AE 6.5 suddenly using more RAM, Windows workstation

[Nate Biehl]

Any other place I should be posting this question? I could use some help ASAP.

[Steve Roberts]

All I can ask is:

1. have you installed the 6.5.1 update from Adobe yet?
2. What has changed between “then” and “now”?

Aside from that, I’d recommend you find one of the Adobe support forums on their site.

Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful …

[Mike Smith]

Are you running AE alone? And does this issue come up whether there are any AE composiions open or not? I guess I’m asking if this is linked to a specific plug-in in an AE comp which might be slow, resource-hungry or misbehaving with memory.

If this is a system-type issue and you haven’t recently installed new software / hardware, a checklist might include:

Check that you stiil have plenty of disc space on system and video data drives.

Try task manager to ensure that no-one has installed a “grid computing” app or a peer-to-peer file share without your knowledge. Check that you know what any running apps are.

Run your virus checker.

Check the windows / temp directory, and empty it. Do a search for *.tmp files and see if there are some large unneeded file fragments on your discs – if so, consider deleting these.

Consider defragmenting both your system drive and your data drive(s).

If at this point you have made no progress, you might be considering using system restore to roll back your system a couple of to where it was before the issue began.

Otherwise, Norton Utilities includes a number of useful system maintenance and optimisation tools.

[Nate Biehl]

Thanks so much for the earlier suggestions…

Unfortunately, a lot has changed in my workstation as of late, as I’ve tried to trim the fat in the services and such to make it run as hot as it possibly can. I knew these change porobably had something to do with my problem, I was just fishing to see if anyone had run into a specific cause that led to this effect.

Aside from freezing occasionally, my machine is running REALLY smooth (up to 90% of memory available on startup, and many apps run faster than the 4-proc XP stations we just spent MASS $$$$ on) so I was hoping I could nix the one bad change and keep most of the overall benefits.

One thing I’ve been experimenting with is different sized page/swap files on different local drives. Does anyone know if this could ead to the problem I’m experiencing? When I cried for help last week, I had two page files set at 1024m each, one on the D drive and one on the E drive.

Thanks again for the responses.

[Nate Biehl]

In case someone has the same problem and is searching posts, I believe I’ve fixed it. There is a registry key that disables “executive paging” and keeps “essential” progam functions in the RAM for quick access, forcing all other functions to the swap file. This key can raise hell with Windows 2K, depending on what service pack you’ve got, so try disabling it. Do a google search for “disable executive paging.” You should find instructions on how to enable or disable the registry key.