Photoshop - I Think I'm in Trouble

[Leah]

I'm working with CS3 on Windows 7 and just recently it started really lagging, freezing and shutting down on it's own.

Is it CS3 and the OS? Is it possible that I just need to re-install? Or...am I going to have to upgrade? I'm scared.

[rach3975]

No idea (sorry!) but I've been using CS3 on a Windows 7 machine for a few months without problems. Maybe you need to clean out your cache or clean off your HD? I hope it ends up being something easy like that or reinstalling.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by rach3975

No idea (sorry!) but I've been using CS3 on a Windows 7 machine for a few months without problems. Maybe you need to clean out your cache or clean off your HD? I hope it ends up being something easy like that or reinstalling.

I've been using it on Windows 7 for quite a while and it's just started doing this. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed too!

[Darcy Baldwin]

Also look at where your scratch disks are going to. If you can spread that out, it should help. Edit>Preferences>Performance. I have a secondary hard drive, so my first scratch disk goes there, so it stays out of my C drive. If you have your single drive partitioned, put it on the other partition from your C. If you have only the one drive change how much it allows PS to use in memory. Also, if you've got an older machine with a newer OS, you might need to look at increasing your RAM.

Also - if you get a cheap thumb drive 2 gig or more is best (they're pretty cheap), you can stick it in and use Windows Speedboost feature and use it as a scratch disk of sorts. It helps speed your system up.

You don't need to upgrade CS..it's just fussing with your machine and windows.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

Also look at where your scratch disks are going to. If you can spread that out, it should help. Edit>Preferences>Performance. I have a secondary hard drive, so my first scratch disk goes there, so it stays out of my C drive. If you have your single drive partitioned, put it on the other partition from your C. If you have only the one drive change how much it allows PS to use in memory. Also, if you've got an older machine with a newer OS, you might need to look at increasing your RAM.

Also - if you get a cheap thumb drive 2 gig or more is best (they're pretty cheap), you can stick it in and use Windows Speedboost feature and use it as a scratch disk of sorts. It helps speed your system up.

You don't need to upgrade CS..it's just fussing with your machine and windows.

I have a C drive, as well as a D drive and an EHD. I never even had my D drive formatted! LOL So I did that and I'll send my scratch disks to there??

My computers only a year old. I've got 8GB RAM and a 64 bit OS/i7 CPU.

[rach3975]

Scratch disks...that's what I meant, but for some reason I always call it the cache. I hope one of Darcy's suggestions works. I ended up switching to PS after another program did what CS3 is doing to you and I couldn't resolve it. I'm really hoping you get it fixed, partly because I don't want to think I'm in for it happening again!

[Nettio]

Two other things to try if you're still having issues:

1) Reset your Photoshop preference file - that tends to fix a lot of wonky Photoshop issues. Directions can be found here: http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Phot...ab64-74a7.html

2) Have you installed any new fonts lately? Photoshop is really picky about fonts. One bad font can make it completely unusable.

[Leah]

Originally Posted by Nettio

2) Have you installed any new fonts lately? Photoshop is really picky about fonts. One bad font can make it completely unusable.

Really? I had no idea. I just installed a couple of new fonts the other day. But it was wonky before that.

[Leah]

One of the weirdest things is that when I go to save a page, I go to "Save As" and then to Libraries - Digital Scrapbook Files (freezes) and then after it's done going all wonky, I can click on Digital Pages 2011.

Why is it freezing when I click on the one folder?

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by paperboutique

I have a C drive, as well as a D drive and an EHD. I never even had my D drive formatted! LOL So I did that and I'll send my scratch disks to there??

My computers only a year old. I've got 8GB RAM and a 64 bit OS/i7 CPU.

Ok - here's what *we* do. Our C drive is only for windows files. D is for all of our personal files, added programs, photos, etc. If you use your EHD for things, you can do that, too. Since yours is already set up, you probably don't want to move stuff around (except maybe store your bulk items like photos, scrap stuff so that your C drive has a little wiggle room - copy them over first, don't drag them over, then delete the original so you don't risk losing anything).

Format your D first, (copy things over if you want), and point your scratch drive to D in Photoshop with the Edit>Preferences>File Handling. It should help your computer handle the hog that is Photoshop.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by paperboutique

One of the weirdest things is that when I go to save a page, I go to "Save As" and then to Libraries - Digital Scrapbook Files (freezes) and then after it's done going all wonky, I can click on Digital Pages 2011.

Why is it freezing when I click on the one folder?

I don't use the libraries feature in Windows. I just go ahead and go straight to my file Save as>D>Digital>MyLayouts. (because this is how I have it set up), does that make sense? I just don't use that library feature.

And do remember to shut down photoshop fairly often if you don't normally. The build up that it creates can cause it to glitch when you're trying to save, etc.

And do try the thumb drive option, too...it's a good little boost They're only $5-10.