jrw/Jonathan,
Thanks for that info. I followed the suggestions and see my problem with the Windows system. #8 is the big one - 15000+ images in the catalog while I just started using the catalog on my 11" Macbook. #2 made a big difference as well - in fact #2 - #7 each make a difference. Now all I need to do is to figure out how I want to move to multiple catalogs so I don't keep building Goliath here!!