Another Sluggish Performance Scenario

I have Photoshop CS on my "C" drive. I have a 40GB 7200 RPM HDD that has nothing on it for the scratch disk. I recently reformatted it and checked to make sure that no defragmentation was necessary.

My computer has a 2.8 GhZ P-IV Intel and 512MB of DDR.

After a couple of minutes using Photoshop it takes a few seconds for the cursor to change from whatever tool I'm using to the regular cursor when I move it.

Any suggestions other than buying more RAM as money is kind of tight right now.

Thanks.

Jay Peterman wrote:

I have Photoshop CS on my "C" drive. I have a 40GB 7200 RPM HDD that has nothing on it for the scratch disk. I recently reformatted it and checked to make sure that no defragmentation was necessary.
My computer has a 2.8 GhZ P-IV Intel and 512MB of DDR.

After a couple of minutes using Photoshop it takes a few seconds for the cursor to change from whatever tool I'm using to the regular cursor when I move it.

Any suggestions other than buying more RAM as money is kind of tight right now.

Thanks.

Jay,

I'd start with looking at the event log, and see if you are getting peppered with disk errors - this is an uncommon but not unheard of cause of sluggishness.

If that's not it, and you don't see any other clues, check out Task Manager, and some of the other system monitoring tools, and see what resources, if any, PS CS is using. Your system seems more than adequate. --

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 23:43:41 GMT, "Mike Russell" wrote:

Jay Peterman wrote:

I have Photoshop CS on my "C" drive. I have a 40GB 7200 RPM HDD that has nothing on it for the scratch disk. I recently reformatted it and checked to make sure that no defragmentation was necessary.
My computer has a 2.8 GhZ P-IV Intel and 512MB of DDR.

After a couple of minutes using Photoshop it takes a few seconds for the cursor to change from whatever tool I'm using to the regular cursor when I move it.

Any suggestions other than buying more RAM as money is kind of tight right now.

Thanks.

Jay,

I'd start with looking at the event log, and see if you are getting peppered with disk errors - this is an uncommon but not unheard of cause of sluggishness.

If that's not it, and you don't see any other clues, check out Task Manager, and some of the other system monitoring tools, and see what resources, if any, PS CS is using. Your system seems more than adequate.

Thanks Mike. One thing I failed to mention was I have the memory set at 75%. I'll give your suggestions a shot.

I'm going to throw my appalling performance situation in here with the other one...

P4, 2.8GHz, 1GB of memory, CS on drive D, 25GB scratch drive, 80GB scratch drive, 160GB scratch drive (where the photos are), page file is NOT on any of these, operating system is NOT on any of these. Drives are 7200 rpm Seagates, and the 160GB one is a Raid configuration with 2 drives.

An example would be editing a 71MB psd that has the 4 regular layers for global adjustments and is being resized for display. Do the resize, the image in the window becomes small from the resize, attempt to increase image size... It takes anywhere from 6 to 20 SECONDS before the cursor will respond. This happens quite consistently. I've got task manager running and the performance graph shows NO ACTIVITY. No disk usage, no cpu usage... It JUST SITS THERE...

The same thing often happens when cloning with a moderat sized brush - say 400 pixels... Clone, clone, clone... WAIT... The wait can be anywhere from 10 - 60 (SIXTY) seconds, and again there is NO activity being shown on the task manager.

AND, just to confirm that is isn't the machine I installed CS on the laptop which is a P4, 3.06GHz, and ALSO has a GB of memory and the thing runs just as lousy THERE... And, to top it off, the laptop kept crashing and I had to REMOVE the FastCore and MMXCore plugins... Which at least keeps it from crashing but it still runs horse-bleep...

WTF is CS doing? And more importantly, HOW do I get this POS to run at least MARGINALLY decently? I've got the Adjusted Refresh plugin, I've changed the memory settings to everything between 50 and 90%, I've changed cache settings from 4 to 8 and back. So far, NOTHING makes any difference...... On EITHER machine...

T'wouldn't be a big deal if I was editing 2 files a week, but I'm putting together a presentation that's requiring me to edit something over 300 in a couple weeks and this performance is a HUGE problem...

I understand that knitting is far more relaxing.

Personally I would avoid employing someone that went through intense stress before the event

Be cool, relaxed. Take it professionally.

Don't be too anxious or wound up - maybe that is the sort of thing that raises colesterol levels? I dunno

Have you thought about a dual processor based bit of kit?

Aerticeus

wrote in message

I'm going to throw my appalling performance situation in here with the other
one...

P4, 2.8GHz, 1GB of memory, CS on drive D, 25GB scratch drive, 80GB scratch drive, 160GB scratch drive (where the photos are), page file is NOT on any of
these, operating system is NOT on any of these. Drives are 7200 rpm Seagates,
and the 160GB one is a Raid configuration with 2 drives.
An example would be editing a 71MB psd that has the 4 regular layers for global
adjustments and is being resized for display. Do the resize, the image in the
window becomes small from the resize, attempt to increase image size... It
takes anywhere from 6 to 20 SECONDS before the cursor will respond. This happens quite consistently. I've got task manager running and the performance
graph shows NO ACTIVITY. No disk usage, no cpu usage... It JUST SITS THERE...

The same thing often happens when cloning with a moderat sized brush - say 400
pixels... Clone, clone, clone... WAIT... The wait can be anywhere from 10 -
60 (SIXTY) seconds, and again there is NO activity being shown on the task manager.

AND, just to confirm that is isn't the machine I installed CS on the laptop
which is a P4, 3.06GHz, and ALSO has a GB of memory and the thing runs just as
lousy THERE... And, to top it off, the laptop kept crashing and I had to REMOVE
the FastCore and MMXCore plugins... Which at least keeps it from crashing but
it still runs horse-bleep...

WTF is CS doing? And more importantly, HOW do I get this POS to run at least
MARGINALLY decently? I've got the Adjusted Refresh plugin, I've changed the
memory settings to everything between 50 and 90%, I've changed cache settings
from 4 to 8 and back. So far, NOTHING makes any difference...... On EITHER
machine...

T'wouldn't be a big deal if I was editing 2 files a week, but I'm putting together a presentation that's requiring me to edit something over 300 in a
couple weeks and this performance is a HUGE problem...

wrote in message

I'm going to throw my appalling performance situation in here with the other
one...

P4, 2.8GHz, 1GB of memory, CS on drive D, 25GB scratch drive, 80GB scratch drive, 160GB scratch drive (where the photos are), page file is NOT on any of
these, operating system is NOT on any of these. Drives are 7200 rpm Seagates,
and the 160GB one is a Raid configuration with 2 drives.
An example would be editing a 71MB psd that has the 4 regular layers for global
adjustments and is being resized for display. Do the resize, the image in the
window becomes small from the resize, attempt to increase image size... It
takes anywhere from 6 to 20 SECONDS before the cursor will respond. This happens quite consistently. I've got task manager running and the performance
graph shows NO ACTIVITY. No disk usage, no cpu usage... It JUST SITS THERE...

When I had a similar problem it turned out not relate to PS but was spyware or a virus of some kind. It took me days to clean out. It was exactly as you describe - Task Manager showing no activity at all (except 'System Idle Process' = 99%) but the entire machine as sluggish as hell. If you have the same problem on everything you're running (not just PS) I would guess that was your problem. Photoshop should run like an express train on the system you've got.

Hope this helps.

John

I found CCleaner not only cleaned up a lot of computer detritus but by doing so reinvigorated this machine as well

Aerticeus

"John Rampling" wrote in message

wrote in message

I'm going to throw my appalling performance situation in here with the other
one...

P4, 2.8GHz, 1GB of memory, CS on drive D, 25GB scratch drive, 80GB scratch
drive, 160GB scratch drive (where the photos are), page file is NOT on any of
these, operating system is NOT on any of these. Drives are 7200 rpm Seagates,
and the 160GB one is a Raid configuration with 2 drives.
An example would be editing a 71MB psd that has the 4 regular layers for global
adjustments and is being resized for display. Do the resize, the image in the
window becomes small from the resize, attempt to increase image size... It
takes anywhere from 6 to 20 SECONDS before the cursor will respond. This happens quite consistently. I've got task manager running and the performance
graph shows NO ACTIVITY. No disk usage, no cpu usage... It JUST SITS THERE...

When I had a similar problem it turned out not relate to PS but was spyware or a virus of some kind. It took me days to clean out. It was exactly as you describe - Task Manager showing no activity at all (except 'System Idle Process' = 99%) but the entire machine as sluggish as hell. If you have the same problem on everything you're running (not just PS) I would guess that was your problem. Photoshop should run like an express train on the system you've got.

Hope this helps.

John

John Rampling wrote:

When I had a similar problem it turned out not relate to PS but was spyware or a virus of some kind. It took me days to clean out. It was exactly as you describe - Task Manager showing no activity at all (except 'System Idle Process' = 99%) but the entire machine as sluggish as hell. If you have the same problem on everything you're running (not just PS) I would guess that was your problem. Photoshop should run like an express train on the system you've got.

This is what came to my mind when I read the OP.
I've seen several machines crawl. Sure enough there was a teenager in the house each time.
Spyware, viruses, trojans, keyloggers and all the other hijacks can get a strong computer to its knees..
I would completely wipe out the OS and reinstall.

Stephan

Hmph! You leave my cholesterol out of this!!!!!!!! (chuckle)

The machine is NORMALLY not slow, performing other activities in what SEEMS to be a timely manner. But PS is painfully slow... I was watching last night, and for example, on a file save the machine writes the file to disk and the hourglass disappears. BUT, it can STILL be anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds before any command will work in PS. Again, it just sits there... No activity. Efficiency says I'm at 100% and its not squawking about any scratch disks...

I've got Norton Antivirus running, and Zone Alarm, along with Spysweeper, and I periodically run Ad-Aware to clean out the other crud. I'll try CC(whatever) and see if there's still some kind of problem going on...

BUT, I suspect its not the machine 'cause like I said, the laptop shows the same kind of performance hit in PS.

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 18:19:35 GMT, Stephan wrote:

John Rampling wrote:

When I had a similar problem it turned out not relate to PS but was spyware or a virus of some kind. It took me days to clean out. It was exactly as you describe - Task Manager showing no activity at all (except 'System Idle Process' = 99%) but the entire machine as sluggish as hell. If you have the same problem on everything you're running (not just PS) I would guess that was your problem. Photoshop should run like an express train on the system you've got.

This is what came to my mind when I read the OP.
I've seen several machines crawl. Sure enough there was a teenager in the house each time.
Spyware, viruses, trojans, keyloggers and all the other hijacks can get a strong computer to its knees..
I would completely wipe out the OS and reinstall.

Stephan

In article ,
com says...

Hmph! You leave my cholesterol out of this!!!!!!!! (chuckle)
The machine is NORMALLY not slow, performing other activities in what SEEMS

to

be a timely manner. But PS is painfully slow... I was watching last night,

and

for example, on a file save the machine writes the file to disk and the hourglass disappears. BUT, it can STILL be anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds

before

any command will work in PS. Again, it just sits there... No activity. Efficiency says I'm at 100% and its not squawking about any scratch disks...
I've got Norton Antivirus running, and Zone Alarm, along with Spysweeper, and

I

periodically run Ad-Aware to clean out the other crud. I'll try CC(whatever) and see if there's still some kind of problem going on...
BUT, I suspect its not the machine 'cause like I said, the laptop shows the

same

kind of performance hit in PS.

[SNIP]

One thought: do you normally have an Internet connection, then disable it on occasion? CS "phones home" and if it is used to an always-on connection, but now doesn't find it, it will slow way, way down. Otherwise, all the suggestions, most of which you have already explored seem valid. As others have stated, you machine should fly with PS. Sorry if this doesn't help.

Hunt

CS is a slow and erratic performer on many machines. I still have PS7 on the same machine as CS and doing the same tasks in 7 is faster and without the cursor lockouts described above.

This is not related to viruses, spyware or other extraneous causes. It is intrinsic to the programming of CS itself, probably Microsoft style code bloat.

CS is very sensitive to background tasks running on the computer. For best performance while working in CS turn off your antivirus program and firewall and any other bacground programs you do not need. Norton is an incredible resource hog and interferes with the installation and running of many programs. Zone Alarm is also an incredible resource hog. Niether program is needed while working in Photoshop. If you have doubts just turn off or unplug your connection to the DSL/Cable router (if you connect to the internet through a router with a hardware firewall the software firewall is not absolutely necessary anyway).

Hmmm - 3 of these within a few hours

Obviously I am far too cynical for my own good

Computers are complicated combinations of hi-tech trickery and sophistication

I really doi recommend knitting

Aerticeus

wrote in message

Hmph! You leave my cholesterol out of this!!!!!!!! (chuckle)
The machine is NORMALLY not slow, performing other activities in what SEEMS to
be a timely manner. But PS is painfully slow... I was watching last night, and
for example, on a file save the machine writes the file to disk and the hourglass disappears. BUT, it can STILL be anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds before
any command will work in PS. Again, it just sits there... No activity. Efficiency says I'm at 100% and its not squawking about any scratch disks...

I've got Norton Antivirus running, and Zone Alarm, along with Spysweeper, and I
periodically run Ad-Aware to clean out the other crud. I'll try CC(whatever)
and see if there's still some kind of problem going on...
BUT, I suspect its not the machine 'cause like I said, the laptop shows the same
kind of performance hit in PS.

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 18:19:35 GMT, Stephan wrote:

John Rampling wrote:

When I had a similar problem it turned out not relate to PS but was spyware
or a virus of some kind. It took me days to clean out. It was exactly as you
describe - Task Manager showing no activity at all (except 'System Idle Process' = 99%) but the entire machine as sluggish as hell. If you have the
same problem on everything you're running (not just PS) I would guess that
was your problem. Photoshop should run like an express train on the system
you've got.

This is what came to my mind when I read the OP.
I've seen several machines crawl. Sure enough there was a teenager in the house each time.
Spyware, viruses, trojans, keyloggers and all the other hijacks can get a strong computer to its knees..
I would completely wipe out the OS and reinstall.

Stephan

In article <GGmrd.37046$>,
says...

CS is a slow and erratic performer on many machines. I still have PS7 on the same machine as CS and doing the same tasks in 7 is faster and without the cursor lockouts described above.

This is not related to viruses, spyware or other extraneous causes. It is intrinsic to the programming of CS itself, probably Microsoft style code bloat.

CS is very sensitive to background tasks running on the computer. For best performance while working in CS turn off your antivirus program and firewall and any other bacground programs you do not need. Norton is an incredible resource hog and interferes with the installation and running of many programs. Zone Alarm is also an incredible resource hog. Niether program is needed while working in Photoshop. If you have doubts just turn off or unplug your connection to the DSL/Cable router (if you connect to the internet through a router with a hardware firewall the software firewall is not absolutely necessary anyway).

In versions past, I had problems with Norton on installation. Last two versions seem to be better though. On my main workstation, I still have PS6 & PS7, as well as CS. Other than booting up the programs, they seem to be neck and neck with each other. I'm not doubting your statement, as I have not done any emperical tests, but seat-o-the-pants feel, puts them close. This is, however, without the Browser, as it is quite slow.

It would be a good test for the OP to turn off anything else, as you suggest, just to see if there is some resource hog there. In Norton, only the LiveUpdate, seems to slow any of my machines. As I got near expiration on one ME machine, it seemed to "phone home" every 15 minutes, then flash a " Subscription About to Expire in ____ " message. I finally had to turn THAT part off to get any work done. Normally, Norton in general (SystemWorks 2004) is much better behaved, than previous versions.

Hunt

On Wed, 01 Dec 2004 08:36:02 -0600, wrote:

Hmph! You leave my cholesterol out of this!!!!!!!! (chuckle)
The machine is NORMALLY not slow, performing other activities in what SEEMS to be a timely manner. But PS is painfully slow... I was watching last night, and for example, on a file save the machine writes the file to disk and the hourglass disappears. BUT, it can STILL be anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds before any command will work in PS. Again, it just sits there... No activity. Efficiency says I'm at 100% and its not squawking about any scratch disks...
I've got Norton Antivirus running, and Zone Alarm, along with Spysweeper, and I periodically run Ad-Aware to clean out the other crud. I'll try CC(whatever) and see if there's still some kind of problem going on...

NAV is a classic problem. It slows everything down, but some things more than others. You also might like to check that you've excluded ..lst file type in NAV as this is the file type used for fonts in PS. Consequently, any time you're using a font, NAV runs a check on it. It's been known to make PS crash. let alone slow down. My advice - get a decent AV product (I'd recommend NOD32 - fast, has caught 100% of viruses in th4e Virus Bulletin tests 29 times running (more than any other AV software), and doesn't interfere with program processes).

--

Hecate - The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

Well, out of desperation I ran CCCleanup... Found a couple registry things but nothing that made any difference to Photoshop.........

Oh, and the other things I run on these machines are things like SQLServer and Embarcadero E/R Studio..... They, along with everything else I run work perfectly....... On either the main machine OR the laptop - which is a 3.06 GHz P4 with a gig of memory......

And, I even tried shutting down the network and killed EVERYTHING else - no Zone Alarm, no NAV, no SpySweeper, no NOTHIN..........

Didn't make a bit of difference..... For example, bring in an image. Edit, write it out to a new file... This can EASILY take A MINUTE..... Down in the status bar it says its writing the file which takes several seconds and then it says its building histograms and VERY VERY SLOWLY finally finishes...

I don't know what histograms its building for a file I just wrote but it sure takes it a long time to do it...........

I'm gonna go find a system monitor and see if this POS is doing something that just isn't getting picked up by the Task Manager... 'Cause its GOTTA be doing SOMETHING for all that time.

There's a number of free monitoring utilities at
http://www.sysinternals.com/

wrote:
....

I'm gonna go find a system monitor and see if this POS is doing something that just isn't getting picked up by the Task Manager... 'Cause its GOTTA be doing SOMETHING for all that time.