Speeding up slow Drupal administration pages

This articles describes how to work around a problem that may occur when you access the administration interface in Drupal.

Problem

When you try to load pages in Drupal's administration interface, they load very slowly.

Cause

By default, Drupal automatically checks several URLs on the internet for system updates. However, if there is a non-functioning URL, Drupal waits for the connection to time out. During this waiting period, administration pages load slowly.

Workaround

To work around this problem, you can disable the Update status module in Drupal 6, or the Update manager module in Drupal 7.

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Important

This is only a workaround. You should still check for Drupal updates manually to ensure that your site is kept up to date with the latest security fixes. Alternatively, you can use a tool like Drush and automate the update process in a cron job. For more information about how to use Drush, please see this article.

• To disable the Update status module in Drupal 6, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Drupal as the administrator.

  2. In the left pane, click Administer, click Site building, and then click Modules. A list of modules appears.

  3. Under Core - optional, locate the Update status module.

  4. In the Enabled column, clear the check box.

  5. Click Save configuration. Drupal disables the module.

• To disable the Update manager module in Drupal 7, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Drupal as the administrator.

  2. On the top menu bar, click Modules. A list of modules appears.

  3. Under CORE, locate the Update manager module.

  4. In the Enabled column, clear the check box.

  5. Click Save configuration. Drupal disables the module.