Slow Start Up

[susangreen]

When I first installed PSE 5, it didn't take too long to load. Then, I changed preferences to change where it looks for plugins and ever since then it seems to take forever for the program to start. It will get as far as reading preferences and then wait, and wait and once it gets past that point, it opens up quickly. Does anyone know what the problem may be?

[AngelicKim]

Susan, I had the same problem with 3 and when added plug-ins I had had extremely slow start ups after they loaded. It was suggested to not have elements look for them at start up. Change your settings back and see if it helps.

[TonyW]

I copied my plug-ins over to the PSE5 folder and haven't had any problems with slow-downs. I think it's now faster starting up than earlier versions (once I'd done a defrag of the hard drive which was starting to slow things down). Been loading too many updates recently and that seemed to leave my hard drive in a mess.

Tony

[susangreen]

Thank you for your suggestion. I changed my preferences back and now it opens up great.

[katehill2003]

Can someone point me to the preference to change this back? Mine takes forever to load as well.
Thanks
Kate

[Wendy]

Hi Kate ..

Photoshop Elements (at the top of the screen) then Preferences> Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks :)

Wendy

[katehill2003]

I found the box, but what am I supposed to change it to? I guess I'm confused on what a scratch disk is. Mine says "startup" in the first drop down and "none" in the others. The little check box is NOT checked.

[Wendy]

Kate ...

The original problem here was where someone had already changed their preferences to change where it looks for plugins ... changing it back solved the problem.

Did you change yours .. if not then this isn't going to help you :)

Wendy

[nkeevers]

I have a question. My machine is doing pretty well now...but was wondering if the changes here depend on each individual machine and how much ram, etc, etc. they have? My scratch disks are: 1st is Startup and the rest are none. Should I be changing to something else to make it faster or just leave well enough alone.

[Wendy]

Hi Norma ...

As long as it is OK then I would just leave it as it is :)

This is a little more info an scratch disks and what they are for :)

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/f/scratchdisk.htm

Wendy

[sydneysnana]

I've been looking at the Scratch disk wondering if it could be tied to a problem I have had a couple times now. Working in PSE 5, I could not use any of the items on the tool bar or save. I could use tools only. Had to go in through task manager to close, loosing some of my work.

What does the first opition mean that is set as "Startup"?

Thanks
Michelle:)

[nkeevers]

Thanks Wendy! I think I'll leave well enough alone for now.:D

[nkeevers]

Whoa!! When did my name get changed to "Frequent Contributor". Like I'm really contributing a lot!:eek: :D :D

[PSEFrank]

Wendy......

Thankyou for the link concerning scratch discs. I've only had a computer just over a year. I hadn't ever touched one before then. Although I'm getting the hang of Photoshop. How a computer works is still very confusing for me.

Frank.

[Wendy]

Hi ..

OK I'll try to explain as simple as I can, and excuse me where I bend the truth a little (or even a lot) to make it simpler and easier to understand :)

(first ... your start up disk is literally the disk that your computer has a lot of the bits on it that are used when you turn it on and start it up.)

When things get added to your computer they just get dropped on the hard disk, you add more and a bit more space gets taken, then you take something off and so it goes on. After a while you end up with lots of things on your disk but there are gaps where you have removed things.

Now when Elements needs to use a scratch disk it can't really use small sections of disk ... it needs large areas. So its far better if the disk (or partition) you use as a scratch disk is fairly empty.

Thats why (when I get my new Mac) I will have a second internal hard disk to use as a scratch disk ... and I will leave it empty :eek:

As long as your computer is running OK then just leave it as it is ... using a "bitty" disk as a scratch disk just means that when Elements is processing something large then it will slow it down and you will have to wait. It won't stop you using tools or stop you saving ... it just slows it down.

Think of a scratch disk as the equivalent when you can't remember everything so you write some of the things down on a piece of paper.

Hope this helps a bit ... :D :D

Wendy

[Wendy]

Hi Frank ...

Glad the link helped :)

... do you use both Elements & Photoshop ??

Wendy