diff -Naur moodle-1.9.4/course/lib.php rev-6/course/lib.php
--- moodle-1.9.4/course/lib.php	2009-01-14 15:06:51.000000000 -0800
+++ rev-6/course/lib.php	2009-02-13 11:33:48.000000000 -0800
@@ -1814,9 +1814,12 @@
     }
 
     echo "\n\n".'<table class="categorylist">';
-
-    $courses = get_courses($category->id, 'c.sortorder ASC', 'c.id,c.sortorder,c.visible,c.fullname,c.shortname,c.password,c.summary,c.guest,c.cost,c.currency');
+	
     if ($showcourses and $coursecount) {
+	
+		// Memory/speed optimization
+		$courses = get_courses($category->id, 'c.sortorder ASC', 'c.id,c.sortorder,c.visible,c.fullname,c.shortname,c.password,c.summary,c.guest,c.cost,c.currency');
+		// End Mod
 
         echo '<tr>';
 
@@ -1870,6 +1873,10 @@
             }
         }
     } else {
+	
+		// Memory/speed optimization
+		$coursecount = get_course_count($category->id);
+		// End Mod
 
         echo '<tr>';
 
@@ -1884,9 +1891,11 @@
         echo '<a '.$catlinkcss.' href="'.$CFG->wwwroot.'/course/category.php?id='.$category->id.'">'. format_string($category->name).'</a>';
         echo '</td>';
         echo '<td valign="top" class="category number">';
-        if (count($courses)) {
-           echo count($courses);
+		// Memory/speed optimization
+        if ($coursecount) {
+           echo($coursecount);
         }
+		// End Mod
         echo '</td></tr>';
     }
     echo '</table>';
diff -Naur moodle-1.9.4/lib/datalib.php rev-6/lib/datalib.php
--- moodle-1.9.4/lib/datalib.php	2009-01-14 15:06:56.000000000 -0800
+++ rev-6/lib/datalib.php	2009-02-13 11:33:48.000000000 -0800
@@ -469,6 +469,43 @@
 }
 
 
+
+
+/**
+ * Returns number of courses
+ *
+ * Returns number of courses, for whole site, or category
+ *
+ * @param mixed categoryid Id of category, or 'all' for whole site
+ *
+ */
+function get_course_count($categoryid="all") {
+
+    global $USER, $CFG;
+
+    if ($categoryid != "all" && is_numeric($categoryid)) {
+        $categoryselect = "WHERE c.category = '$categoryid'";
+    } else {
+        $categoryselect = "";
+    }
+
+    // pull out all course matching the cat
+    if ($coursecount = get_records_sql("SELECT COUNT(c.id) AS count
+                                    FROM {$CFG->prefix}course c
+                                    JOIN {$CFG->prefix}context ctx
+                                      ON (c.id = ctx.instanceid 
+                                          AND ctx.contextlevel=".CONTEXT_COURSE.")
+                                    $categoryselect")) {
+
+        $coursecount = array_keys($coursecount);
+		return $coursecount[0];
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+
+
+
 /**
  * Returns list of courses, for whole site, or category
  *