TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP

Subject: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: Socorro
Date: 18 Jun 02 - 03:28 PM

I am an artist, and fairly new to computers. For business cards, and special effects to my own originally drawn cards, i have been using Picture It Pub., which came bundled with the computer i bought last summer. It is the first DTP program i've used, although i had minimal experience with Publisher. Yesterday, i thought i would "improve" its performance by deleting a lot of files with graphics. Almost all of the files i viewed before deleting, but i'm a little concerned i may have deleted something that has negatively impacted performance - because today, it'll BARELY PRINT!! It started off extremely slow (but DID print),& now i can't get it to print in PIP at all, tho it prints fine otherwise. I have learned a lot already from Mudcatters, so i thought it couldn't hurt to see if anyone might have any ideas for me??? It would be greatly appreciated!

Subject: RE: Help: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: Gareth
Date: 18 Jun 02 - 06:43 PM

1/ Clean out the Garbage. Temp files, Cache etc.

2/. For all Micro shits faults Word 1997 and upwards is a good DTP.

3/. Defrag at least every 8 weeks.

4/. Back up bfore delating.

Gareth

Subject: RE: TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Jun 02 - 08:28 PM

I actually have a copy of Picture It Publishing Platinum Edition but have never installed it. The spec sheet says that it requires a minimum of 595 MB free disk space to install, and a minimum of 455 MB disk space to run. The "recommended installation" asks for 965 MB during installation, and 825 MB to run.

With requirements like those, it would be rather difficult to tell whether you might be deleting something the program thinks should be there. The "required" minimum of 455 MB to run implies that the program may look for a "minimum standard" installation before it assumes you're running a pirated copy and shuts down(?)

Assuming that you have an installation CD, the simplest way to make sure it's "right" would be to go to Control Panel - Add/Remove software, and uninstall it. Then reinstall.

You would, of course, want to save any artwork you've created (and want to keep) before doing either. Especially removing something this large - a defrag of the drive would be in order after uninstall and before starting the reinstall.

There is the possibility that you've loaded your system with .tmp (temporary) files, and there just isn't enough free space for the program to operate. This could be the case, even if other programs run and print ok, since the graphics files in PIP probably are much larger than anything else you're running.

A rare - but possible - problem is that a previous attempt to print left your "print spool" full of "stalled tasks." It might still take a small job, but die on a graphics print.

Before you go to the uninstall/install, you might try:

1. The first rule of problem solving is: REBOOT. (This will often clear accumulations of trash that slow down the machine.)

2. Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel and double-click on "Printers." Double-click the printer that you use with PIP. If there are "tasks" in the box (and your printer isn't running them), select them and click on "Cancel Printing" - or whatever similar label your system uses. Note that the command to "dump" a document may be "grayed out" unless you actually select a document."

(Note: on Win2k, and maybe some other "new" ones, you can go directly through Start - Settings - Printers)

3. Go to Windows Explorer, Tools - Find (or in newest versions "Search") and put in "search for *.tmp." Any .tmp file that starts with the ~ (tilde) character should be deleted. You may find other .tmp files, and as a general rule they may also be deleted. The most common "other temps" are software installation logs that are unlikely to be useful if the original installation worked.

Note that Microsoft recommends that temp files be manually deleted only in safe mode since Windows "might be using some of them." Generally, the delete will fail on any open file, so suit yourself about whether to follow their recommendation. I don't usually worry about it, since deleting a file that Windows wants will just make you reboot - and it seldom happens.

If clearing the print spool and cleaning up temp files doesn't bring the PIP program back to life, the uninstall/reinstall routine is probably the most logical thing to do. You should use the Control Panel uninstall, rather than just deleting program files, since otherwise you may leave stuff in the Registry that will interfere with the reinstall.

Caveat: The Second Major Rule of trouble shooting:

If it doesn't make sense to you then don't do it.

John

Subject: RE: TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: Socorro
Date: 22 Jun 02 - 11:32 AM

Thank you both; I have printed out your replies for future use. I finally had to call Dell, & learned there is a compatability problem - first they said "between Windows ME and PIP (shouldn't they have dealt with that BEFORE they loaded it on my computer?), then they took me to Norton AntiVirus, and unchecked something about character-recognition, i think. Now it's printing fine (until the next time, anyway!). BTW, i love being able to take my computer rants and frustrations to people who listen and respond - it actually makes it all worthwhile!!

Subject: RE: TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Jun 02 - 12:39 PM

I'm not up on ME, since I don't use it; but there are a number of "compatibility upgrades" available for various Windows versions. ME has been around long enough that they may have something for PIP, especially since they're both Micke$oft programs.

Most of the compatibility fixes tend to be for "game programs," so I tend not to pay much attention to them. They have come up with a couple of "real world" things, but they relate to pretty specific program problems.

If you're "new to programming," I'd suggest at least a quick look at what's available in online software support - if only for future reference. If you go to "microsoft.com" you can click into the knowledge base, which has a fairly decent search engine to locate stuff in whatever area you're interested in. (The url to go directly to the KB is about 3 lines long, so it's better - at first - just to remember that you can get there without remembering it.)
Note too, that "back in the olden days," Dell had a reputation for "tweaking" other people's software before they loaded it on their machines - so that many of us (justifiably or not) don't really trust a Dell OEM version to be "the real thing." They may have meant "the Dell version of PIP has a problem with the Dell version of ME." Their stuff usually works ok on their machines, but I've known people to have a lot of grief trying to port their "familiar Dell supplied" programs to new machines when they replaced an old Dell with a new machine from another builder.

Note that this shouldn't be taken to mean that Dell doesn't make fine machinery - just that sometimes using a Dell means you may have to get your support from Dell - which is what most people who have them will expect to do anyway.

John

Subject: RE: TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: Kaleea
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 02:41 AM

Somebody told me that I have to disengage my screensaver which makes noise in order to have my defragger work--is this true?

Subject: RE: TECH: Problems printing and freezing w/MS PIP
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 10:32 AM

Yes. Otherwise it takes forever.

Do a right click on your desktop, go to PROPERTIES, and under SCREEN SAVER select "none." You can easily retrace these steps and put it back when you're finished.

SRS