Maximizing the speed of Photoshop Elements

Many digiscrappers that use ACDSee Photo Manager for organizing have mentioned about PSE sometimes bogging down & that they would like to adjust the settings. So I thought I would highlight this article that has some tips for overcoming performance problems.

The full article is here - Revving Up Photoshop Elements 3 (& applies to other versions too) & covers the following:

Tip 1 - Reset Elements settings

Tip 2 - Disable the Photo Downloader

Tip 3 - Reclaim your System Resources - the biggest cause of slowness

Tip 4 - Take Back your CD-ROM Drive & Remote Drives

Tip 5 - Keep the Editor up to Speed - clear the thumbnail caches (causes slowness in all versions of Elements & PS)

Tip 6 - Keep Your Catalog’s File Size Under Control - do it once a month

Tip 7 - Disable the Organizer - if you’re using ACDSee or another program for organizing your files, this portion isn’t necessary

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Digital Scrapbookers need to track of so many things … & this is free!

As a digiscrapper I keep track of so many things! ACDSee keeps the kits organized that I buy, but before they are bought there is so much to keep track of:

- kits that I like

- coupon codes

- chat dates

- things to do (especially if you’re on a CT - sometimes notes are good)

- special upcoming events at forums

Cheryl - ‘lcbannon’- told me about Evernote.com

It’s a free resource that is really very cool! You can copy & paste notes into it & it just keeps adding new notes. Deleting old ones is easy. The coolest thing that I think is that you can drag the icon to the left of an html address into Evernote & it creates a clickable link! And you can also do THAT with images!! When you do it with images, it adds all of the site information making a clickable link so you can go back later & read more, or buy it. This software is so intuitive with it’s click & drag responsiveness!

Here’s an example of an image of a product at DigiShopTalk.com that I dragged into Evernote. And it created a clickable link on the bottom right. Cool eh?! You can download it here.

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Thunderbird - The ultimate solution for digital scrapbookers to manage multiple email accounts.

Everyone is using Firefox & loving it as a browser! but did you know that there is also an email client (it used to be Netscape)? And it does one fantastic job of arranging all of your emails into a file tree. The email can be coming in from a variety of addresses and when you send out - it appears as if it’s coming from that address. So for example, I have both a DigiScrapInfo.com email address and a gmail address coming in. The first has a signature & the gmail doesn’t - so they act independently. You can create folders & sort your mail in whichever way suits you! And one day I realized that I can drag email from one account to the other.

It’s free! and there are two things involved:

1) Install Thunderbird from here (and we also recommend the Firefox browser too)
2) and to change Gmail into a pop account - meaning that Thunderbird (the email client) reads it and when it’s sent out - it appears to be sent from Gmail too. (if you have Yahoo - you can pay to do the same - but I chose to not send them money… no way). Other email services may work - especially from websites. (I have instructions that are easy to follow).

It only takes about 15 minutes to set up. Tonite I helped someone add a 2nd account that wasn’t gmail and I can post those instructions if you’d like them? And this is a personal issue I have - but as a recipient, it makes me so irritated …to have to scroll down to read replies - please change your preference to put your reply above the quote;

1) in Thunderbird - go to Tools | Account Settings
Composition & Addressing — change the pull down to: ‘Start my reply ABOVE the quote’
There is also a blog reader that can be added. This is a huge timesaver if you love reading digiscrapping blogs! You can subscribe to them & see when they’re updated.

And finally, someone had wanted Thunderbird to sort their email as it came in into folders. So here are those instr’s.

Enjoy!

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Vista - to upgrade or not? that is the question

Vista has caused me to spend some time thinking about it… and talking with Heidi about it. And we had agreed to hold off on posting anything, but I think it’s time! We have a new ACDSee 9 user that just started out with Vista too. (ACDSee will soon release their Vista compatible version.) And I know of another digiscrapper that is using Vista.

With that I think it’s time to start a conversation about it. My laptop has a little sticker ‘Designed for Windows XP - Windows Vista Capable’. I bought it last August because I wanted a laptop. Now my sister bought hers in December to make sure that she got XP. Her stance is that she plans to wait until they get the bugs out of Vista before dealing with it. So I’ve been talking to people about it. And I when I read the following article, I thought that it had a lot of facts in it and maybe things worth considering. I have heard that Vista gobbles up 1 gig of RAM to run. WOW! I enjoy my 2 gig of RAM and I don’t intend to share half with my OS (and I don’t even scrap in PS).
So I’d like to hear your opinions - are you using Vista, do you like it? did you have to upgrade your hardware? or is happy on your existing computer?
From the Rockbridge Weekly Online

VISTA: Better Check Before You Buy
Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System Released To The World
By Kevin Parker
Staff Writer

If you live in the civilized world, there is no doubt you have heard of the recent release of Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows Vista. The newest, although late, operating system developed by Redmond Washington’s Microsoft Corporation has finally hit stores and been made available for purchase throughout the world. If you are considering an upgrade on your PC to Vista, there are certainly things that need to be considered before you drop the $199 - $399 (depending on the version you desire), for the operating system.

Vista has outrageous hardware requirements, driver compatibility issues, and some inconsistent operation of its applets (like Windows Search). Microsoft’s claim is that Vista is the most secure operating system developed to date by the software giant. Of course, this claim was also made in 2000 when Microsoft turned Windows XP loose on the public. Finally, after a slew of fixes, security updates, as well as service packs, Windows XP finally became the most secure Microsoft operating system to date.

Although Vista has a very “cool” look to it, you have to consider whether the looks are worth giving up the solid operation that has become Windows XP.

Vista’s Aero visual environment includes a flip 3-D feature, which allows a user to cycle through a stack of open windows to find their desired application. Vista also offers “gadgets,” small programs that resemble MAC “widgets.” Networking computers is virtually automatic, as it was supposed to be but never quite has been with Windows XP. The Photo Gallery is a great built-in organizer to manage digital pictures; it even includes basic photo correction tools. There are other ways in which Vista shows off its new 3D capabilities though, apart from the transparency and glass effects. There is now an alternative to the old Alt-Tab method of switching between applications called Flip 3D. Hit the Windows key and Tab and instead of flat, anonymous icons, you get previews of all your currently open windows stacked in 3D. Hit Tab while holding down the Windows key and the stack smoothly cycles through each one, just like a virtual Rolodex. The “sidebar” is a nice touch also. This takes a similar but more attractive approach to Google’s Desktop sidebar. You can dock various ‘gadgets’ here, including a clock, sticky notes, an RSS news feeder, a photo slideshow, contact list and various other handy mini-applications. Vista also includes parental controls, which is likely to be a big selling point for those with children. Now personally, I have my doubts about any kind of parental control – once your kids have figured out how to hack into the administrator account (and they will), it won’t be of much use anyway – but it is a handy tool if you want to leave them unsupervised for a few minutes here and there. The tool enables you to create a log of computer activity for a set user account so you can see what they’ve been looking at while your back was turned, apply filters for which web sites they can look at, set time slots for when they can and can’t use the computer, and block specific programs altogether. But the biggest news on the security front, and a development that has sparked plenty of debate, is the introduction of UAC, or user access control, a change intended to help prevent unauthorized changes being made to your system. With Vista’s UAC switched on, most users run in a restricted mode, in which permissions can be elevated to Administrator level at any time. When a process that could compromise the security of your computer (driver or other software installation, for instance) begins, Vista generates an alert box asking for permission to proceed and locks down all other Windows tasks so you have to focus on allowing or denying it permission to continue.

Although Windows Vista does have a few very nice additions to it, the hardware requirements alone are something to consider.

First, let’s take a look at Microsoft’s recommended system requirements for Vista (these are minimum requirements):

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 512 MB of system memory

• 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory

• DVD-ROM drive

• Audio Output

• Internet access

These requirements don’t seem that bad. But before you click your heels and run off to place a pre-order for Vista Home Premium, hold on. This list, unsurprisingly, doesn’t tell the whole story. The above list, though not the barest of bare minimums, is what you need to run the most basic version of Microsoft’s new operating systems – Vista Basic – which is, very basic. Instead, what you really need to run Vista - Home Premium, Ultimate, Business and Enterprise Versions are:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 GB of system memory

• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:

• WDDM Driver (Windows Vista Display Driver Model)

• 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)

• Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware

• 32 bits per pixel

• DVD-ROM drive

• Audio Output

• Internet access

The key thing to pay attention to here is the memory requirement. Though even Vista Ultimate will get by on the minimum 512MB of RAM, you won’t be able to benefit from all of the interfaces included in the operating system. Some interface’s, including Flip 3D and the live Alt-Tab and taskbar previews are memory intensive and simply can’t be accessed if you don’t have enough memory installed.

It doesn’t stop there. Since so much in the Vista upgrade is focused on the visual experience, your display hardware is going to need to be up to spec too. Though you can run it on lower resolution displays, you will need at least 1,280 x 1,024 to take full advantage of all of that lovely eye candy. Your video card is going to have to have a bit more horsepower to spare than it did with XP as well – you’ll need at the very least 128MB of memory and it should support DirectX 9. So, before running out to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or placing an order online for newest Windows version in an attempt to boost the performance and look of your 2 year old PC, you should at least run a compatibility test on your PC to ensure that it can handle the robust requirements of Vista. You can find and run such a compatibility test on Microsoft’s Vista Website: test here to decide if buying or upgrading is best

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Windows Updates - Part 3 of Extending your Computer’s Life Series

Windows is your Operating System & it’s very important to keep it up to date!

Why? Microsoft periodically releases updates that help protect against the latest viruses & other security threats. There are two ways that you can get them:

1) Turn on Automatic Updates (preferred - and have your computer update automatically or manually when you’re prompted)

2) Search for updates - the problem with this is we get busy & forget to do this regularly.

Here’s how to Turn on Automatic Updates
(we suggest that you take a few minutes to check & make sure that yours are turned on):

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Depending on which Control Panel view you use, Classic or Category, do one of the following:
   • Click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.
   • Click Performance and Maintenance, click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.
3. Click the option that you want. Make sure Automatic Updates is not turned off.

Here is more indepth information on Windows Automatic Updates.

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Anti-virus Software - Part 2 of Extending your Computer’s Life Series

Thanks to Heidi for writing this! I remember the day she emailed me & said - you better check your computer, it’s doing random mailing… ugh! But you know what was funny (well not really), we had gotten the virus from my daughter’s school. And most computers come with a trial period & I think people are too complacent about letting the antivirus software expire - not realizing how important it is. So here is some good information. ~ Connie

Virus Checker:

Why do we need a Virus Checker?
Unfortunately there are some not very nice people out there that spread bad software. They write the software in such a way that it spreads. A virus can range from anything from benign to extremely damaging & capable of wiping out your system. An anti-virus checker runs all the time watching for any virus it knows about.

What does a Virus Checker do if it encounters something?
The anti-virus checker that runs all the time will probably warn the user and block the file from being saved or used. Periodically, a virus checker should run a full system scan on your drive and verify that it is virus free. If it does find a virus, it will attempt to repair the file and remove the virus; if it can’t do that, it will quarantine that file. A quarantine doesn’t allow another software program access to it. Lastly, it can just delete the file.

If the anti-virus checker is running all the time, do I have to do a full-scan on my pc? It takes hours. The answer is - Yes.

Two reasons:
a) The virus may be hidden in such a fasion that the anti-virus checker that is running doesn’t detect it. The full-scan virus check is more thorough.
b) The virus may be new and anti-virus checker doesn’t recognize it. When you run the full scan virus checker later, it will probably get the latest virus definitions (with the new virus definition in it) and then do a full scan and find the virus.

What virus checker should I use?
It’s a matter of preference. This is a huge list of anti-virus software that is available.
List of Virus Software’s
Norton and McAfee are big anti-virus software in the United States.

My subscription to my anti-virus software has expired, am I still protected?
Not really. You are protected from the old viruses but not from new viruses. To be the safest you need to always have the latest virus definition/dictionary. Virus definitions or sometimes called virus dictionaries. It is just a list of known viruses. An anti-virus program may not protect you against the very latest viruses. It may only be as good as your last update.

I have heard of viruses but what is trojan?
A trojan software is a program that opens a back door to your computer and lets the malicious user in through that back door to get what they want (your data, install software, use your computer for illegal things.) Most anti-virus software will be watching for trojans too. A worm is another type of malicious software and anti-virus software should protect from these too.

What should I do to be the most protected from viruses?
Verify that you have some kind of anti-Virus checker installed AND running.
Verify that it is up-to-date and has the latest virus definition/dictionary. (Some anti-virus software automatically does this and some ask before doing it.) There should be a status or last time it received an update somewhere in your anti-virus software.

Full System Scan:
First, check to see if there is a schedule. All software is different but start your anti-virus software and look for ’schedule’. If you can’t find it, it may not have this capability.
If there is schedule, make sure that it has run when it was suppose to. Sometimes pc’s are off and then the anti-virus checker doesn’t run. If not, run a full scan when you won’t be using your computer for a while.
If there is no schedule, then run a full scan and make a note to do this once a week.

Your anti-virus checker should protect you. But you should be cautious too in what you do.
* Don’t download software that you don’t trust.
* If there is an attachment from a person or place you don’t recognize it, don’t open it.
* Make sure the browser and email software that you use is up-to-date. This is how many viruses are spread and the companies release updates to their software when a potential security flaw is found.

I want to switch anit-virus software, how can I?
Make sure you do a full uninstall of the old one and reinstall the new one. If not, you may have conflicts or other strange errors that will be difficult to resolve.

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