If you are dissatisfied with the performance of a Microsoft Access database application that originally functioned well with a smaller volume of data, you can expect an improvement when you distribute it to a client and server. In such cases, a bottleneck is most likely due to the throughput of the local Microsoft Jet Engine. A database server that runs on a dedicated server computer and fully exploits its resources and operating system distributes the load more efficiently and is better equipped to handle a high volume of data and a large number of users.
If, however, you are dissatisfied with the waiting time during which Access is being started, upsizing is not the solution to your current problem. In order to continue using the application, you must also continue to use Microsoft Access since the Access database contains not only the module code but also all screens and any existing macros. You can attempt to speed up Microsoft Access 2.0 by preventing the Wizards from being loaded when the program is started and increasing the memory cache from the preset value of 512 KB to around 2 MB. This is done by changing the relevant settings in the MSACC20.INI initialization file located in the directory in which Microsoft Access 2.0 is installed. You also have the option of further upgrading the workstations or rewriting the application, e.g. in Microsoft Visual Basic, thus slightly reducing the resource requirements placed on an Access application.
The minimum requirements for computers on which the client can execute a database application are constantly growing. As of mid-1996, if you plan to run a number of Microsoft Office products simultaneously under Windows 95 or if you or the programs used utilize "object linking and embedding" (OLE), your workstation should be a PC with a Pentium processor, a minimum clock rate of 100 MHz and at least 32 MB of main memory. For example, if the server database is to be accessed on the workstation only by a Visual Basic 3.0 program and if no other Microsoft Office applications or similar resource-intensive applications from other manufacturers are to be run simultaneously, you can use a workstation with half the memory specified above, or even a quarter.