I just got Photoshop CS, and now I regret it. It crashes a lot. Usually, it
happens when I draw with the pencil tool, and I hold SHIFT to restrict the
motion to horizontal-only or vertical-only.

It doesn't crash every time I do that, but almost every time.

I'm running PSCS on a Dell 4600, P4 / 2.4 GHz / 533 MHz bus / 512 MB RAM /
30 + 40 GB drives.

You are probably aware that these types of crashes are usually due to
diffrent programs and drivers trying to write to the same memory space or
competing for Windows system resources.

Get the latest drivers for your video card. Video card drivers are prime
villains in many freeze/crash problems. The blurbs on the video card vendor
sites only talk about updates that affect games so ignore them.

Check the memory and scratch disc settings for Photoshop. You may have to
dial back the amount of RAM devoted to Photoshop and change the location of
your primary scratch disc or free up space on the primary scratch disc.
Defrag the partition that holds the primary scratch disc.

If you have SP2 installed consider uninstalling it (I believe SP2
automatically archives old system files, SP1 did not so uninstalling it
could kill your system). Many computers run slower during CPU or memory
intensive tasks after installing SP2. I would rather use CS than SP2, which
does not really offer anything absolutely vital at this time.

You may also want to make sure that fewer programs are running in the
background at the same time eating up those limited heaps and stacks that
have only marginally changed from Win 3x to WinXP. Check what loads when the
computer boots with MSCONFIG and shut off your virus program if you are not
downloading from the internet while using PS. Norton AV in particular
conflicts with many programs and can be a source of many problems;  newer
NAV versions are worse resource hogs than older versions, one reason even
advertiser friendly computer magazines no longer rate NAV highly.

Getting more RAM will probably not solve your problem as 512 mbs should be
enough for image files up to 100mbs if there are adequate free resources.

bmoag wrote:
Check what loads when the computer
boots with MSCONFIG and shut off
your virus program




If you have Windows 2000 you can get
MSCONFIG here...

http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html



Swatch

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 00:01:38 -0700, bmoag wrote
(in article <mpx0d.14089$QJ3.3453@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com> ):

> You are probably aware that these types of crashes are usually due to
> diffrent programs and drivers trying to write to the same memory space or
> competing for Windows system resources.


You need to get a Mac.

"The Other Guy" <TheOtherGuy@Guy.com> wrote in message
news:0001HW.BD6851C90004D80031D471E0@news.astraweb.com...
> On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 00:01:38 -0700, bmoag wrote
> (in article <mpx0d.14089$QJ3.3453@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com> ):
> 
or 
>
>
> You need to get a Mac.

Never!  :)

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 07:34:02 -0700, Papageno wrote
(in article <j0E0d.110378$0o5.79776@bignews1.bellsouth.net> ):

>
> "The Other Guy" <TheOtherGuy@Guy.com> wrote in message
> news:0001HW.BD6851C90004D80031D471E0@news.astraweb.com... 
> or 
>
> Never!  :)
>
>

Then you will never have a good system.

"The Other Guy" <TheOtherGuy@Guy.com> wrote in message
> You need to get a Mac.
>
Why is it raining? I have an umbrella if that helps

Sl;ippers wrote:

> "The Other Guy" <TheOtherGuy@Guy.com> wrote in message
> 
>
> Why is it raining? I have an umbrella if that helps
>
>
Ouuuufff. Many English speaking folks won't get this ref to the
mackintosh, a Brit sorta raincoat or overcoat that's been weatherproofed
a bit. The Beatle's ref. to it was so long ago that many North Americans
will miss the humor.

--
John McWilliams

"Um, his vocabulary, like, uh, really, ah....... sucked."

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 06:55:05 -0700, The Other Guy
<TheOtherGuy@Guy.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 00:01:38 -0700, bmoag wrote
>(in article <mpx0d.14089$QJ3.3453@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com> ):
> 
>
>
>You need to get a Mac.

Big or Supersize?

--

Hecate - The Real One
Hecate@newsguy.com
veni, vidi, reliqui

In article <4142BBF9.8090200@shaw.net>, Swatch
<non_swatchspambot@shaw.net> wrote:

> shut off your virus program

That's good advice!