Photoshop CS4 is a disaster

It starts up and then crashes as soon as I open a file or try to edit or a save a file.

I have a lot of fonts, how could a font be the issue.

Brad - crashing at startup isn't a common problem. You should probably create a new topic so we can help you figure that one out (most likely cause is still going to be a driver, but it could also be a bad third party plugin, or a font if you're on 64 bit).

Real bummer, Chris. Those details....

I downloaded
PSCS4GPU_OptionalPlugins.zip
from
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405064

It includes Disallow OpenGL Windows and Allow Old GPUS script files that are are also uninstallable.

On my machine at work (Windows XP Professional)
Allow Old GPUS did not work
Disallow OpenGL Windows got PS to work without crashing, but limits the features

On my machine at home(Windows Vista 64bit)
Allow Old GPUS did not work
Disallow OpenGL Windows did not work

My PS CS4 crashes on my Vista 64bit machine after start up and I don't think I should have to go buy the CS3 version....that is not right.

I downloaded
PSCS4GPU_OptionalPlugins.zip
from
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405064

It includes Disallow OpenGL Windows and Allow Old GPUS script files that are are also uninstallable.

On my machine at work (Windows XP Professional)
Allow Old GPUS did not work
Disallow OpenGL Windows got PS to work without crashing, but limits the features

On my machine at home(Windows Vista 64bit)
Allow Old GPUS did not work
Disallow OpenGL Windows did not work

my copy of PS CS4 crashes after start up and I don't think I should have to go buy the CS3 version....that is not right.

Richard: There is a downloadable PDF guide for PS on the first web page.

Nice name! I thought I'd see if doing the same with my Radeon X1650 would help ... nothing. If I put my cursor in a line of text and hit the backspace key once, the cursor moves back to where it will be once the letter has been deleted, but it takes up to five (not less than three) seconds for the letter to catch up and disappear. It's like working in the dark. I had no performance problems whatsoever with CS2 (I'm on Vista and if I remember correctly CS2 wasn't designed to work well on Vista) so I'm finding this to be more than disappointing.

Complicating this for me is the lack of a manual. I bought CS4 on disk instead of download and was surprised and unhappy to find no documentation with it. I can't take my desktop with me on a bus and I have a hard time working (or trying to) on my PC and at the same time searching through the online "help" and toggling back and forth between applications. Grrr.

Lawrence - nope, we don't ship with that sort of stuff in the code.
And we have a bug reporting web page, but no matter what we ask for - there's never enough detail.

>I go to make changes to a text layer (in this case deleting part of it) and I have to wait to see my changes long enough that I'm wondering if my actions have had a result. Why? Why!

Welcome to the club! I have managed to mitigate the slow appearing text by setting my NVIDIA 3D settings to Performance. The text still lags but previously it appeared molasses slow.

Why the GPU has any effect on the Text tool is a mystery to me. (Adobe documentation makes no mention of this dependency.)

Chris, I would expect that during dev, you have debug log files enabled in several places in the system. Is it possible for the user to enable that logging and send the files to you?

Second, how about a bug reporting tool, customized for your needs from a source like Bugzilla? Debug log files, screen shots etc properly can be inserted there.