Photoshop Elements Downloading Two Files On Startup

D

DragonTamer

Registered
Hi folks: I think I know what is going on with this, but it's VERY frustrating and I am wondering if you have heard from others and have any solutions.

I have Photoshop Elements 2. Sometimes when I start the program about halfway through the startup process a window comes up saying it is downloading two files. The are AWXFiles.txt and AWEDBFiles4.awe. Elements often just sits there and grinds away, not completing the startup. The window itself has a NONFUNCTIONAL cancel button.

I know this has to do with the program logging into the Help System (using IE of course, not Safari!) I THINK what I have figured out (in discussing it with my husband, who is much more computer savvy than I am, since he's a programmer and SQA guy) is that the Adobe Help system is all or almost all an on-line system and if their Help server(s) is(are) down, well the program just cannot log on and you are stuck. So I end up Force Quitting out of Elements and going off and doing other things and then coming back and hopefully it will work.

I have verified, by-the-way, that that first file, the .txt file is a tiny file essentially saying "Sorry try again later" (It's not exactly in those words, but that's the meaning.)

I did some research on the Web and have found out that this problem happens in other programs too, like full Photoshop (at least the last two versions) and InDesign. So it appears to be related to how Adobe handles their Help system for their programs (and it SUCKS! because it essentially disables the program). And it happens pretty often (perhaps 2 out of 5 times).

This is NOT a high-level problem, but it IS a major irritation, and any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

As for my technical level, I'd say moderate (but I can always ask my husband.)

Thanks!
 
Have you poked through Elements' preferences to see if there's a way to disable online help, or something related to online downloading?

Most programs that access the internet have a preference that can be set that basically will not allow the program to connect to the internet automatically, but instead ask you if you would like the program to connect to the internet. Perhaps Elements has something like this in the preferences that can be disabled.
 
Thanks for the suggestion of checking the Elements preferences. I will do that (or have my husband do it) and see if such a feature exists. It would certainly cut down on the frustration!
 
I am having the same problem, but It's kind of hard to get into preferences when the application is sitting there trying to complete the uncompletable.
 
I believe that this is happening in Elements 2.0 because there is a default setting that "checks for updates" - and maybe other things. It was a real pain and went on for many many minutes!! It would eventually stop if it found something to do. I found that you could turn it off and did so.

I can't check it out because I have upgraded to Elements 4 and it doesn't seem to be happening in this. So I can't remeber what I did. But if I managed it. It must be pretty simple to find!!

Have you checked Activity Monitor to see if Elements has a linked programme doing the /checking download?
 
Take your computer offline, then launch PE and in the preferences>Adobe online, set Check for Update to Never. Then you can put your computer back online again.
 
Bobw, thanks for that, I am going to try that right now. It should be the same for Photoshop 7 (I forgot to mention that's what I'm using). Again, thanks much for the simple solution that is always so hard to figure out!
 
I found this life-saver on "http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2119":

Basically, if you can't open the program at all, hold down alt+command+shift a split second after launching the program.

Then reset your preferences when you can.

What a big help that tip was!
 
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