Why does Illustrator slow down my computer?

[assama84403393]

I have noticed whenever I open Illustrator, all the apps in my system (including Illustrator), Adobe and others become really jittery and slow. The CPU does not go over 30%-50% usage, the Ram does not go over 50%, the GPU usage remains below 10-20% depending on the application.

This happens on both Intel and AMD systems. I don't understand where the bottleneck is coming from.

Is there anyway to figure out why the system becomes so slow that multitasking becomes near impossible. 

[assama84403393]

Please note, the hardware specs are unimportant, especially if there is still some much left in the CPU, GPU and RAM usage. 

Both sysytems run on SSDs.

[Mike_Gondek · Accepted solution]

Are you  running the same account on 2 different computers and both are slow? Your account might be corrupt, or you have spyware on both computers.

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/optimize-illustrator-performance-windows.html

OOBE RESET WIN

• Quit the Creative Cloud desktop app  (100% you must do this)

• C:\Users\<user folder>\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE 

• The AppData folder is hidden in Windows by default. See Show hidden files, folders, filename extensions | Windows for instructions to access it.

• Delete all the files within the OOBE folder, but do not delete the folder itself.

• Restart the computer and launch the Creative Cloud desktop app again.

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your experience. In addition to the suggestions given by Mike, you may also follow the steps provided on this community post.

Let us know if it helps.

Regards,

Ashutosh

[assama84403393]

Its like I have a new machine, its so snappy!s

[francesco224845148e15]

could you illustrate the solution?

[Kuttyjoe]

I think this may have resolved this problem for me as well.  I started having this problem in early 2020 when I bought a brand new AMD machine.  I didn't find this solution until I used the right search terms.  But the problem only affected Windows Explorer.  Whenever Illustrator was open, Windows Explorer performance was seriously degraded, with the cursor flickering. I've been going for about 2 hours and so far I haven't experienced the problem so thank you to the person who suggested the fix.

[nic0880]

This has been driving me nuts! It's a miracle. Thank you so much for sharing. 

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

Hi Nic, i have the same problem. which of the solutions above was the one that worked for you? i already tried OOBE reset but didn't work

[Monika Gause]

---

@Yoshi31550171n9x1  schrieb:

Hi Nic, i have the same problem. which of the solutions above was the one that worked for you? i already tried OOBE reset but didn't work

---

What kind of computer do you have?

Do you have a Wacom tablet?

Many fonts?

a second monitor?

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

hi monika,

I have a Ryzen 5 7600X, Nvidia 4060TI, 32gb of Ram DDR5 and 2TB SSD. Also note that i literally bought this computer to try and fix this issue which also happened on my old pc (Ryzen 5 5600, 3060TI and 32gb of ram DDR4). this means that things like reinstalling windows won't work because it's a new pc.

- i don't have a wacom tablet

- i do have a lot of fonts, but i don't see how it could be the issue considering Illustrator slows down my pc even when don't have any document open

- i do have a second monitor

another thing i've tried was to disable g-sync, which didn't work.

also, i don't have this issue on my laptop, which has basically the same specs of my old computer.

thanks in advance for the help

[Monika Gause]

---

@Yoshi31550171n9x1  schrieb:

- i do have a lot of fonts, but i don't see how it could be the issue considering Illustrator slows down my pc even when don't have any document open

- i do have a second monitor

---

Some people had that with a second monitor. Maybe you can search for that specific detail on the forum.

Is it possible to uninstall some fonts? 

[nic0880]

The reset is what worked for me. Sorry it didn’t help with your issue. I
know how frustrating it can be.

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

i just tried again, it didn't work again. i hope i'll be able to find a fix as this kills my productivity.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Yoshi31550171n9x1,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4do4Ccy) and letting us know if it helps? Also, try performing a clean reinstallation of the GPU drivers (Intel / NVIDIA / AMD) and setting the Graphics Preference to High-Performance for Illustrator (https://adobe.ly/4dmwrSl) to see if it helps.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

hi all. thanks for the replies. so here's a sum up of all the things i've tried.

- i've installed studio drivers from nvidia. issue not fixed

- i've enambled "performance" using amd adrenalin. it seems like it gives a small boost, but the issue is still not fixed

- i've disconnected my second monitor. issue not fixed

- i had 2500 fonts (i assume this number includes weights and the system ones as well) and i've reduced it to 1900. issue not fixed

- i've tried disableing gpu on illustrator. it's even worse.

- opening it with safe mode. because it didn't load the nvidia drivers i wasn't able to use it correctly. it used cpu and was basically like above, worse than usual.

- i've tried to follow the instructions on the link provided, but nothing worked again.

now i've tried a thing, i will update you later. i have astute graphics plugins, i've uninstalled them and while there is still some lag in file explorer and other software it seems to be working better. but if that's the issue, why on my laptop, which has astute plugins, has no problems?

i really need that plugin so what do i do?

[Monika Gause]

Are you running the latest version of the pugins?

You could write them an email and tell them about it.

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

i am running the latest version of the plugins. i've actually suspected this to be a problem a long time ago and did contact astute graphics regarding this, but after a few emails of useless troubleshooting it they didn't reach me back.

now, i've done some other testing and even though i have to see in the long run how it goes, it seems like it's one or a few of them that do not work. at the moment i'm not having this issue after removing the followings: DirectPrefs, SubScribe, Texturino, VectorScribe, WidthScribe. i believe one of those is causing the issue.

but again, it's so strange because on my laptop they all work fine.

another thing i've done was following this windows optimization video, not sure how it has influenced the final result but it might be worth a shot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlX1vB7ItJc&t=1276s

i will let you know if everything's fine in the long run

[Monika Gause]

Thank you for the update.

Are you working on the computer in an Administrator account? If not, can you try if that changes anything?

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

yes, i am using an administrator account

[Kuttyjoe]

I've been reading through the comments.  I also have a problem with Illustrator causing my PC to be generally slower when Illustrator is open.  I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as your issue but what I notice is that Windows Explorer really struggles to navigate through files and folders.  For example, if I open a folder and hold the down cursor key, it will struggle to scroll through all of the folders.  It jumps, stops, skips, and the cursor is blinking the whole time.  Creating, folders, moving files or folders are problematic.  I have to select an item, and hold it for a second or two to wait for the cursor to stop blinking before I attempt to move it or duplicate it, or it will fail.

We have some things in common.  Namely, we're both using Astute Graphics plugins yet that is not the problem because I've uninstalled the entire set of plugins and tried using Illustrator for an entire day and the problem is still there.  The other thing we have in common is the AMD processor.  This problem curiously started when I bought this machine brand new in early 2020.  It's the first time I've had a machine with a AMD processor in 20 years.  I kind of wonder if that is the problem.  I've also done all of the remedies that were recommended for you and none of it works.  Except the fonts.  I never install fonts directly into Windows because Windows itself is not very good about handling fonts.  I use a font manager but I don't think that's the problem.  It still might be better to use a font manager though.

Lastly, Astute Graphics tech support is beyond awful.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Kuttyjoe,

Thanks for sharing the details. Would you mind trying to run Illustrator under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and disabling the plugins to check if it helps? Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Yoshi31550171n9x1]

same issue as you mate. even if removing the plugins i wrote above made this issue less frequent, it still happens and sometimes i believe it isn't even an issue of astute (because again, on my laptop everything works like a charm). i hope adobe investigates in this and gives a fix in the next update

[Monika Gause]

---

@Yoshi31550171n9x1  schrieb:

 i hope adobe investigates in this and gives a fix in the next update

---

Report it as a bug if you want it investigated. The engineers do not read this foum.

Report to https://illustrator.uservoice.com 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Yoshi31550171n9x1,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4ckPMCm) and letting us know if it helps?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav