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Windows Optimizing

Make Photoshop Run Faster On Windows (Part 3)


Back to Part 2
Check your system for damaged fonts

If there is a damaged font on your system and you have WYSIWYG font preview turned on, your computer can slow significantly.If you turn off font preview and your computer performance improves significantly, test for a damaged font. See Related Records for more information on how to troubleshoot fonts.

Temporary files

When you work in an application, a copy of your data file is stored temporarily on the hard drive. Many applications create .tmp files and then delete them when you quit the application. Crashes or system errors, however, may prevent an application from deleting these files. These files can build up over time, taking up disk space and causing problems. From time to time, you should quit all programs and remove all temporary files.

To delete temporary files:

1. Choose one of the following:

-- (Windows XP) Start > Search > All Files and Folders

-- (Windows 2000) Start > Search > For Files and Folders

2. In the Named text box, *.tmp.

3. Choose Local Hard Drives from the Look In pop-up menu.

4. Click Find Now or Search Now.

5. When the search results appear, choose Edit > Select All.

6. Choose File > Delete. Click Yes to send the files to the Recycle Bin.

7. Empty the Recycle Bin.

To make sure that at least 280 MB of free space is available on the hard disk to which temporary files are written:

1. Quit all applications.

2. Choose Start > Control Panel, and then double-click System.

3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Environment Variables.

4. In the User Variables For [user profile] section, locate TEMP in the Variable column, and note the folder listed in the Value column. If the complete path for the folder isn't visible, double-click TEMP in the Variable column, and note the folder name in the Variable Value text box.

Note: If a TEMP variable doesn't exist, contact your system administrator for assistance.

5. In Windows Explorer, verify that the folder you noted in step 4 exists on a non-compressed disk partition that has at least 280 MB of free space:

-- If the folder doesn't exist, then create it: Right-click the drive, choose New Folder from the menu, and type the folder name you noted in step 4 (for example, Temp).

-- If the disk doesn't have enough free space, then create additional space by removing unnecessary files. To determine the amount of free space, right-click the drive and choose Properties from the menu.

Optimizing and defragmenting hard disks

Over time, the computer's hard disk can become damaged or fragmented (unavailable in a large contiguous block). If there is not enough contiguous space for the system to save a file, it saves pieces of the file to different locations on the disk. It takes an application longer to read a fragmented file whose pieces are saved in several locations.

To optimize and defragment the hard disk: Use the Disk Defragmenter: Choose Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter (Windows 2000) or Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter (Windows XP).

Windows virtual memory and Photoshop scratch disk files

Virtual memory allows your system to use hard-disk space to store information normally stored in memory (RAM). Because it takes longer to access information on a hard disk than it does to access information in memory, using a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory can decrease performance. In addition, Photoshop cannot use the hard-disk space the system uses for virtual memory for its scratch disk files, which it uses to store image information as you work. If you need more memory to work in Photoshop, Adobe Systems recommends installing more RAM.

Specifying a fixed virtual memory setting helps prevent Photoshop scratch disk files from competing for the same space with virtual memory, especially if you set the virtual memory setting on a different drive than the primary scratch disk. For both kinds of virtual memory, be sure to use a drive with enough free, uncompressed space. RAID 0 partitions provide the best possible performance as Photoshop scratch disks.

1. Quit all applications.

2. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, double-click System, and click the Advanced tab, and then select Settings in the Performance section.

3. In the Virtual Memory section, do one of the following:

(Windows XP) Click the Advanced tab, and in the Virtual memory section, click Change.

(Windows 2000) Click Change.

4. From the Drive list, select a hard drive that has at least twice the amount of your computer's installed RAM, or for Windows XP, 1.5 times the amount of your computer's installed RAM. For example, if your computer has 512 MB of RAM, select a hard drive that has at least 1 GB of free hard drive space, or 768 MB for Windows XP. For best performance, choose a hard drive not used for the Photoshop scratch disk(s).

5. In the Paging File Size for Selected Drive section, select Custom size (Windows XP only), and in the Initial Size box, enter a value equal to the twice the amount of your computer's installed RAM.

6. In the Maximum Size box, enter a value equal to four times the amount of your computer's installed RAM.

7. Click Set and then click OK.

Note: For the best performance, the Paging File should be on a separate, empty, de-fragmented hard disk.

8. Click to close the System Control Panel Applet (Windows XP) or the System dialog boxes (Windows 2000).

9. To restart Windows, click Yes in the System Settings Change dialog box.

Applications running in the background

Some applications may complete for memory with Photoshop causing slowdowns or system errors when running concurrently with Photoshop. Before starting Photoshop, disable other applications, including startup items (items that start automatically with Windows).

In Windows XP:

To disable startup items:

1. Quit all applications.

2. Choose Start > Run, and type msconfig in the Open box. Click OK.

3. Click the Startup tab, and click Disable All.

4. Select any startup items that are essential for testing the problem. If you are unsure whether an item is essential, leave it deselected (disabled).

5. Click OK, and restart Windows.

Note:Depending on settings in the System Configuration utility, a System Configuration utility dialog box may appear after the restart, asking you if you want to continue in Selective Startup mode. If this occurs, click OK once to close the message dialog box. Click OK again to quit the System Configuration utility. Click Exit Without Restart.

6. Right-click icons in the Notification Area (called the System Tray in earlier versions of Windows) to close or disable any startup items that are still active.

Then, try to re-create the problem:

-- If the problem doesn't occur, one of the disabled startup items conflicts with Photoshop. Reenable startup items one at a time, testing each time until you determine which item conflicts with Photoshop. Then contact that item's developer for an update, if available.

-- If the problem does occur, startup items aren't the cause and you can reenable them:

a. Choose Start > Run, and type msconfig in the Open box. Click OK.

b. Click the Startup tab, and click Enable All.

c. Click OK, and restart Windows.

In Windows 2000:

To identify a problematic application in the Startup folder:

1. Quit all applications.

2. In Windows Explorer, move all icons and shortcuts from the following folders to another folder:

-- Documents and Settings/All Users/Start Menu/Programs/Startup

-- Documents and Settings/[username]/Start Menu/Programs/Startup

3. Restart Windows, and try to re-create the problem. Then continue as follows:

-- If the problem recurs, move the icons and shortcuts back to the Startup folder.

-- If the problem doesn't recur, move the icons and shortcuts back to the Startup folder one at a time to determine which application causes the problem.

To identify a problematic application specified in the registry to start automatically:

1. Right-click the taskbar, and choose Task Manager from the menu.

2. Click the Applications tab.

3. Select an application, and then click End Task.

4. Restart Photoshop, and try to re-create the problem. Then continue as follows:

-- If the problem recurs, repeat steps 1-4 and select another application in step 3.

-- If the problem doesn't recur, the application you selected in step 3 conflicts with Photoshop.

Hardware

Photoshop performance is limited by the hardware you use; the faster the processor or hard disk you use, the faster Photoshop can process image information. Other hardware options, such as installing additional RAM, using a multiprocessor system, or using optimized and defragmented disks, can also improve performance.

Performance or redraw issues

Performance and redraw problems include:

-- Photoshop runs extremely slowly, or slows down suddenly.

-- Windows, palettes, images, and selections don't redraw correctly when partially covered by dialog boxes.

-- Images redraw very slowly when edited.

-- Menus don't appear or you can't access menu items.

-- The pointer disappears when you move it around the screen or between two screens.

-- The pointer displays an hourglass each time it hovers over a palette (such as the Layers palette).

-- Dialog boxes are blank.

-- Errors occur, such as "This application needs to close."

-- Redraw of layer edges is delayed after you enable Show Layer Edges.

These solutions have solved these problems:

-- Reduce the image cache level to 2 in the Memory & Image Cache preference.

-- Move all fonts from the Windows\Fonts folder to the desktop, then add them back.

-- Disable hyperthreading in the BIOS. If performance improves, then upgrade to the latest BIOS.

For more information and instructions on the above solutions, see the Related Documents section in this document.

Processor speed

Speed is limited by the speed of the computer's processor, or CPU (Central Processing Unit). Since Photoshop manipulates large quantities of data and performs many calculations, its speed is greatly dependent on the processor's speed. Photoshop requires a Pentium III or 4 processor.

All Photoshop features are faster on a multiprocessor system, although some can take greater advantage of the multiprocessor system's capabilities.

Installed RAM

Photoshop requires the available RAM to equal several times the size of each image, depending on how you use the application. If Photoshop has insufficient memory, it uses hard-disk space (scratch disk) to process information. Because accessing information in memory is faster than accessing information on a hard disk, Photoshop is fastest when it can process all or most image information in memory (RAM), without using the scratch disk. Allocate enough memory to Photoshop to accommodate your largest image file.

To check use of memory for Photoshop, open the Efficiency Indicator: Choose Show > Efficiency from the pop-up menu on the status bar of your image to display the percentage of time actually doing an operation instead of reading or writing the scratch disk. If the value is less than 95-100%, Photoshop is using the scratch disk and, therefore, is operating more slowly. If the efficiency is around 60%, you'll see a large performance increase by changing your RAM allocation or adding RAM.

Hard disks

Since Photoshop reads and writes image information while working on an image, the faster the access speed of the disk containing your image or the scratch disk, the faster Photoshop can process image information. To improve Photoshop performance, work on files saved on disks with fast access speeds, such as an internal hard disk, rather than those with slow access speeds, such as a network server (hard disk accessed over a network) or removable media, for example, Zip disks. Removable media often have slower access times and are more easily damaged than nonremovable disks.



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