Python Shell (IDLE) Lag

[dumbandjaded at gmail.com]

Hey everyone, just a quick general question about using the main python
shell (I'm using IDLE on Windows to be exact).

Whenever I print some really long output to the screen (> 3000
characters or so), my shell will start lagging very badly.  I'm not
sure if the shell keeps some memory dedicated to this already outputted
data or what, but either way I can't seme to unlock these resources.
Restarting just the shell doesn't help, so I end up having to closing
IDLE completely and restarting it.  Needless to say, this is a pain
when I've got a lot of commands in the shell already I want to repeat
because I lose them all.

Anyone know of any way to free up these resources without restarting
IDLE?

Thanks in advance.