Update: PSP2018 App launch time degradation

[terrypin]

Apart from the intolerable startup times (which seem to get progressively longer, starting after a PC reboot), am I alone in getting a crash ("PSP is closing...") directly after it appears, on maybe 20% of occasions?

[terrypin]

Hi guys!
To my delight it started within 3 sec. Also x86 started within the same timeframe.

Did that continue consistently for every subsequent startup?

My experience has been that one or two 'good' times get progressively worse.

[BjornB]

Hi, everyone!

More details:
I've been misled by myself. Luckily you guys set me on the right path.

Rolling back to what I did, I finally found something that may be the issue here.
First of all. When Merge gave me that Message, it also opened a file browser where I could set the correct path,
I missed the fact that I did store my Documents folder on another disk. (Flash drive) So, I just plugged it in at the same time. Not thinking more about it.
When you asked me to be more specific, I tried to recreate my actions, and I couldn’t.

So, back to PSP 2018. (It starts quick btw.) Looking for File Locations I noticed that I don’t have this option:
File > Preferences > File Locations.
It’s missing. Do you also miss this setting?

Anyhow, there must be something regarding file location setting in PSP that is messed up.
I have moved my Documents folder to C:\Users\MyName\Documents.
That did not do anything. Instead, when I remove the flash drive, PSP won’t start. When I put it in, PSP starts. I removed the Documents folder on the flash drive.
Started PSP again watching what happened, and to my surprise PSP just created a folder named Documents, and a subfolder named Corel PaintShop Pro, and a lot of subfolders in that folder.

So, as long I don’t have the option under preferences to set file locations I can’t help more. Sorry for that.

If possible, check if you have the
File > Preferences > File Locations.
I do believe that the problem may be related to this.

Have a nice weekend.

[BjornB]

I'm trying to post replies, but they wanish.

Hi BjornB
and welcome to the forums

Your first two posts are approved by Admin, this causes a little delay, after two approvals other posts will show immediately.

[Ozric]

I still maintain it's not JUST PSP and/or Win 10. Slow start up for PSP has been an on going issue way before PSP2018 and Win 10.
There is something else causing this issue.

I have just turned my computer on. Turned on the internet and started reading. Read this forum/thread. With the internet still turn on, something I never do, I clicked on the PSPx8 icon. 11 seconds for first start up. 5 seconds for the next start up. PSP always starts in Edit mode.

I'm on a HP Envy. i5. Win 8.1. 8 gig ram. It is a standard non modified Win 8.1 installation. No extra security or firewall software.
I have 700 gig of images in my Pictures folder.

So why do I never get slow starts?
Those having issues need to look at what else they have in common on their systems.

bruce

Most likely you do not get the slow startup times because you are running Windows 8 and not Windows 10 with the Fall Creators Update. The Majority of complaints surfaced when Microsoft rolled out the Fall Creators Update and that seems to be what is common for most of the users.

[hartpaul]

So, back to PSP 2018. (It starts quick btw.) Looking for File Locations I noticed that I don’t have this option:
File > Preferences > File Locations.
It’s missing. Do you also miss this setting?

Anyhow, there must be something regarding file location setting in PSP that is messed up.


So, as long I don’t have the option under preferences to set file locations I can’t help more. Sorry for that.

If possible, check if you have the
File > Preferences > File Locations.
I do believe that the problem may be related to this.

Have a nice weekend.

Try File > Workspace and tick Complete.
You should then have File Locations available. It seems that when Corel tried to make the workspace simpler they just created more confusion.

[josephlin]

Hi all PSP folks,

Sorry for late sharing the update. In fact, Corel is monitoring and working this "Launch time" since two weeks ago and the issue has been solved last Friday. Basically, the root cause is due to Corel's last code signing certificate was blocked by Windows Defender which introduces long load times for many of Corel products. Also, many 3rd parties met the same performance issue as long as they adopted the same code signing. There are quite some complaints about this for PSP X9 and v2018 on user forum already. Microsoft is removing our certificate from the blacklist, until last Friday our certificate has been removed after "threat definitions" was upgraded to 1.261.651 or later.

The issue was affected all PSPX9 and PSP2018 version since the code certificate version was in the old Windows Defender blacklist. Thus, please update your threat definition version to the last version and restart the system. Then you can get quick launch time back to your system. If you have no idea how to update the "threat definition" version, please refer to the attached image and follow up the step to get the update.

1. Click "Start" button and click "Settings" button. Select "Windows Defender" option.
2. Click " Open Windows Defender Security Center".
3. Click "Virus & threat protection" option in "Windows Defender Security Center" page.
4. Select "Protection updates" option.
5. Click "Check for update" button to get the latest definition file.

Get new threat definition update

Again, we encourage our user to get the latest Windows Defender update to solve the performance issue immediately. If you meet any unexpected issue or the launch issue doesn't be corrected after new definition file update, please reply your comment here or back to our customer service, we will take a look soon. Thank you for your attention.

[Ken Berry]

Thanks Joseph. But a lot of us -- me included -- don't use Defender and have it turned off. But we still have very slow starts. So what happens to us?

[flagpole]

Hi all PSP folks,

Sorry for late sharing the update. In fact, Corel is monitoring and working this "Launch time" since two weeks ago and the issue has been solved last Friday. Basically, the root cause is due to Corel's last code signing certificate was blocked by Windows Defender which introduces long load times for many of Corel products. Also, many 3rd parties met the same performance issue as long as they adopted the same code signing. There are quite some complaints about this for PSP X9 and v2018 on user forum already. Microsoft is removing our certificate from the blacklist, until last Friday our certificate has been removed after "threat definitions" was upgraded to 1.261.651 or later.

The issue was affected all PSPX9 and PSP2018 version since the code certificate version was in the old Windows Defender blacklist. Thus, please update your threat definition version to the last version and restart the system. Then you can get quick launch time back to your system. If you have no idea how to update the "threat definition" version, please refer to the attached image and follow up the step to get the update.

1. Click "Start" button and click "Settings" button. Select "Windows Defender" option.
2. Click " Open Windows Defender Security Center".
3. Click "Virus & threat protection" option in "Windows Defender Security Center" page.
4. Select "Protection updates" option.
5. Click "Check for update" button to get the latest definition file.

sample.png

Again, we encourage our user to get the latest Windows Defender update to solve the performance issue immediately. If you meet any unexpected issue or the launch issue doesn't be corrected after new definition file update, please reply your comment here or back to our customer service, we will take a look soon. Thank you for your attention.

Well I'm running the Feb 5th definitions and am still waiting for 2018 to launch. I've litterally written this whole post whilst waiting for it to launch.
second time i've done it too....
Still waiting

[terrypin]

Josephlin,

This doesn’t square with the various tests I’ve reported of very long startup times with Defender completely disabled.

There must be at least one other underlying cause.

What about other changes MS made in recent Windows updates?

[jimbeaux]

The issue was affected all PSPX9 and PSP2018 version since the code certificate version was in the old Windows Defender blacklist. Thus, please update your threat definition version to the last version and restart the system. Then you can get quick launch time back to your system. If you have no idea how to update the "threat definition" version, please refer to the attached image and follow up the step to get the update.

I have the latest Windows Defender Antivirus / Antispyware definitions (1.261.761.0) and when launching PSP X9 there was still a significant delay on "updating cache" -- but I hadn't tried rebooting. After rebooting my system, PSP starts up within 15 seconds or less. And I have run 4 start / close cycles of PSP this morning and so far the quick startup time has held

Long story short, after months of investigation, we've finally traced the root cause to Windows (with 99% certainty), which explains why it was so difficult for us replicate the problem. At the time of this writing, our internal team is undergoing additional testing and constructing a short-term fix to this problem. The long term and permanent fix will require the help of Microsoft.

But, regarding the quoted section of the original post of this thread -- is this considered the permanent fix or the short-term fix?

Thanks again.

[terrypin]

Josephlin/nev,

Better news! After checking that I had the very latest Defender updates (mine is at version 1.261.761.0) I did a series of 10 tests. I was very pleased that the first seven of those all got 2018 loaded in about 7 seconds. That's a longer successive run of acceptable results than I've ever had before. Tests 8 and 9 were similar BUT PSP 2018 then promptly crashed, with the familiar message "PSP 2018 is closing...". Test 10 took 7 seconds and did not crash. (I quit at that point).

Edit: One other quirk: occasionally during my latest tests, maybe 1 in 10, nothing happens. I click the shortcut icon but after waiting for say 30 s I check TM and PSP is not in the list under the Details tab. Somehow it's not getting triggered.

--------------------

Excuse the digression OT, but I'd like to take advantage of this long-awaited attention from Corel. I've had no useful help on my ticketed enquiry about this 2018 issue over the last couple of weeks and I abandoned that yesterday. Do you not communicate between departments? I have another problem with another Corel product, PSP 8. It may have some similarities to the one being discussed here. How can I best report that with some confidence of getting intelligent help please?

[JoeB]

While people are waiting for a reply from Josephlin and/or Nev about the fact that they have slowdown issues even if they have Defender disabled, I would like to make a suggestion. And that is to do the latest Defender update as Josephlin suggested anyway. I'm just guessing but I'm thinking that it's possible that the Defender updates don't just contain components restricted to Defender but might also contain other components relevant to the WIN 10 operating system itself. If I'm wrong then installing the updates - even if you don't keep Defender enabled - might either confirm that doing so does help with the issue, or confirm that Defender is not the only cause of the launch slowdowns, at least on some systems.

Of course, this suggestion only applies to those who are running the latest WIN 10 updates also. Anyone who has managed to keep previous versions of WIN 10 working - and don't have the slowdown shouldn't try to fix what isn't broken!

[flagpole]

So I propose that the code signing check aspect of defender can't be turned off.

It obviously works in a different way to the rest of it because it doesn't appear to take effect until after a reboot.

I have no idea how you would go about updating the definitions if you have it disabled. Might be worth just trying I quick reboot now that the definitions have had chance to permeate.

I guess I have a question over what, if the app is effectively unsigned why Windows thinks that running out slowly is an appropriate solution.

[bruce1951]

I'm reading along 'observing'!!

What worries me is that PSP* has had slow start up issues for many versions. Corel now reports it's an issue with Defender. So may I be so humble as to ask what #@#$^ has Defender, Win10 and PSP2018 got to do with the historic slow start up experienced by users of older systems and versions?

Would someone go back and re read many many old posts about slow start ups. This is not an issue that 'suddenly' appeared with PSP2018.

Nice that Corel have reported a 'fix' for those with x9 and 2018 versions running on the latest Win 10. But what about the other x% of users. Or do they nolonger count?

The slow start up, IMHO, is more than just a PSP2018 and Win 10 issue. Or is no one listening? Or more to the point they are ignoring the issue in the hope it goes away.

bruce