Why is Photoshop running slowly after the latest update?

Question

Photoshop may run slowly after a recent update because new features often increase GPU, RAM, and CPU usage, especially AI-powered tools and background Creative Cloud services. Many users also experience lag due to outdated graphics drivers, corrupted preferences, incompatible plugins, font issues, or changed performance settings after updating.

Common fixes include:

Updating GPU and graphics drivers
Resetting Photoshop preferences
Disabling problematic plugins
Turning off GPU Compositing or Graphics Processor acceleration temporarily
Increasing RAM allocation in Performance settings
Clearing font cache and removing corrupted fonts
Using scratch disks with enough free storage
Reinstalling Photoshop if update files became corrupted

Some Adobe Community and Reddit users also reported that recent updates introduced slower brush tools, delayed shortcuts, and startup lag tied to GPU settings or cloud background services.

For official troubleshooting steps, optimization settings, and performance guides, read more in the Adobe Photoshop Help Center.

Ivan_Serdiuk0846 · Answer

Since the latest updates, launching Photoshop takes over 10 minutes—I’ve tested this on various PCs. It seems like the background tasks and connections to AI servers and some unknown plugins are poorly coded; this has been going on for over a month, yet the developers don't seem to care. Because of this, I’m increasingly using software other than Adobe's.

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