drupal runs slower on my localhost/computer than on the webserver

If you've got lots of RAM, them you probably want to try some of the other mysql config files that use more memory for caching etc. The default MySQL config is quite stingy with memory, and the performance can suffer because of it. Use the devel module to find out if the database is more of a bottleneck (ie it takes a larger percentage of the total page generation time) on your PC than it is on your webserver.

You'd really want to go to the WAMP community for better tuning advice, or failing that the Apache/PHP/MySQL communities.

Also, I have noticed that these kinds of things typically are sometimes more sluggish on Windows as they are originally unix apps that got ported to Windows. And Windows is also quite different internally to unix, and typically there are less developers using these apps on Windows, so doesn't get quite the same developer attention.

Follow the above advice (switch to more tuned settings for Apache, PHP, and MySQL... allot everything more RAM to work with, etc). A local server likely comes with default or only slightly adjusted settings, which are very conservative. If you have a fast computer with plenty of RAM, it can be greatly improved. Google for tips on basic tweaking, and also have a look at the high performance optional config files that are usually packaged with Apache, MySQL, etc. Look for my.cnf for MySQL.

The other major issue is probably the lack of a PHP opcode cache, aka "PHP accelerator" (using one can improve site speed by at least double or better, assuming you don't have other major bottlenecks such as bad code or bad SQL queries). What this does is: so long as the code hasn't changed since it was last accessed, it saves the compiled version of the PHP code on your site instead of re-compiling it on the fly with every request (which is the default behavior). Any live web server (if the host is not an idiot) will be using a PHP opcode cache... however local server software generally either doesn't come with one, or does but it is turned off by default. The main options for PHP caches are APC, eAccelerator, and XCache. MAMP (for Macs) for instance includes "all" PHP cache options, which you can enable/switch on at will by clicking an option. There's also Zend Optimizer, but it is not a PHP cache (not worth using at all in my opinion). My understanding is WAMP now comes with APC installed but not enabled - I found one bit of info on enabling APC on WAMP and there's likely more info you can find if that doesn't work (it looks like a standard way of enabling it, so look for any general help on setting up APC if needed). You can also install eAccelerator on WAMP, though you'll have to google for info. You should only have 1 opcode cache running at a time (e.g. don't try to run APC and eAccelerator at the same time).
Also check http://www.google.com/search?q=drupal+opcode+cache

Hope this helps :)

-- David
davidnewkerk.com | absolutecross.com
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