If you have a VBA function that turns Microsoft Excel into a CPU munching beast, is it possible to tame things down so that you can continue to use your computer for other activities while Excel is finishing up? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post comes to the rescue to help a frustrated reader get Excel back under control.

Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.

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The Question

SuperUser reader learningAsIGo wants to know if there is a way to limit Microsoft Excel’s CPU usage while running a VBA script on his computer:

Is there a way to limit Microsoft Excel’s CPU usage while running VBA functions?

Any suggestions? My computer’s operating system is Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit with a 2007 32-bit version of Excel installed on it.

The Answer

SuperUser contributor mtone has the answer for us:

Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.

You can limit the number of threads used by Excel to recalculate formulas by going to Options and selecting the Advanced Section, then scrolling down until you reach the Formulas sub-section.