Expert: Amy - 1/21/2005

Question
Hi,

I'm using Adobe Illustrator 10 and lately it's been freezing a lot. It takes a long time to open a file and when it does it's difficult to work with it because the program keeps freezeing when I try to edit the file and I get a "program not  responding" error. I'm using Windows XP Professionl with 1 gig of ram. I thought Service Pack 2 might have been the problem so I uninstalled SP2, but the problem continues. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program (also in safe mode), and even installed Illustrator CS I borrowed from a friend, but the problem persist. I'm a copyeditor and typesetter working from home and I really need this program functioning properly. Please assist

Thanks!

Ben.

Answer
Hi Ben,

Illustrator freezing could be a number of things.  I also run XP w/ SP 2 and have actually seen my performance improve, so I wouldn't blame SP 2 right away.

1) First off, try quitting Illustrator, locating the AIprefs file on your machine and throwing it away. When you launch AI again, it will be re-created.  If this solves the problem, great!  If not, read on!

2) Try doing a system cleanup or disk cleanup on your C: drive.  If you don't know how to do this, basically you right click on your C: drive to get its properties, then select Disk Cleanup.

3) Are you running Norton Utilities on your machine with the Recycle Bin protection? That's a big enemy of AI10. If you are, just right-click on your recycle bin,  select properties, select Norton properties tab, select exclusions and add *.lst files to the list of non-protected files. The .lst files include font lists that Adobe creates and references while you work with any Adobe program.

4) To see if it's a conflict with another program on your machine, run Illustrator while no other applications or processes are running in the background, including anti-virus programs, and anything that might be visible in the tray. Use your task menu to quit out of things. (I don't think it's going to be anything like this unless you're running some very unique third party software).

5) Set a PostScript printer as the default printer.  Believe it or not, your default printer selection can cause big troubles for AI. If you don't have a PostScript printer, just pick a different printer, relaunch AI, and see if the problem still exists. As an aside, you can install a fake PS printer driver in Windows, look around at Adobe.com and you'll find it. I acutally have a copy of an HP LaserJet Driver running here even though I only have an inkjet, for those times like checking seps, when Illustrator needs to think I have access to a PS printer.

6) Remove third-party plug-ins from the Illustrator plug-ins folder, and then restart Illustrator. (If the problem recurs, move them back.)

7) It could be a font issue. With no programs running, do a system-wide search for adobefnt*.LST files and delete all you find - they will be rebuilt as required. Furthermore, if you have tons of fonts, try moving some of them out of the FONTS folder and launching AI with just a basic set.  If it works, then you know you have to figure out which font is doing the damage... do this by slowly moving them back to FONTS and restarting AI in between.

8) Reinstall Illustrator with nothing running in the background. Anything running at the time you install AI can conflict with the process, basically installing a non-working copy of Illustrator. Note: You should [properly UNINSTALL Illustrator before you INSTALL.  

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Other, more involved things you can try include these suggestions from Adobe's tech docs located at http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/324053.html
Look there for complete descriptions of these suggestions.

- Set XPs virtual memory paging file to the default size.
- Optimize scratch disks.
- Repair and defragment hard disks.
- Scan the system for viruses.
- Identify other device drivers that could be causing the problem.  Video cards, sound cards, etc.

It can be a frustrating problem and I hope you find the answer within these suggestions!

Good luck!

Amy