is being used optimally either.

    Good advice, but it's sad that it's necessary. Logos should perform better off the shelf.

    Sure. But it doesn't. So I created this thread to house a concise crowd-sourced guide to maximize the speed of Logos/Verbum.

    In addition to item 1, items 2 and 7-9 in the list can help some users to some degree with one or more of the specific deficits you mentioned.

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

    If you have a lot of Notes (10,000 plus), use the Visual Filters icon (three bullets in a triangle) to turn off notes and highlights in all open Bibles except your preferred one. Also turn off notes (only, not highlights) in open commentaries. This saves a LOT of processing time when you scroll through resources that are linked together.