PL slow down

[bruce1951]

First off let me say I had a clean up of my computer and in doing so I somehow 'lost' my Photoline forum details. The only way I could get back on the forum was with a new registration. Hence the new user details.

OK on my editing computer I have done 'nothing'!! But PL seems to be struggling. Slow opening and slow response when using tools. So where should I first look to see what may be slowing Photoline down. Does PL use caches that need flushing?

regards

[Hoogo]

i would start with adding a fresh folder "Usersettings". That can be done quickly and initializes most settings .
Next try would be to check my plugins that are stored directly in the Photoline folder default/plugins.
I'm not 100% sure about brushes and patterns. I guess "Usersettings" should init them, too, otherwise I'd look there if there were too many or too big ones.

[photoken]

So where should I first look to see what may be slowing Photoline down.

(Based on my >2.5 years of using PL without any slowdown, I wouldn't expect the slowdown to be something in PL itself.)

As I see it, you've got three areas to check:

• PL's settings.
• 3rd party plugins and programs you call from within PL.
• Your OS itself.

PL Settings
AFAIK, PL does not keep a cache; if you use its Browser, PL keeps previews in database files. You can disable the previews by using Edit...Options...Browse...Settings and selecting the "Don't Save" option for the Browse File.

Also, if you use PL's File...Open dialog to select an image, de-select the "Preview" option in that dialog.

The bottom line is to not use PL's Browser, and see if that makes a difference.

3rd party software
We've already discussed that the Nik Collection plugins delay PL's launch by a couple of seconds, so move those plugins out of the directories that PL searches for its plugins. Also do the same for any other plugins that you don't really use that much.

PSP is notorious for periodically bogging itself down and also leaving processes running even after exiting the application. So, you'll have to do some experimenting to see if PSP or any other external program you're calling seems to be hogging resources.

The OS
I've found (here on Win7 Pro x64) that using CCleaner (it used to be named "Crap Cleaner", which I like a lot better ) once a week does a nice job of cleaning out temp files, etc. DO NOT use it to clean the Registry -- doing that is deprecated by Microsoft these days. You can get it here:
https://www.piriform.com

Microsoft has a great suite of free system monitoring tools -- the SysInternals Suite -- and the specific utility I'm recommending is the Process Explorer:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sys ... ssexplorer
You can use it to see just what processes are running and how much resources they're using.

Microsoft offers these suggestions for optimizing Windows' performance:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... =windows-7

[bruce1951]

Thanks folks. Ken I had just run CCleaner on my other laptop and it always worked fine until this last clean up. Another story for another time. (I've used CCleaner for years). But I haven't used it on my work laptop.
The thing is that everything has been working fine. Then poof. Everything slowed down. Well slowed down from what it was. It's still acceptable but why the slow down? The 'only' thing I can remember is that I moved 200+ gig of files onto a back up drive to give myself some more working space.
Hmmmm!

regards

[photoken]

Then poof. Everything slowed down.

Well, if you're talking about a general system slowdown, then all the usual stuff applies:

• Follow Microrsoft's optimization suggestions that I mentioned.
• Use your computer maker's update tool to ensure you've got all the latest drivers, etc.
• Use Widows Update to ensure you've got all the latest updates.
• If that backup drive is attached and accessed for working, check its speed and connection speed. Also see if Windows is indexing that drive -- the indexing can soak up a lot of CPU cycles....

[bruce1951]

Ken it's just PL. I've gone through all my plugins etc and the more I use PL the better it is getting. It's almost as though removing a group of files has caused PL to reindex or recreate a data base.
Either way it's not that bad.

regards