Disapointed with PS CS5 - flaky

[Rupert]

Hi
Considering the high cost of PS CS5 I'm rather disapointed in how flaky it is compared with earlier versions.
Firstly, the mini-bridge problem: It doesn't work for me in as far as I open PS and then Bridge and then MiniBridge. It then sits there forever saying "waiting for Bridge CS5...'.
Having Googled this I discover that I'm not alone - there are a few suggested fixes, none of which work here.
Secondly there's the Automate - Batch problem.
I go to File - Automate - Batch and PS crashes. I have the latest version: 12.0.4 x32.
I've re-set my preferences, I've re-installed PS but no luck.
Once again it seems I'm not alone. There's a number of others having the same problem. From some of their comments it seems that the problem occured when updating to 12.0.4.
Has anyone here any experiance of this, any suggestions...

[Carson]

I'm not quite for sure on this so don't hold me to it, but it sounds like PC Performance problems. That is just what it sounds like to me, but it could be anything.

[hawkeye]

What are your system specs? Laptop or desktop? Everything up tp date including video drivers?

[Rupert]

Desktop:
Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
2.67 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
3072 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
3070 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM_1' has 2048 MB (serial number 00003023)
Slot 'DIMM_2' has 2048 MB (serial number 0000401E)
ATI Radeon HD 4770 [Display adapter]

I've recently been loading some 500 - 600Mb scans and have happily manipulated them without problems.
I can't really understand how the Minibridge problem could be related to performance and I can't even open Batch!

[Rupert]

And yes, everthing is up to date - video drivers - PS ver 12.0.4 - all else...

[iDad]

What is 3070 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory if it is Usable Installed Memory why is it even there?

[Rupert]

It's the way Windows 7 32 bit works I think. If you have 4 Gb of RAM installed Windows grab a gig for itself leaving 3 for other applications.

[Hoogle]

try disabling the hardware acceleration and in performance option boost up allocated memory usage usually set to half your ram boost it up to 3 quarters do the ram first and as a last resort disable hardware acceleration.n also do a memory test to see if both banks are working Are you running windows aero that takes up a lot of ram so could be worth disabling the windows aero theme

[Rupert]

OK, Memory Diag says no problems - 4 Gb installed. Memory usage in PS has been set to 75% for a while now. I don't run Aero of any of the 'prettiness' features of Windows - it's set to 'Best Performance'.
In PS I've tried enabling and disabling OpenGL.
Problems persist.

[Rupert]

Aha! I've cracked the problem with Batch crashing - it was a plugin. I don't know which which one yet but I'll gradually add them back in and find out.
That just leaves me with the problem of MiniBridge which, although annoying, I guess I can do without.
It's mentioned at Error: Waiting for Bridge CS5 | Mini Bridge panel | InDesign, InCopy, Photoshop | CS5 as an issue but I've had no luck with any of the listed solutions.
Thanks all for your suggestions so far.