photoshop

[AmandaJL]

i am using adobe photoshop for my pictures because the pentax software that came with it didnt seem to work well. when i try to fix a photo, it says that my system is low on memory and that it "cannot perform this operation" It says to add or increase virtual memory on my computer. does anyone know how i can do this?
thanks,
Amanda

[bdavis]

I forget what operating system you are using, but here are the WIN98/95 instructions: You receive a "There is not enough free memory to run this program" error message. Click on "resolution" or just scroll down the page.

Googling "increase virtual memory" brings up pages and pages of links. You can also search the Microsoft support site. (Search The Knowledge Base)


I'd make sure to read the cautions M$FT lists too.

[clarenceclose]

In windows
To change the size of the virtual memory paging file

Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and under Virtual memory, click Change.
In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
Under Paging file size for selected drive, type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
If you decrease the size of either the minimum or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases typically do not require a restart.

Notes

You must be logged on as an administrator to the local computer to change the size of your computer's paging file.
To open a Control Panel item, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the appropriate icon.
For best performance, set the initial size to not less than the recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your system.
Usually, you should leave the paging file at its recommended size, although you might increase its size if you routinely use programs that require a lot of memory.
To delete a paging file, set both initial size and maximum size to zero.

-------------------------------
Try also in Photoshop
Edit/preferences/plugins&scratch disk
once that is selected pick a hard drive for photoshop to use for virtual memory, perferably not the one on which your operating system resides. I think the default under first is 'startup' which is really nothing but a folder so pick a hard drive for the first, a different one for the second, etc...

[Jonas B]

Increasing the virtual memory is done as described above. If your computer isn't too old you also might contemplate investing in more physical memory?!
There is, generally speaking, nothing doing as good to your computer and Photoshop as more RAM.
What is your operative system?

[slipchuck]

Originally Posted by clarenceclose

In windows
To change the size of the virtual memory paging file

Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and under Virtual memory, click Change.
In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
Under Paging file size for selected drive, type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
If you decrease the size of either the minimum or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases typically do not require a restart.

Notes

You must be logged on as an administrator to the local computer to change the size of your computer's paging file.
To open a Control Panel item, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the appropriate icon.
For best performance, set the initial size to not less than the recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your system.
Usually, you should leave the paging file at its recommended size, although you might increase its size if you routinely use programs that require a lot of memory.
To delete a paging file, set both initial size and maximum size to zero.

-------------------------------
Try also in Photoshop
Edit/preferences/plugins&scratch disk
once that is selected pick a hard drive for photoshop to use for virtual memory, perferably not the one on which your operating system resides. I think the default under first is 'startup' which is really nothing but a folder so pick a hard drive for the first, a different one for the second, etc...

great advise clarence

the only thing I would add is if you can, put the windows virtual memory on its own partion on the second drive if you can. and if you know how to do this, then make a separate partion for photoshop scratch disk as well. put both of these as the first 2 partions as the hard drive will access these 2 things first.
If you have the room, make both partions at least 5 Gig each. 10 Gig. would be better for the photoshop scratch disk if you have small amount of phyical memory (Ram)
If you have any questions feel free to ask
sorry clarence I am not trying to steal your thunder here, just trying to help

cheers

randy

[clarenceclose]

No thunder, thank God, just help.
Appreciate your inputs.

[xecutech]

Well, first off how old is your pc and how much memory do you have?

You may be low on system resources do to programs, spyware and etc. running in the background!

Here is how you clean it...
Go to google.com and type in spybot and download it, it's free.
Then search for adaware and do the same, it's free as well.
These 2 programs will clean up issues and improve system performance.
You will find stuff with these programs and it will improve system performance!

I have a computer repair shop and we see systems all the time loaded with trash running in the background.

[AmandaJL]

I'm not sure how old it is i think about 5 or 6 years and for the memory, it says : 63.0MB of RAM and then it says system resources - 48% free. i'm not really sure what any of this means but im downloading the stuff you mentioned. as for clarence, there was no place in virtual memory that said change so i didnt know what to do for that.
-Amanda

[AmandaJL]

spybot scanned for free but wouldnt clean unless i paid. now what i downloaded is called spywarebot is it the same thing as spybot?
-Amanda

[xecutech]

no, spywarebot is not the same, they will try to scam you.
Here is the link The home of Spybot-S&D!

You said you have 64 meg of ram and that's hardly enough to run photoshop!

Here is the minimum rquirements from their site:

Windows Requirements
Photoshop requires at least a Pentium III-class processor, 128MB of available RAM, a video card capable of 8-bit color (256 total colors), and a monitor capable of displaying a resolution of at least 800x600 pixels. Realistically, consider at least 192MB of RAM (128MB for Photoshop, 64MB for the operating system) and a video card with at least 16MB of on-board video memory (VRAM). In addition, you'll likely want a monitor displaying a minimum of thousands of colors with resolution set to at least 1024x768 pixels—with the minimum resolution, you'd not be able to take advantage of Photoshop's Palette Well.

In addition to the hardware requirements, the operating system must be one of the following:

Windows XP

Windows 2000

Windows NT 4.0 (service pack 6a)

Windows ME

Windows 98 SE

Windows 98

Note that Photoshop 7 will not run on Windows 95.

Hope this helps.

[AmandaJL]

ok so considering all those requirements that i dont have for photoshop, should i even bother doing the spybot thing or would it make a difference? or should i just try getting a different photo editing software.
thanks,
Amanda

[Jonas B]

Basically, you need a new computer. What to do until that day comes?

The computer should always be "clean". I guess you run Windows 98 and it is never wrong to run those anti spyware tools xecutech recommended.

Increase the virtual memory as described. It won't make your computer faster but it often helps to avoid those messages about being low on memory.

Now go find another photo editor. Photoshop needs a lot of resources which you don't have there. I would look at Paint Shop Pro, an older version probably. I'm not sure what resources the new versions of Paint Shop Pro needs but a couple of years ago v7 or maybe 8 worked okey with an old Win98 128MB RAM computer I had. There might be other options as well. Picture Window Pro is cool and less demanding than Photoshop.

The problem you have run into is common. As all post processing moved out from the darkroom it now resides in our computers. The choice is still between doing the work oneself (to learn and keep control) or visit a shop and get the standard pictures printed out. "We" naturally choose to do it ourself and sometimes let a shop print big prints. But, we need some computer resources.

Another, related, problem you'll run into is the question about how to take care of the pictures. Now they are fragile series of numbers. We had, not very long ago, a thread about how to handle and store the picture files and the backups that are necessary!

So, for the full circle, you don't only need more RAM; you need more hardware besides of a new computer as well. That's the reality if you are going to have photo as a hobby. For some causual shooting it may be enough to just burn a CD from time to time with the important pictures but sooner or later you have to take a good look at new options.

Well, that's how it is.

[jfdavis58]

Amanda, before you try anything (else), tell us what you got.
Who made your machine?
What is the operating system? Right click on the My Computer icon and select the Properties menu item. On the first tab, General read all that info to us. We don't need that long string of letters and numbers in the middle; that's your serial number-it's only good to you.
How big is your harddrive? Send the System Properties dialog away, double click on my computer again, then right-click on Local Disk (C) and select the Properties menu item and read us the used space and free space numbers.
Do you have any other disk storage; HD, CD, DVD"? Sizes and names please.
Tell us what photo software you are trying to run? Name and version number from the disk or box or if it will launch then from the help menu and About this program menu item.
We cannot help by giving you directions you cannot follow. I've got experience going back to DOS on PCs and the original Macintosh OS (1984) ; the instructions for those machines will not work on the Windows XP (home) machine where I am entering this message--and vice-versa. I think you have some old equipment that will require a custom solution hammered out by those of us who remember how your machine works. The rest of this thread is just gobbledy-gook until you give us the basic information requested in this message.

[AmandaJL]

it's a hewlett packard
system: Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000
manufactured and supported by: Hewlett Packard
Pavilion
GenuineIntel
Intel(r) Celeron(tm) processor
63.0MB RAM
used space: 11.7GB
free space: 16.9GB
its called Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition
-Amanda

[Jonas B]

Originally Posted by jfdavis58

The rest of this thread is just gobbledy-gook until you give us the basic information requested in this message.

I basically agree. My message aimed to be food for thoughts. But gobbledy-gook is bad and you are right.