One of the problems with the initial release of PSP XI is the Organizer, formerly called the Browser. It uses an enormous amount of CPU resources, slowing down loading and general operation of the program. Until the bug is fixed, it is possible to disable the Organizer. I've tried the method below, and it works.
Here's how, as offered in the PSP XI Corel newsgroup:
Make sure Paint Shop Pro XI is not running.
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Corel\
Rename or delete the files "ImageDB.db" and "thumbnails.db".
Create two new (empty) files and name them "ImageDB.db" and "thumbnails.db". You can do this just by creating and renaming a text file, File -> New -> Text Document.
Go to properties on the new blank files and mark them "Read Only."
Result:
Paint Shop Pro XI will open without complaining but no longer maintain the
catalog. You cannot add folders to the catalog.
Note:
Before I did this, PSP was hammering my CPU at 20%-50% (50% being entire
utilization of one core) while it was open and I was not using it. Now that
the catalog is not maintained, it still uses 1%-5% (constantly) when idle.
I have yet to determine why this is. Watching the process with Filemon, I
have determined that it is *not* attempting to open the catalog files that
we have marked read-only nor is it cataloging pictures (there is no file
system activity). I did notice that it constantly queries the same registry
value over and over, I think there is a loop running that checks some other
things (very often) and never stops. (I really hope that Corel fixes this
soon, and also gives us a way to disable the cataloging.)
Note that if you are using the trial version, or you haven't activated PSP
yet, it also constantly checks *itself* (presumably to make sure that it has
not been tampered with or cracked) and this also generates CPU and disk
activity.
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