Photoshop slowing down

[Sapiento]

A few weeks ago I noticed that my PS was getting slower and slower, especially during start up and when saving. After several attempts to solve this problem (change of used RAM etc. etc.) I finally found the reason -the preferences files. Over time they got larger and larger because I had loaded too much into them (many brushes and ,worst, patterns). After saving the brushes, patterns, actions and swatches (and everything else you might need again) I deleted all preferences files. Result: PS fast as the Flash again.
I had to rearrange my workspace after this procedure, but this took only one or two minutes.

Here are the details for the preferences files: Preference filenames and locations in Photoshop CS6

So, if your PS slows down, you might check these files as a possible reason.

[tilt]

Good advice, haven't experienced it yet, but nice to know ... I'm considering moving to their new subscription solution so I'll always have the newest software, especially since I'm now 3 versions behind on my home system. Got the new one at work and it now sucks when I open it at home - I'm constantly missing options...

[Midgardsormr]

If you don't rely heavily on your preferences and don't need to trouble yourself with backing them up, it's easy to delete them without going into the file system by holding down ctrl-alt-shift while the program is starting up. A pop-up will ask if if you want to delete your preferences. If you click OK, everything will go back to defaults. I believe this works for all Adobe products, and many of them have similar problems with bloated or corrupt preferences that can degrade performance.

edit: This won't delete any independent assets, such as brushes or patterns, only remove them from the active palettes. The assets themselves will still be in their proper folders ready to use when you need to load them up again.

[Jaxilon]

Good to know. I've noticed some slowness but figured it was due to the massive size of my file...which it probably still is.

As a new PS subscription user I don't think I have that many extra things loaded up like brushes and whatnot. Personally, for about 20 bucks a month to always have the latest version seems pretty good to me.

[tilt]

I was thinking Creative Cloud - which for Europeans cost $78 a month... which I'm guessing as usual is about double of what US users pay *sigh*... when does this price differentiating end?

[Sapiento]

Slowing down can have different reasons. Two years ago it was a Windows Media Player network service running in the background that made working with PS nearly impossible. It took me days to discover this problem.

[Midgardsormr]

If I recall correctly, the full Creative Cloud suite costs $79 / month for month-to-month subscribers in the U.S., or $49 / mo for a year contract. Subscribing to individual products is cheaper. I think the point at which it becomes cheaper to get the Cloud subscription is when you need three or more products. I would imagine that most of the additional cost for non-U.S. users is due to the additional legal staff Adobe requires to manage licensing across myriad jurisdictions.