When starting Cadence you first want to make sure you are using a fast machine. Cadence is a large program that takes a lot computing power. Secondly you'll want to create a directory in which you will keep your files. Make sure the setup files are in this directory. From personal experience I usually remote log into one of the faster computers and have created a directory simply named Cadence to store my files.
As an example, I will show my procedure to start cadence:
rlgoin xxxxx.xxxx.ucla.edu (remote Machine)
cd cadence
setenv DISPLAY xxxxx.xxx.ucla.edu:0.0 (local Machine)
icfb
Cadence is a trademark of Cadence Design Systems, Inc., 555 River Oaks Parkway, San Jose, CA 95134
Synopsys is a trademark of Synopsys Inc, 700 East Middlefield Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043