Editing using proxies in Elements 18

I've been very frustrated with Adobe unable to offer "fixes" to so many problems. This is verified by all the NOT ANSWERED comments at the beginning of so many threads. The error message "Add Media Failure, Error Message, The importer reported a generic error message" is probably the worst error message ever because it tells nothing and provides no clue where to look. However, I did find a fix to my problem of Adobe Premiere Elements 2018 not loading and not working. A friend suggested I look at the directory on my computer and see if there are fragments leftover from previous Adobe Premier Elements upgrades and installs. I was shocked to find over 30 "fragments," some dating back to four years ago when I first started using Adobe Photoshop. The Control Panel uninstall and Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool did not remove these fragments and they didn't show up on the program list in Control Panel. The last update must have been the conflict tipping point to render everything unusable. I manually removed everything that was labeled Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Premiere, restarted my computer and reinstalled Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Elements 2018. Now it works. I'm glad it's now working, but still very disappointed in Adobe that a cleaner or fix is not included in upgrades or new installs that takes care of these old, conflicting fragments.

James,

Premiere Elements was never intended to use a proxy editing system.   A long time ago, there was a topic on this forum where someone did it anyway!  The procedure was to make low res exact, frame by frame, copies of the original, use them for editing and then replace them with the originals prior to final output.   I don't know if it really works.

Instead of a proxy system, Premiere Elements uses automatic internal previews that are created as media is added to the project.  In effect you are working with copies or "proxies" as you edit.  

"Crashing" should not be happening.  If the computer is strong enough for video editing, there is enough space on your drives, the project settings are correct and the source files are OK, Premiere Elements can be expected to work well.

Unless you've already worked through this on another topic, can you provide the following:

What is the processor in your computer?

How much space is on your drive for video editing?

What are the project settings and how did you set them?

What are the characteristics of your source files as reported in the (free) Mediainfo program.