but its not connecting to block chain - its synchronising the network and catching up. or am i misunderstanding something?
Just wait.
is there a way to speed up the process? like for example not using the computer except for this particular task, etc?
Go to File>Option and go to the dbcache field and key in (its in MB) however much ram you want to use. Take note that for whatever you keyed in, the number should not exceed the amount of ram that is free in MB. Next, just restart the client.