PSE 5 freezing all the time

[sabina_canada]

please could someone please help?

I am at the end of my tether. The drive on my original laptop suddenly failed and is still in the workshop waiting for a new drive. I am now using another laptop, Gateway with win xp and 70 GB available. But PSE 5 freezes up on me all the time. Sometimes I can make a cup of tea between waiting periods.
I don't know if it helps at all, but I keep seeing a tiny little bar about 1/2" long with two kind of arrows and my cursor gets stuck right there. NOthing moves for a long time. Also I get messages about the clipboard not being loaded or the file being 'end of file'.....

Should I go to Adobe Help for assistance or could perhaps someone here help me? Should I try to install PSE 5 over the existing one? I would hate to have to uninstall and then re-install because then I would have to re-install Akvis and Av Bros. curl page and brushes and whatever else I bought. All the extras are working fine, but something must be wrong to slow it down to this extent. I had no problem with the previous computer and wonder if perhaps the program was not installed properly or is corrupt ?

A huge sigh and almost ready to throw in the towel. Well, almost.

Thank you for any help.
Sabina.

[Wendy]

hi Sabina ...

I'm just wonderfing if the problem is being caused by lack of memory ... how much have you got installed ??

Wendy

[landorasue]

Wendy could by right. My computer ran slowly when I first began using Photoshop & InDesign. I only had 1.5GB of RAM. So I had it increased to 3GB. I would really like to have 4GB; will get that on my next computer.

[troush]

My other thought - was your antivirus disabled when you installed?

-Trish

[sabina_canada]

Hi all of you
thank you for your posting.
I will check my memory but normally a little window comes up saying that I am low in memory. The computer is brandnew, i.e. I got it about 6 months ago, but have not used it much. However I have about 14 GB stored on it.
I will check my memory today and then send you what I have found.
Thank you.
I just got up, but I am actually dreading opening up PSE and yet I have so much to accomplish. And so many ideas...darn it.

Hug,
Sabina.

[sabina_canada]

Hi,

I just checked and here is what I have:
Available Physical Memory 163.58 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.03 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB

I know absolutely nothing about virtual or physical memory, so of course I am grateful if you can advise me. Thank you all.

[troush]

What we're looking at is physical memory, or RAM, not how much disk space you have, although that can affect things too. Your physical memory is 512 K, which is the minimum to run PSE 5 or 6.

My laptop had 512 K - which is the minimum to run PSE 5/6. (I did upgrade to 1 Gig right before Christmas). Certain things seem much faster with 1 Gig now.

When you installed PSE 5.0, was your anti-virus software turned on? It is VERY important to disable anti-virus software during install. It can have strange effects.

You might not have to re-install your extras, but you might have to. I know once when I uninstalled 3.0, it left all the old stuff. A simple solution is to go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\ and copy the 5.0 directory off someplace safe. Uninstall, reinstall, and then copy the 5.0 directory back.

My other thought is perhaps your preferences are corrupted. Quit Elements, then go here C:\Documents and Settings\[your windows login]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0 and rename the Editor folder to Editor.old and then start up Elements again. It will automatically rebuild the Editor folder with new preferences.

-Trish

[sabina_canada]

Dear Trish,
thank you, I will copy and paste your instructions right now and then proceed this afternoon with everything.
Thank you for your help. It is driving me silly to sit in front of the pc and nothing moves. I can actually go on to something else in between and yes, I did have NOrton's antivirus running and BigFix. I did not disable any of the programs and I think maybe I should re-install, like you said. Also is it ok to run Roxio EMC 10 ? I don't open it at the same time, just use it for odd things at times?
How do I get more physical RAM? do I have to take the pc into the workshop?
OMG...another computer at the workshop...
It hasn't been a good year's beginning so far.
Hug and thank you.

[troush]

I would say your best bet is making sure EVERYTHING is disabled/turned off during install - anti-virus, firewall, Roxio. Norton is especially bad at playing nice with Adobe. (If you are nervous, unplug from the internet during install.)

For more RAM - well, I went to crucial.com and ran their utility to see what type my computer needed, and then ordered it. Basically, there is a compartment on the bottom of my laptop that says "Memory" or "RAM" or something like that. My dh opened it, took out the old, and plugged in the new, put the cover back on. I think it was about $84 for 1Gig. It's pretty easy, just make sure you discharge any static electricity before touching the new RAM or the inside of your computer (touch the little screw on your light switch plate or something else metal, and then don't move). But, 512K was okay. It seemed like any text operations were very slow.

-Trish

[sabina_canada]

Oh Trish, I thought that I knew a little about pc's, but you are a veritable fountain of knowledge. I will do the same and check with crucial.com. Didn't even know this sort of thing existed since I always run to a technician and end up paying a fortune. Ughh.

Right now I am going off the internet - I think it's easier for me because I have no idea how else to disable EVERYTHING. But first I have to uninstall PSE. I copied the folder and now on with the next step.
I will let you know.
Thank you.