CS6 - Running Slow

[Jonathan Ashton]

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for me please. My PC originally had a 65Gb hard drive which was getting very full so I have had a 2TB internal drive fitted (I have external hard drives for back up). The CS6 was to my mind running much slower than when initially installed in August 2012.
I have defragged the original drive (C Drive) and that only contains Programme files.
The PC still seems to be running slow, I am not especially referring to the ACR component but I do notice that Bridge is often caching images that have already been cached. When I launch from ACR to CS6 sometimes there is a delay and "Reading Raw file" appears. I have also noticed that when I run Actions they too sometimes run slow.
I have run cleaning programmes and defragged as mentioned I have run virus checks etc. I have optimised the settings in CS6 and Bridge to ensure the programme runs quickly and efficiently. I even uninstalled and then reinstalled CS6, yet still it is not running anything like as quickly as it used to. Even closing CS6 has started to take longer!
By today's standards I don't suppose this is a fast PC but I am sure it is perfectly adequate for my use. (Intel(R)Core (TM)2 Quad CPU Q2800 @2.33Ghz Memory 4Gb
Could any one offer any suggestions please?

[Andrew Merwin]

Jonathan, while I am a bit of a tyro when it comes to computers, I think your system is slow because you need more RAM. More RAM would stop your computer from accessing virtual RAM on the HD. Accessing virtual RAM is slow compared to accessing RAM. Also, CS6 could be loading very slowly because there are a lot of files that the program is accessing before opening. Hence, the message: "Reading Raw Files." This is just a guess based my past experience with a Mac. When I upgraded to a new computer with 16 Gb of RAM, everything speeded up dramatically.

I'll be interested to read what others, who have more knowledge than I do re. this, think.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andrew, thanks very much for your reply, I strongly suspect you are right, I very nearly had an extra 4Gb Ram put in when they put the new hard drive in, the chap at the shop said he was unsure but to give it a go first. I did read - I think on the Adobe site, that CS6 will use as much ram as there is available, so using the logic you illustrated above it would make sense to put more Ram in. Thanks once again - much appreciated.

[Roger Clark]

Hi Jonathan,

There are so many things that can slow a machine down that it is hard to diagnose. How old is the computer? Windows performance degrades with time. As you install and uninstall programs, the registry becomes bloated. The only solution is to uninstall windows and reinstall it. Second, you could have some malware. Third, antivirus. I have seen antivirus consume over 90% of system resources. As an experiment, shut down all browsers and email programs (so don surf the internet), then turn off antivitus, and test photoshop. If it becomes zippy, then antivirus is likely the problem. More memory will likely help in any case as 4 GB is not much these days. If you purchase a new computer, be sure to get an I7 class cpu with 4-digit number (e.g. i just bought a system with an I7-3820 cpu) if you want fast speed (I7 with 3-digit cpu is great too, but I5 or I3 will be noticeably slower). The other thing to consider is a faster hard drive for the system. If you are re-installing windows, get a good fast hard drive. Solid State Drives (SSD) are much faster if your system supports it. One safe way to do this, is buy a faster hard drive, and install windows on it, keeping the old drive as backup in case the install doesn't go right.

Roger

[DickLudwig]

To keep Windows from becoming "Bloated" as Roger mentioned, I use a Registry cleaner. It's the Registry that becomes so loaded with directions and locations of software that you load, unload and update that causes the computer to slow down. I don't understand why MS doesn't include a registry cleaner in their OS but they don't. I use CCleaner for cleaning the Registry - can be downloaded FREE here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner . Make sure to download the free version as that is all I've ever needed. The default setup (the way it installs by default) is the way anyone who is NOT a computer expert should use it. In other words don't monkey around with the setting unless you know what you are doing. Since using a Registry cleaner regularly (I use it about once a week) my computer has not slowed down and works as fast as it did when I first loaded my OS and software. I have 5 computers using Win 7 x64 Pro and Home editions. Some of my installations are 4 years and counting.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much Roger and Dick, you have given me lots to try and to think about, I will let you know how I got on.
Hey who's a happy chappie then? I ran the Registry Cleaner using CCleaner - I must admit my heart was in my throat because I tried some kind of Registry Cleaner a couple of years ago and it ended in disaster! Anyhow I ran CCleaner then I then ran Photoshop - much better!
Roger I turned off the internet connection, closed all programmes including the virus checker then I ran Photoshop again, to my relief it was much the same.
I have been running the performance monitor and the system has been previously using anything up to 80% of the Physical memory. Currently 2788Mb in use, 1258 Standby and 12MB Free. The Disk tab tells me it is not fully occupied, previously it did occasionally peak at 100%.
So thanks very much to you both once again, I will consider some more Ram after Christmas and look into a solid state hard drive.

[Ed Cordes]

First I would also clear all the Photoshop preferences. I also like CCleaner a lot for cleaning the hard drive and cleaning the registry. RE RAM, I just added 8 GB more for a total of 16 GB. When I only had 8 GB I constantly got out of memory messages. Like Roger said I also am using an SSD and i7 CPU.