A little help......anyone, pleeeease

[my4boys]

OK, so I am currently using PSE5 and I am having some major response time problems.......It is like the longer it runs the longer it takes to respond to any command. It can take me up to an hour just to do a simple layout with a template. It is driving me NUTS, any suggestions. I am currently running with Vista if that helps.

PS, I have pretty much moved everything I can onto my EHD so my C drive is pretty empty and I use disk clean-up almost every other day!!!

[ditzyscrap]

Did you do a virus scan? Are you experiencing slowness in other areas of your computer, as well? How much RAM do you have in your computer?

My computer would freak out if I did the littlest thing, lol...I upgraded my RAM (from 1GB to 2GB) and it's working BETTER, but I'm still pretty sure that my HD is failing and it's causing everything to run slow.

[my4boys]

Originally Posted by ditzyscrap

Did you do a virus scan? Are you experiencing slowness in other areas of your computer, as well? How much RAM do you have in your computer?

My computer would freak out if I did the littlest thing, lol...I upgraded my RAM (from 1GB to 2GB) and it's working BETTER, but I'm still pretty sure that my HD is failing and it's causing everything to run slow.

OK the only thing I can tell you is that I have 1GB RAM and I do have virus scan but I don't remember which one. Would I have to turn it off for it to run faster? I only experience slowness after I exit PSE but only for a few minutes, then it all runs normal again.

I was almost crying last night as I was trying to get a layout done for one of my CT's because it too so darn long....then to top it all off I HATED the LO so I just scrapped the darn thing!!!!!

[ditzyscrap]

You shouldn't have to disable your virus scanner...just was thinking that viruses occasionally slow your system right down and make it hard to work with.

I would think that you should upgrade your RAM...1GB isn't alot, kwim. The more programs you have running, the slower it will go, too.

What MAY help is restarting your computer before opening PSE. Someone once explained that RAM is like a desk...every thing you have open/running (and Windows runs a lot of stuff behind the scenes) is like covering up a bit of that desk space with papers. The only way to start with a clean slate, so that your desk has the least amount of papers on it, is to restart your computer...because even closing programs and apps, it can still leave "papers" behind (ie, makes some of your RAM unavailable), which slows everything down. I have no idea if that analogy makes sense, it's been a while since I heard it, but I always think of it that way now because it made me realize how it works, lol.

[aggiefamily]

1G is the minimum amount of ram needed to run Vista. When you add a program like PSE5 to the mix you are really draining the resources. I would look into seeing if you can upgrade your ram.

Also check your start up programs. You might have things running that don't need to run.

[mummytothree]

I use PSE3 and I agree with what Bree is saying...it's probably your RAM. Even with 2GB mine will still act up and run slow!! A few other things you can do is make sure if your C drive is your least full that your scratch disk is assigned to that drive. This is how I find it in PSE3 but I bet in 5 it's the same!!

Edit---> Preferences----> Plug Ins & Scratch Disk. Then just chose which drive you want it set to and hit "OK".

You can also set how much RAM you want dedicated to PSE and you can find that this way to (I believe I read somewhere once, in a article someone posted at DST, that you want to allot between 70 and 85% to PSE) just go to

Edit---> Preferences ----> Memory & Image Cache. Then chose your percent and hit "OK". I keep mine at 85%.

Hope you get a little relief soon!!!

[mummytothree]

I also wanted to add when your check your % setting for your memory and image cache it will show the total amount of RAM you have available for your program. Like even though I have 2GB in my computer I only have 1.7 available for use in PSE so my 85% is of that so I allot 1.18GB to PSE.

[my4boys]

OK you guys, I did everything you suggested and am going to try doing a layout and see what happens.

THANKS, THANKS, THANKS so very much for your help and I will let you know if it helps at all !!!!

PS I am also going to look into more RAM just because I can!!!!!

[KirstieGai]

It doesn't cost much to add more RAM and it's fairly easy to do it yourself. I found 1GM was not enough and as soon as I added more it worked fine.

[my4boys]

OK GIRLIES........I could kiss you all and would if I could!!!!!!

As I said before I did all that you suggested and I finished a layout . Just to let you know too, I left for awhile and kept it running just to see what would happen and it was still working fine!!!! I am so excited I could cry again but a HAPPY CRY!!!!! I am going to get more RAM though for sure and I should be even happier.

THANKS SO MUCH AGAIN for your help and look for some layouts soon!!!!