Memory

[JMC]

I recently performed a system restore, including format, and it doesn't seem like programs are opening as fast. I took a look at system information and memory numbers are as follows:

Installed physical memory = 6G
Total physical memory = 1.75G
Available physical memory = 4.23

Does that look OK or out of wack?
I've also stopped everything from running in the background.

The noticable change I see is when I run a process in PS. Just seems to take longer.

I'm using Vista.

Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.

Michael

[Stercus Vultus]

Doesn't sound like a RAM prob to me. More like an overtaxed processor. So could PS be running something heavy, like a rendering, in the background, a kind of loop it doesn't get out of?

[TonyK]

IIRC Windows, like OS X, can optimize program loading. After the complete restore that information may be lost and have to be rebuilt over time.

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by JMC

I'm using Vista.

I think I found your problem...

[Stercus Vultus]

Originally Posted by JMC

I'm using Vista.

Originally Posted by Douglas

I think I found your problem...

Too easy! That's like shootin' fish in a barrel! Well, then the OP has but one solution: YouTube - mac os x on pc

[felix.reichardt]

deleted

[Stercus Vultus]

Originally Posted by felix.reichardt

I would anyway recommend to start using Windows 7 RC (free download). It is much faster, very stabil and the final is coming in October.

Are you serious, felix? You recommend using a beta version of an operating system over an official version?

[felix.reichardt]

deleted

[aram535]

If I understand what you think, I think you maybe expecting a little too much from a restore. All you really did is basically run fragmentation.

Check your startup folder and icons to make sure you don't have a billion things starting up. That's usually a good percentage of the problem. Those apps also don't go away, they just eat up real estate and memory. The worst ones eat CPU too.

Turn off all of the "visual" cr... that comes with Vista, that's a huge savings right there. If you turn off enough of those, it actually starts to look like XP again and you gain a pretty good percentage of your speed back.

[Dirk]

Are yuo using 32 bit vista or 64 bit ?

32 bit is limited to 4 gb max with Sp1
64 bit can be used up to 16Gb (though some motherboards are limited to 8 GB)

you said a clean install, do you have all the updates ? are the driver up to date , i have vista too but my photoshop elements 5 wich should not work with vista looks great, is fast and runs like a sportscar, so it must be either a software or hardware problem

[JeffDoc]

In my experience as a computer support specialist for the last dozen years, I have seen this really only since the invention of that wretched OS Vista.

To be completely honest, 9 times out of 10, Vista is the culprit in this sort of issue.

My girlfriend's brand new Dell laptop was having the exact same issue right out of the box..and it had a sticker on it that said it was made specifically for Vista!

As soon as I formatted it and installed Windows XP...problem solved..it performed like a rocket.

Not saying Vista IS your problem...but if it walks like Vista...talks like Vista...and causes problems like Vista.....it's probably Vista.

Cheers!

Jeff

[Stercus Vultus]

Originally Posted by JeffDoc

In my experience as a computer support specialist for the last dozen years, I have seen this really only since the invention of that wretched OS Vista.

To be completely honest, 9 times out of 10, Vista is the culprit in this sort of issue.

My girlfriend's brand new Dell laptop was having the exact same issue right out of the box..and it had a sticker on it that said it was made specifically for Vista!

As soon as I formatted it and installed Windows XP...problem solved..it performed like a rocket.

Not saying Vista IS your problem...but if it walks like Vista...talks like Vista...and causes problems like Vista.....it's probably Vista.

Thanks, Jeff. That probably explains why Win7 – basically a pimped Vista – runs like molasses (in VMware, on an MBP with 4GB).

[felix.reichardt]

Originally Posted by Stercus Vultus

Thanks, Jeff. That probably explains why Win7 – basically a pimped Vista – runs like molasses (in VMware, on an MBP with 4GB).

1. That's what you say ... we can believe or not.
2. That Windows 7 is slow on VmWare might be because of a lot of reasons:
a) Your configuration.
b) The fact that VmWare has yet to certify Windows 7 to run as guest or host.
3. Your claim that Windows 7 is slow is against the majority of user experiences.

[Stercus Vultus]

Originally Posted by felix.reichardt

1. That's what you say ... we can believe or not.

You got that right, felix. Exactly like we can accept your tight gluteus maximus insinuations or we don't.

[Eero Makela]

Well I have been running Vista with 3GB RAM for close to 2 years now and CS3 and LR2 run fine on it. LR2 might be a bit slow, but then it is not a speedy program even on a good day.

Which version of PS are you running?
Also I assume you have Vista 64 bit.

I have XP 64 QuadCore Intel on a 6GB system and some apps run slow on it, those are most likely the ones that can not take advantage of the 64 bit. I have not tried Photoshop but a friend uses it and loves how fast it is, ie using XP. Not sure how well Vista would be.

[aram535]

Here are some actual numbers. I have a actionscript that I wrote, it has about 2500 line of code that I used for testing:

Images: 100 Canon Raw Files, all original files with no changes.
Bulk action: run to through all 100 images, run the script, close and continue until finished. Stop on errors.

Vista 64 running CS4 w/6GB memory (PS Limited to 4): 738 seconds
XP Home running CS3 w/2GB memory (PS not limited): 605 seconds
Mac Mini running CS4 w/1GB memory (PS not limited): 819 seconds

Vista is a Intel Quad Core Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
XP Home is a Intel Dual Core Pentium D @ 2.8 GHz
Mac Mini is 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Dou

[~Emily~]

Just for the record I never advise using System Restore. System Restore creates restore points in Windows so that if something happens a previous configuration can be retrieved. See the MS link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...emrestore.mspx.

Some users say they use it on their personal machines and swear by it. But of course I only see what happens when things don't go so smoothly. For instance:

Viruses, Trojans, and spyware have been "restored" after a long and extensive cleaning process. For some reason, Windows has automatically gone back to the previous restore point and restored them without user decision to do so.

Each restore point is stored on the hard drive in sub-folders that can take quite a bit of space. I have seen some smaller hard drives run out of space and grind to a halt.

Corruption can occur anywhere/anytime with Windows but I have seen problems disappear or improve when system restore was turned off.

It can also slow down the boot process because I think it has to read every restore point and there could be quite a few.

More information from the web:
"Unwanted software installations and especially in-place software upgrades may be incompletely reverted by System Restore, because only certain file types are restored, instead of the full changed contents of folders.

If System Restore fails to completely remove a new program, there may be little or no practical impact (aside from wasted disk space) because the Start Menu, Registry, and DLLs are restored. However, if an existing program is upgraded without first being uninstalled, and then this is "reversed" by System Restore, the result can be an unusual mix of old and new program files and folders. Since the restored Registry will reference only the original program version, which may no longer be intact, issues may arise when attempting to run or remove that application."

Needless to say, I don’t use it on my home computers and we turn off and disable on company machines.

[TonyK]

The registry, especially as MS has allowed it to be used, just baffles me as a software professional. My preference was the much hated INI file format for applications. Then again my belief is the application should contain everything it needs to run within its folder structure which makes moving it to a new system easy. The registry should only be used for system level information and only the OS has permission to write to it.

[iconoclast]

JMC,

Hello there, I too use Vista! I don't think this is a bad thing in itself though..haha

When was the last time you did a back up for the restore? Have you perhaps lost some OS or app settings?

I think someone mentioned making sure to select optimization for running programs. There is also the page file management. Do you ever max out your ram? Probably not, in which case you can do away with the page file.

Is the difference in speed very much? Is the program hanging? If its not a big difference then maybe its just due to variables like the types of actions and the images being worked on.

A long shot but are your images located and worked on an external drive?

[400duser]

Originally Posted by JMC

I recently performed a system restore, including format, and it doesn't seem like programs are opening as fast. I took a look at system information and memory numbers are as follows:

Installed physical memory = 6G
Total physical memory = 1.75G
Available physical memory = 4.23

Does that look OK or out of wack?
I've also stopped everything from running in the background.

The noticable change I see is when I run a process in PS. Just seems to take longer.

I'm using Vista.

Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.

Michael

You say that you have 4.25gb of available memory, out of the 6gb of which you have in total, and only 1.75gb which is currently being used, so nothing wrong there
Right the PS question: you can increase the memory that Photoshop uses in the preferences settings