Please Help Me

[Phoenix Wynde]

I have Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0, just got done installing it. Figured I'd make a new document as a 800 by 600 image. Ok, no problem.

Went to fill that image in with the paint bucket tool and the whole thing froze up. Eventually I restarted my computer, went back into CS to make another document. I was then told the Scratch Discs are full.

Ok, I'm low on RAM, no biggie. I'll just have to buy a separate HDD soon.

But here's the thing. In the process of my PC freezing while the paint tool was attempting to fill in the image, it took up a lot of space in my RAM and I can't seem to get my free space back.

If I try to create a new document, I get the Scratch Disc error message, which is fine, but what the heck happened to my RAM? It wasn't like that before I installed the program.

Something happened to make it so the program is using all that space because even if I uninstall it, I'm still stuck with less space. Nothing changes.

How do I get my RAM back? It's being used by something and I have no clue as to what it is.

I've gone through this many times already. I do a destructive system recovery, install all my music, and the sort, then when I'm ready, I install Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0. Get the program up and running and when I go to create a new document of any size, I'm good. The system only freezes up when I actually try to use the paint bucket tool on the new document.

I have no problems whatsoever with editing something I open up from my documents, like a wallpaper or picture. No issues at all with that end. Only when I create something new.

So, how in the heck do I free up that RAM and make things as they were before I installed Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0? I just want my RAM back.

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and God Bless!

[tamlin]

Hmmm...not sure about this, but the first thing to note is:

Originally Posted by dewdman

I was then told the Scratch Discs are full.
Ok, I'm low on RAM, no biggie

Well, unfortunately it is a biggie - check this out from the Adobe knowledge base:

Photoshop uses the virtual memory swap file to swap parts of the application in and out of memory, but it doesn't use virtual memory for image editing operations. When virtual memory is insufficient, Windows retains large portions of Photoshop in RAM, which reduces the amount of RAM available for image editing. Increasing virtual memory frees up RAM for image editing. When Photoshop's Physical Memory Usage is set to 100%, there may not be enough RAM available to Windows to perform some operations (e.g., printing, scanning). For some image editing operations, Photoshop requires a considerable amount of available RAM and scratch disk space. To check memory use in Photoshop, open the Efficiency Indicator: Click the triangle at the bottom of the application window, and choose Efficiency from the pop-up menu. Photoshop displays the percentage of time it is using to perform an operation rather than reading or writing to the scratch disk. If the value is below 100%, Photoshop is using the scratch disk.

You also say:

Originally Posted by dewdman

How do I get my RAM back? It's being used by something and I have no clue as to what it is.

The easiest way to get an overview of what applications and services are currently using RAM (assuming you're running Windows) is to open the Task Manager (press Ctrl+Alt+Del), click on the Processes tab and then click on the Mem Usage column header - this will sort the view and put the most memory-hungry processes at the top of the list.

One other thing you could try is to defrag your HDD - PS likes to build its swap file on contiguous disk space.

[Phoenix Wynde]

Nothing comes up as a running process when I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del. As for defragmentation, I only have %4 free space, defragmentation requires at least %15 free space. Another bonus in having my memory stolen.

Even System Restore does nothing.

Is there any way I can find out what is using all this RAM and put a stop to it?

[tamlin]

Well, for a start 4% free disk space is a woefully small amount - it's no wonder things are not running well. What size HDD do you have? If you've got a couple of Mb spare, I recommend you download and run a program called TreeSize from JAM Software - TreeSize Personal which will help you identify which files and folders are hogging the most space on your disk.

Secondly: how much RAM do you have installed? What are your virtual memory (page file) settings?

The mimimum system requirements for CS and CS2 on Windows are 320Mb RAM and 650Mb HDD space, so if you're anywhere below this then Photoshop won't work properly anyway.