Jerky Dragging in PowerPoint 2007

September 5, 2007 10:40 AM

Every time I try to drag an object in PowerPoint 2007, my CPU usage spikes way up, and the dragging becomes so jerky that it's unusable. I'm using a good machine, and this problem occurs even with uncomplex presentations. Any ideas/fixes? This version of PowerPoint is buggy as hell.
posted by krunk to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Have you checked for updates (hotfixes) via Windows Update/Office Update?

Are you running PP under Vista or Windows XP?
posted by jkaczor at 10:44 AM on September 5, 2007

Is the CPU usage due to PP or some other program? (Ctrl+Alt+Dlt --> Task Manager).

Are you running an on-demand virus scanner? I've had issues similar which were fixed by temporarily disabling the service.
posted by jmd82 at 10:51 AM on September 5, 2007

Sounds like a video driver problem to me. If PP can't use hardware acceleration, then you are at the mercy of some software equivalent.
posted by TeatimeGrommit at 10:56 AM on September 5, 2007

Response by poster: I'm running under XP. The CPU spike is definitely from PPT. I've killed the virus scanner, but it didn't help. Office Update says there aren't any updates.

There's a beta of the Office2K7 SP1 available, but I think I'll steer clear of that.
posted by krunk at 10:57 AM on September 5, 2007

Response by poster: Oh, and I forgot to mention:

Sometimes if I drag for a long time, my computer stars making the "device removal" sound, like when I eject my iPod. badunk! badunk!
posted by krunk at 11:00 AM on September 5, 2007

Response by poster: AH hah!
I just solved my own problem:

I had my mouse plugged into the USB hub on my Dell monitor. If I switch it to be directly jacked into my machine, the problem disappears. Must be some sort of bizarre interrupt problem. Is this common?

Thanks for your help.
posted by krunk at 11:02 AM on September 5, 2007