Speed and Stability in batch processing of files.

My company is changing some aspects of our setup files. We have THOUSANDS. I have written a working script to work through all of them.

SPEED:

When I start the script I'll get as many as 10 per minute, but as the batch goes on it gets slower and slower. I let it run over night and it was down to one file every three minutes.

Right now my bandaid for this is to run 50 files at a time.

STABILITY:

When the script is finished I have to force quit illustrator because it is locked up.

I'm running IllustratorCC2015 on a mac OS X 10.10.5

I've wrapped the whole script in a function, and added $.gc(); garbage collection commands because of some tips I found here on the forum. Any advice on either issue would be most welcome. Here is my code.

// Main Code [Execution of script begins here]
regRemv();
function regRemv(){
  // uncomment to suppress Illustrator warning dialogs
  // app.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevel.DONTDISPLAYALERTS;

  // establish save options
  var saveOptions = new IllustratorSaveOptions();
  saveOptions.compatibility = Compatibility.ILLUSTRATOR15;

  var destFolder, sourceFolder, files, fileType, sourceDoc, targetFile;
  // Select the source folder.
  sourceFolder = Folder.selectDialog( 'Select the folder with Illustrator files you want to process');
  // If a valid folder is selected
  if ( sourceFolder != null ){
  files = new Array();
  fileType = prompt( 'Select type of Illustrator files to you want to process. Eg: *.ai, *.eps', '*' );
  // Get all files matching the pattern
  files = sourceFolder.getFiles( fileType );
  if ( files.length > 0 ){
  // Get the destination to save the files
  //destFolder = Folder.selectDialog( 'Select the folder where you want to save the converted PDF files.', '~' );
  destFolder = sourceFolder;
  for ( h = 0; h < files.length; h++ ){
  sourceDoc = app.open(files); // returns the document object
  var idoc = sourceDoc;
  var straypoints = [];
  for (n=0; n<idoc.pathItems.length; n++) {
  var ipath = idoc.pathItems;
  if (ipath.pathPoints.length==1)
  straypoints.push(ipath);
  }
  for (m=0; m<idoc.textFrames.length; m++) {
  var itext = idoc.textFrames;
  if (itext.textRange.length==0)
  straypoints.push(itext);
  }
  for (k=0; k<straypoints.length; k++){
  straypoints.remove();
  }

  var pi = idoc.pathItems;
  var tf = idoc.textFrames;
  createGuideDie()
  var sw = idoc.swatches['Guide-die'];

  // text frames with registration color change to die color.
  for (var t=tf.length -1; t>=0; t--) {
  var iTxtFrm = tf;
  var firstLtr = iTxtFrm.characters[0];
  var chars = iTxtFrm.characters;
  if (iTxtFrm.layer.visible === true && iTxtFrm.layer.locked === false && iTxtFrm.hidden === false && iTxtFrm.locked === false && firstLtr.characterAttributes.fillColor.typename === "SpotColor" && firstLtr.characterAttributes.fillColor.spot.name === "[Registration]"){
  for (var c=0; c<chars.length; c++) {
  var ltr = chars;
  ltr.characterAttributes.fillColor = sw.color;
  }
  }
  }

  for (var i=pi.length -1; i>=0; i--) {
  var ipath = pi;
  if (ipath.layer.visible === true && ipath.layer.locked === false && ipath.hidden === false && ipath.locked === false && ipath.stroked === true && ipath.strokeColor.typename === "SpotColor" && ipath.strokeColor.spot.name === "[Registration]"){
  // ipath.strokeColor = sw.color;
  ipath.remove();
  // ipath.stroked = false;
  } else if (ipath.layer.visible === true && ipath.layer.locked === false && ipath.hidden === false && ipath.locked === false && ipath.stroked === false && ipath.filled === false && Math.round(ipath.height) === 18 && Math.round(ipath.width) === 18){
  ipath.remove()
  }
  }

  var here = sourceDoc.fullName;
  sourceDoc.saveAs( here, saveOptions );
  sourceDoc.close();
  $.gc();
  $.gc();
  }
  }
  } else {
  alert( 'No matching files found' );
  }
  $.gc();
  // app.executeMenuCommand('closeAll');

  app.beep();
  alert(h + " finished processing");


  function createGuideDie(){
  if (!doesColorExist('Guide-die')){
  // Create CMYKColor
  var cmykColor = new CMYKColor();
  cmykColor.cyan = 28;
  cmykColor.magenta = 56;
  cmykColor.yellow = 0;
  cmykColor.black = 37;
  // Create Spot
  var spot = idoc.spots.add();
  spot.color = cmykColor;
  spot.colorType = ColorModel.SPOT;
  spot.name = 'Guide-die';
  }
  }
  function doesColorExist(){
  var clrs = idoc.swatches;
  for (var i=0;i<clrs.length;i++){
  if (clrs.name==='Guide-die'){
  return true;
  }
  }
  return false;
  }
}
$.gc();