PSE 6 Problems am I alone? [Archive] - Scrapper's Guide Forums

maggiestampa

10-27-2007, 09:24 PM

I need some advice, please. I have just bought PSE 6. So far I am regretting that, but I don't know whether the problem is the programme or my computer. The programme is running very slowly and occasionally seizing up (PSE 6 not the computer). Also, when I have been using the programme for an hour or so, the options bar seizes so that I can't make custom settings to the crop tool, marquis tool etc. When I close the programme and restart, things run normally albeit painfully slowly, for another hour or so.

I'm wondering whether it could be that I have Elements 2,3,4,5,& 6, PS7, CS2 & CS3 on my computer. (mainly because I'm too frightened to remove any of them because I don't know which files are shared).

I'm not trying to use more than one programme at a time and keep open files to a bare minimum, and I'm only having probs with PSE 6. I have uninstalled and reinstalled five times, done all the hardware clean ups and defrags. Is there anyone who can advise me, please? I am running Windows XP2002 with service pack 2,1gb RAM on a Pentium 4 CPU 3.2 GHz.

I'm almost ready to sell my soul (and/or body) for an answer!!!

Cheers and thanks in anticipation
Margaret

Wendy

10-28-2007, 01:06 AM

Hi Margaret ...

What are the specifications of your computer (memory, disk space etc) ... and how much unused disk space do you have.

As far as removing version of Elements ... you should be able to remove the ones you don't use OK. I think that the only shared file that may be removed is Adobe Gamma and that is on the PSE5 disk as a separate file so its easy to re-install.

Wendy

maggiestampa

10-28-2007, 02:00 AM

Hi again Wendy, myspecs are as above, but I also have about 40gb left on my C drive where all my programme files are stored, but all my photos, and scrapping goodies are on another drive. I've been wondering about whether to upgrade the hard drive, which I would do in a flash if it would help.

I'll go ahead and delete PSE 2,3and 4. At the moment I'm just using 5 when I get too frustrated with 6 LOL! (Often :os.)

Cheers
Marg

[QUOTE=Wendy;23147]Hi Margaret ...

What are the specifications of your computer (memory, disk space etc) ... and how much unused disk space do you have.

Wendy

10-28-2007, 06:09 AM

Hi ...

That should be enough ... but not being a Windows user I'm not too sure of what to suggest next.

Hopefully one of the Windows users will be able to come up with some suggestions :)

Wendy

maggiestampa

10-28-2007, 06:45 AM

Thanks Wendy, I hope so.

Toppy

10-28-2007, 08:55 AM

Hello Margaret,
My wife and I have had great success with our pc's by increasing the RAM from 1 gb to 2 gb. We both have PSE 5 and found the program responded much better with the increased RAM.. Sounds like you have a very good machine and I think an increase in memory would help a lot.

Priss

10-28-2007, 09:09 AM

Close all other running applications when you are running 6, and I find that opening only Editor, and not both Editor and Organizer helps to speed things up a bit. All the Photoshop programs are huge system hogs, so freeing up some disk space--and maybe upgrading and adding to your ram as Toppy suggested will be helpful. V6 is really quite nice, and I hope you'll be able to enjoy it.

Good luck and do let us know if you find a solution, or combination of things that work for you.

maggiestampa

10-28-2007, 07:00 PM

Thankyou all. I will get some extra memory organised and let you know how I go.

wjjmaj

10-29-2007, 06:10 PM

Yes, I too had the same problems. I spent 30 minutes waiting on the phone for tech service and then 45 minutes with the technician.

We had to create a new user and I will only use the photoshop program under the new user account. Problem is...I just found out all my photos are under the old user account so I'll have to transfer all the photos.

You'd think when you pay so much money for something that it should be easy to use.

maggiestampa

10-29-2007, 07:30 PM

Soooo frustrating, wjjmaj! Is that something you can do easily or is it going to mean hours of further frustration? I wish I could help you.
I also had problems with PSE 4 when I first installed that, and had to reformat my computer! This time the problem's not so bad but is still driving me nuts. By tomorrow I'll have more memory so keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime I'm using CS3 - no problems - go figure!

chan

10-30-2007, 07:20 AM

I installed Photoshop elements 6.0 and it messed up my printer. I had to have a tech who took 3 hours to finally get it working again with 4.0. So now I can't use 6.0. Plus I am out $152 for the tech and $99 for the program. I am very upset.

troush

10-30-2007, 07:32 AM

Chan,

Please go to adobe's web site and post a bug report - detailing your problems and what the tech did. Since PSE messed up your printer, you should have gotten free tech support from Adobe.

-Trish

Pam Brown

10-30-2007, 09:00 AM

I agree that you will need to upgrade your RAM to use the program and possibly the hard drive space. I just bought a new computer just to run PSE6 and I have 3 gigs of RAM and 400G of hard drive space. 3 suggestions, 1. use an external hard drive for all you pictures, 2. upgrade your hard drive space and 3. get more RAM (a min of 2G). This is not too expensive, a few hundred and you will be creating like the wind.

sueboop

11-01-2007, 02:13 AM

I have the trial of PSE6. I have had very little time to try it out. I did a photomerge and was very pleased. I made some ribbons from the Premier videos. I tried to print the ribbon and got some crazy message about printing. I bypassed the message and printed anyway and it seemed to work okay.

My issue is this. My computer was made shortly after 9/11/01, so I am assuming this is "OLD". I have the RAM maxed out (so Dell says) at 532 (?). I don't remember what that number is but it is in the 500s. I have been told I cannot take it any higher. I do have an EHD and have all my pictures and other data files on the EHD. My PSE5 is slow and drags on this machine. I have not noticed the trial of PSE6 to be significantly slower, but as I saidy, I really have not done a lot on it yet. I have not transferred my catalog over to the organizer yet because I have not decided to upgrade yet. Do you think I will be okay on this computer?. It is a Dell Dimension 4300, XP Home.

troush

11-01-2007, 10:49 AM

Sue,

512 is the very minimum to work with Elements. To have a computer that old is quite impressive. :) My laptop has 512K (I think I could upgrade to 1 gig), and PSE 6.0 is pretty slow to start, but once it is going, it's not too bad.

My desktop has 1 gig (maxed out), and PSE runs much faster, though there are still some things (filters, and text) that are slow.

-Trish

KimberlyRae

11-01-2007, 09:10 PM

Hello MAggiestampa~
I have to say I also had this problem with PSE 5 (hold on I"m getting to a point..ha) I installed on my desktop that has only 512mb ram....I thought it was NOT enough. Well, I installed on my laptop with 1g ram and it did go faster but I still had to wait some.
Come to find out the desktop had too much SPYWARE on it and was 'eating ' up my ram therefore BOgging down my machine terribly (sometimes I had to wait for 15mins and then it would time out...so irrating especially right in the middle of a thought...brain works faster then the machine did).
I took it in and had all removed and works like a charm~FASTER then you would even imagine!!!
I have purchased PSE6 and it still works GREAT on both machines with the SAME amount of Ram, as before!!
Happy Creating!

cats4jan

11-02-2007, 03:08 PM

I have Elements 2,3,4,5,& 6, PS7, CS2 & CS3 on my computer.

I can't believe your computer is running at all with those huge programs all installed.

I'm not a computer expert, so I have no real advice, but I can't help thinking that you really need to remove most of those other versions to get your computer to run better.

jwchow

11-02-2007, 03:52 PM

I installed PSE 6 on my computer two weeks ago and it is running fine on my computer with 1 gig ram. I still have PSE 4 on the computer as well.

I have a question about the Move tool. In PSE 4, when the Move tool is selected, I can move with the arrow keys. It is not the case with PSE 6, I have to bring up Transform (ctrl T) every time when I want to move with the arrow keys. Anybody had the same experience?

MidnightChardonnay

11-02-2007, 03:56 PM

I have a question about the Move tool. In PSE 4, when the Move tool is selected, I can move with the arrow keys. It is not the case with PSE 6, I have to bring up Transform (ctrl T) every time when I want to move with the arrow keys. Anybody had the same experience?

Hi

Transform is the way to do it in PSE6. Some people have said that this is a bug but I just accept it as a different way to do it now.

barbieos

11-06-2007, 03:59 AM

Maggiestampa,
I am curious. I only have PSE. Why do you use PSE when you have the full version? I've wondered in the past about this, but have never asked.

Wendy

11-06-2007, 04:26 AM

Hi ...

I wondered that too ... in fact I notice that quite a few people who have photoshop still use Elements :eek:

Wendy

Jan

11-06-2007, 04:38 AM

Barbara,
Elements is much more intuitive to use than Photoshop CS3. It's quicker and easier to use for many reasons and to accomplish many tasks. I have CS3 and Elements 5.0 and the trial version of 6.0 installed and I use them all, depending upon what I'm doing.

Working in publishing, photography and graphic design, I need to have the ability to create designs using the CMYK color mode, which is the industry standard for professional printing. Elements doesn't allow for that -- only RGB color mode, which is stadard for Web -- so sometimes I do my initial design in Elements, then open it in Photoshop to do any additional refinments and to convert the color mode before I send it to the printer.

Make sense?

MidnightChardonnay

11-12-2007, 01:34 PM

Maggiestampa,
I am curious. I only have PSE. Why do you use PSE when you have the full version? I've wondered in the past about this, but have never asked.

Hi Barbara

Interesting question :) As someone who has CS2 and CS3 and has decided to move back to Elements full time maybe I can give you some idea why.

Photoshop is a BIG program which has a steep learning curve and also has just about everything you can think of for manipulating photos and designing graphics. It has so much that I don't need and I cannot remember everything it does or how to use everything. In short, it has more facilities than I need.

Elements, on the other hand, is much easier and intuitive to use and I can do just about all the things I want with it. At my level of expertise nobody would really notice whether I has used CS3 or PSE6. There are some interesting plugins which give me missing tools such as masking and curves and there are some excellent books which show you how to do such things as make difficult extractions, like extracting wispy hair, for example - something that I thought could only be done using channels in Photoshop or software like Fluid Mask.

And if that's not enough here, in the UK, PSE is about 10 per cent of the cost of CS3 :eek:

barbieos

11-12-2007, 02:02 PM

I understand now the reason for using the different programs.

I have a new question, though. I have a cousin who has a sign shop. He was asking why I don't use Illustrator. He is unaware of the contents of the upgrades in PSE and wasn't even aware they now allow you to use both vector & simplified (I think the official term is rasterized?) text, etc.

Is anyone familiar with Illustrator who also knows PSE 5.0 well. I really don't want to give up on PSE--I'm having too much fun.

I am unsure whether it's even worth it to get the program, esp. with any learning curve. But, I would like to know how someone else feels--knowing what is avail. w/ PSE 5 or 6 and compare the possibilities with Illustrator. Is it prudent to have both programs? Any thoughts?

Jan

11-12-2007, 04:08 PM

Barbara, unless you're a graphic design professional, or have aspirations of becoming a digital designer, you really wouldn't need Illustrator. There's definitely a learning curve. I'm in the middle of it right now, and I'm assuming that it's not going to be too painful. But unless you specifically need to create vector art, I'd stick with PSE or Photoshop. And for sure, go from Elements to Photoshop CS before you jump into Illustrator.

MidnightChardonnay

11-12-2007, 10:14 PM

Hi Barbara

Jan is right - another steep learning curve as well as a big cost if you go for Illustrator.

However, if you are interested in what a progrm like Illustrator can do then take a peek at something called Xara Xtreme which you can find here:

http://www.xara.com/

It is a vector program - and more - which is fairly easy to learn and use and costs just a fraction of what Illustrator does. I have the software and it is very good. You can download a 30 day trial to see if it's what you want and there are also some demos/tutorials that you can watch at their site to give you an idea of what can be achieved using Xara.

Oh, and whatever you create in Xara Xtreme can be used in PSE as well.

Hope this help you.

jodee

11-13-2007, 12:44 AM

maggiestampa

11-13-2007, 03:23 AM

Maggiestampa,
I am curious. I only have PSE. Why do you use PSE when you have the full version? I've wondered in the past about this, but have never asked.

I use both for different purposes. I do most of my photo editing and manipulation and most of my designing in Photoshop CS3 because I find it easier and quicker and I'm addicted to using tools such as paths and as I take nearly all of my photos in RAW format, I prefer CS3's version of camera Raw editing, but I do have to admit that there are still many functions in this programme that I haven't used yet. It is a very steep and often confusing learning curve! I do 90% of my scrapping in Elements because that is much easier for assembling layouts. If I had to choose between the two - I couldn't! I Know I'm very lucky to have both and until I got into studying photography in a big way I hadn't even considered the full version. If I was only scrapping, I'd stick to Elements.

Each person probably has their own reasons for using both, and this is a very simplistic explanation on my part. I'm afraid a huge part of my reason is that they both just 'feel' right for me.

I hope that helps.
Have fun, that's all that really matters with scrapping!
:D

MidnightChardonnay

11-13-2007, 01:53 PM

David,
I have gone and had a look at Xara Xtreme, and even though I do have Illustrator CS3, I see some things that I would like in Xtreme. You said that you have the program, would you recommend buying the regular version, or the pro version? :confused:

One of their plug-in’s that come with the program I have been considering buying, and the price of the plug-in was about $50, which is just a little less than the $79 or $89 price that they offer for Xtreme, and the plug-in I wanted comes with it. :rolleyes: :D

I’m very interested in buying this program. :eek:

Hi Jo

I have the regular version. After all, you can always spend more money and upgrade to Pro in the future but you can't downgrade and get a refund !

There's so much you can do in the regular version to keep you occupied for quite some time !

Wendy

11-13-2007, 04:02 PM

Must admit that I have illustrator but find it difficult to use ... maybe I am just used to Photoshop :)

Wendy

jodee

11-13-2007, 09:47 PM

Wendy,
The learning curve of Illustrator is about like climbing the hill in Photoshop, and I don't think I will ever make it to the top of the hill. It has been one of the things that I have really wanted to learn since I started into this crazy hobby of scrapbooking.

Don’t really want to be a designer to sell kits, but I think we all have a desire to create something we can call our own, and Illustrator is a heck of a lot of fun, even though I have found I don’t draw very well, and I have learned how to cheat… A LOT. If I have something that I want to make, I take a picture of it, even if it’s something in a catalog, or an advertisement in a magazine, modify it the way you want, then it’s pretty easy to use live trace in Illustrator. Hopefully someone else can use this idea, I have fun with it.
jodee

Wendy

11-14-2007, 12:38 AM

Hi Jo ...

Thank you ... I really have struggled with it. It seems so diffferent to Photoshop , once Chrisrmas is over I really will try again :)

Wendy

VirginiaV

01-13-2008, 12:39 PM

Did you ever find a solution to the constant freezing of PSE6? I have the same problem. Using Windows XP and have plenty of memory. I'v had to resort back to PSE5 to be able to finish projects without constantly restarting the program.

troush

01-13-2008, 01:38 PM

Virginia,

The first thing is making sure you disabled your anti-virus software when you installed PSE.

The second thing is to delete preferences. You will have to Show Hidden Files in windows explorer, the go here:

C:\Documents and Settings\[your windows login]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0

and rename the "Editor" folder to "Editor.old" and restart PSE. An uninstall/reinstall will not delete the preferences folder.

Some people have no problems, and others have lots of problems. It has been difficult to narrow down. I have PSE 6.0 on my laptop and desktop, both running XP, and have not had problems.

-Trish