Crashes!!

[Peebs24]

On a number of occasions XXP5 has crashed when I have tried to do a large scroll. There was no error message just "not responding" . I tried waiting for it to recover for about an hour as I had done a lot of work that I was about to loose.
Other crashes have been reported and many of them have also happened to me. Crash on save, crash on using fonts/text tool, crash on loading etc.
I sincerely hope that Xara will soon come out with a revised and more stable version as I, for one, am getting a bit nervous about using the prog. Yes, I know that we should save when we do anything - but we forget. other modern software does automatic saves and makes back-up copies.
I really like the prog BUT once you use it on a project you are pretty much committed to it for maintenance etc and if it is unstable you have to think twice before starting down that road.
Regards,

[steve.ledger]

On a number of occasions XXP5 has crashed when I have tried to do a large scroll. There was no error message just "not responding" .

Then it isn't Xtreme which has necessarily crashed - 'Not Responding' in the title bar is a Windows Vista message which can mean a number of things. For example insufficient resources are available for the process to complete in a reasonable time (or if at all).

I tried waiting for it to recover for about an hour as I had done a lot of work that I was about to loose.

Often closing other open / running software can give resources back to the operating system which can be piped to Xtreme's process tree to complete the task.

Other crashes have been reported and many of them have also happened to me. Crash on save, crash on using fonts/text tool, crash on loading etc.

Again, low resources, program clashes, malware and faulty RAM can and do cause these problems.
Yes, I've read a number of reports about crashes, but remember there are many many hundreds of people using the software without those problems (including myself). Clearly localized crashes are the hardest to find because they are generally a result of something specific to the machine it's installed on.
When the same problem happens for everyone, then it's very likely a program bug - but if it happens for only 50 (for example) out of a few thousand, then it's a local problem.

I sincerely hope that Xara will soon come out with a revised and more stable version as I, for one, am getting a bit nervous about using the prog. Yes, I know that we should save when we do anything - but we forget.

From personal experience I know that Xara dev's love bug reports. But they must have repeatable step-by-step reports in order to track the bugs down.
This is clearly mentioned in the Dear Xara.. sticky thread.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=35990

[Peebs24]

At the time of the last scrolling crash there was nothing else running. I have not had a crash of any kind, with any other program, for a very long time. When you look at the numbers it is worth remembering that not every user belongs to this forum and not every user takes the time to report such a problem. Many will just reboot or, as I have seen on the forum - vote with their feet!
I know that these things are difficult to trace but in my view there are quite a number of people complaining about crashes of one sort or another. Smoke and fire springs to mind.
I reported - on a different thread - that, according to another software vendor - not competing, that Xara does not comply with some of the Windows compatibility hooks in the area of text handling. If it is true, could this give rise to some of the text related crashes? Food for thought?????
regards,

[steve.ledger]

Peter,

As a test, could you try uninstalling your Spell checking software (SCA), rebooting and then using Xtreme with text/fonts/scrolling again?

[Peebs24]

Hi Sledger,
The text/font crashes are very intermittent and my last one was BEFORE I installed SCA.
Regards,

[Peebs24]

Hi Sledger,
The text/font crashes are very intermittent and my last one was BEFORE I installed SCA. I have since removed SCA because it won't work DIRECTLY with XXP5 - you have to cut and paste with Notepad. It was during the time that I was trying SCA that the author mentioned the the Xara/Windows text compatibility problem.
Regards,

[steve.ledger]

Well Peter I'm just trying to get further with this to try an help you.
After all, you have even posed the question yourself that perhaps SCA could be causing your crashing problems:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...770#post336770
From this I gathered you did have it installed at the time.

Xara/Windows text compatibility problem.

Xara Xtreme is not a text or rich text editor.
The developer of SCA themselves state that support for graphics type applications (which handle text differently to text editors) will come later.

"The only programs that do not follow these standard are specialty programs that have to do with high-end graphics. Soon, we will support these applications as well."

Anyway, regular or intermittent crashes need some type of repeatable step or even the supply of a .xar file that shows problems. Without something to go on, the Xara devs can't do much about it.
I'm not saying it isn't a Xara bug - but so far it appears to be a more likely a software conflict.

[Peebs24]

Hi Sledger,
I think what I said was could the alledgedWindows compatibility problem be the cause of scrolling/text/font problem. I have not had a crash in the short period that SCA was installed.
I know that you are trying to help and indeed, I thank you kindly for all the help that you have already given me and other in getting up and running with Xara. Likewise, I was only trying to throw in some suggestions for you and the others to think about.
I know that often we don't supply enough info about a problem but that in itself may well be due to our inexperience with Xara and out ability to properly analyse the problems.
Best regards,