This has been a major problem for me in 13.10. I managed to solve it by turning off the record search activity option under provacy settings. It seems that the circling icon next to the magnifying glass is the process recording, or calling, previous searches.
If i turn if off (dash --> Security and privacy --> Files and applications --- Turn off: 'Record file and application usage'), my applications come up really quickly in the dash. j -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1061852 Title: Unity Application Lens slow to load To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1061852/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs