Pidgin: Excessive USB Writing?

Pidgin seems like it is reading/writing to the USB when it really shouldn't need to. I don't have a very fast drive, so this is noticeably annoying.

Specific instances are:
- When I double click the tray icon, bringing up my buddy list.
- When I minimize Pidgin to the system tray.
- When I open an new IM window to chat with someone.

Not only does this cause Pidgin to freeze for 1-2 seconds, but the read/writes will slow down anything else I am doing from the USB drive.

The Plugins I have enabled are:

- Guifications
- Pidgin Encryption
- Buddy State Notification

My question is this: Is there anything, such as a setting, that I can change to get rid of these read/writes? I would prefer my Pidgin to operate mostly in RAM using as little USB access as possible. I already have logging turned off, I'm not sure what else to change.

On a different but slightly related matter: I'm considering putting the Aspell application on my USB drive for Pidgin. I've seen other posts talking about it, and it seems easy enough. Everyone loves better spelling, but, I cannot do it at the cost of more USB read/writes. So my question is, will Aspell run in RAM or will it constant be checking the USB files for the spell checking? I can deal with longer Pidgin start-up time, but having delays during normal operation of the program will be unbearable.

I look forward to your replies!