Something that does cause preferences to go corrupt....

While this preferences thing does get old, I have inadvertently discovered something that corrupts the file.

If I shutdown my computer with Photoshop active the preference file goes bad on my computer.

I do not consider shutting down with programs running good practice, but I have done it several times recently (too busy) and the next time I fire up the preference file is bad.

This may or may not happen on others computers... just my personal observation.

With as often as this event occurs (observation from reading forums) it seems that a simple programmatic routine would be to:

1. When preferences are saved create a backup copy
2. If PS detects a bad preference file on next start replace it with the backup file

While the program is GREAT, this preference file issue should be VERY easy to remedy.

At least it would not be visible to the whole Windows world (prehaps Mac too) that such a basic issue is never rectified.

The fix is not to do that.

Prefs are written when you quit Photoshop. If you shut your computer down before closing it, the likihood of corrupting the prefs is pretty high.

Bob

1. When preferences are saved create a backup copy 2. If PS detects a
bad preference file on next start replace it with the backup file

This, actually Gary, is a very good idea!

Get over to Feature Requests at the double. This would be a valuable addition to version 10.

It would considerably cut down the number of "duff prefs" related posts we see here in the forums!

When preferences are saved create a backup copy

Actually, firefox does this with it's bookmarks every time the program closes, so it's no great engineering feat, to be sure.