ACDSee Ultimate hangs for a long while after initial start

[SteveWR]

Hello,

One thing that seems to affect a number of graphics-based apps including ACDSee is a long period of inactivity soon after starting the app. I have found that this appears to be due to the app attempting a network connection a remote host (perhaps for licence verification).

Why this delay can last as long as 90 seconds is anyone's guess but I have found a solution.. disable all network access and ACDSee starts in relatively quick time.

It is good to have a workaround but it is a pain to have to disable network access just so ACDSee can start! This problem has only appeared in the more recent versions of the software.

Just out of interest, the other apps that show a similar behaviour are Topaz and onOne....

Can ACDSee provide any insight on this?

Thanks

Steve

[Greyfox]

SteveWR

I'm just another long term ACDSee, Affinity Photo and Topaz user....

I don't know whether ACDSee repeats the same online check each time when it starts up, or what it actually checks. I expect it would do program registration checks at some interval, and also a check for any new items for the Message Center.

Yes, if the PC doesn't have an internet connection, then ACDSee startup is quicker. The difference between startup times with an internet connection and without would possibly give some indication of how much of the time is due to network or internet criteria, and how much to PC operations.

The average time here from clicking on the ACDSee icon to ACDSee Ultimate 2023 opening in manage mode and displaying the content of of my Home folder is in the order of 3 to 4 seconds. Compared to that, the 90 seconds you mention does seem a tad excessive.

For comparison sake, my network is Cat 6 Ethernet connected using 1000/1000 Mbps ports, and my internet is HFC 50/20Mb/s download/upload.

If I disable the network adaptor on the PC, ACDSee startup time drops to just over 2 seconds. So the on line component is in the order of only 1 to 2 seconds.

Again for comparison sake, my desktop PC uses an Intel i7-10700 CPU, 32GB memory, GTX 1660 OC 6GB graphics. I have a specific ACDSee Home (startup) folder on one of the local M.2 NVMe solid state drives, with only a single image in that folder. My working image collection and my databases are on another local M.2 NVMe SSD, and my archives on external USB3 drives..

Also for comparison. On this PC, Topaz Photo AI 1.2.6 takes 3 seconds from clicking on the icon to it being open in free standing mode, Gigapixel AI v6.3.3 takes 4 to 5 seconds, Denoise AI v3.7.0 takes 3 to 4 seconds, Sharpen AI v4.1.0 takes 3 to 4 seconds, Mask AI v1.3.9 takes 2 to 3 seconds, Adjust AI v1.0.6 takes 1 to 2 seconds. Affinity Photo v2.0.4 takes 9 to 10 seconds.

[HeartMan]

I've had the same issue, replaced 22 with 23 and it hangs (Windows 11) on launch. Very disappointing. A work-around I've found it to right-click on a picture and do "Open With" and the program is up and running immediately. Still a pain in the butt though.

[Greyfox]

I've had the same issue, replaced 22 with 23 and it hangs (Windows 11) on launch. Very disappointing. A work-around I've found it to right-click on a picture and do "Open With" and the program is up and running immediately. Still a pain in the butt though.

Have you raised the issue with Customer Support (https://www.acdsee.com/en/support/form/)
I would have thought that if that was a general issue with the program on Windows 11, the forum would have been flooded with posts about it.

[HeartMan]

Not yet, still investigating. I'm toying with the idea of just wiping my box and do fresh install. It's been a couple of years...

[SteveWR]

Greetings, HeartMan, and Greyfox

Thank you for taking the time to respond

To the question about rasing the issue with Customer support, I have yet to do so! I have found the delay issue to be present in Windows 10 ans 11 - it has been around for some while. Greyfox - it sounds like you concur with the premise the issue is centred on netowrk access but, HeartMan, I have not tried the "open with" route :-)

Cheers

Steve

[Greyfox]

Greyfox - it sounds like you concur with the premise the issue is centred on netowrk access..

No, on an individual basis it may be, or it may not be.

As I said in my previous post, "The difference between startup times with an internet connection and without would possibly give some indication of how much of the time is due to network or internet criteria, and how much to PC operations."

If the "phone home" time seems excessive, then it's a matter of looking at whether that is down to local network access (actual achieved local network speed, particularly in the case of a WiFi network where the expected speed can be significantly degraded when the PC is some distance from the router, or where there are walls in between, or where there is interference from other nearby devices or WiFi networks), or whether it is mainly due the external round trip time over the internet service to the remote server

If the start up time when there is no internet connection is considered excessive, then it's a matter of looking at PC capability (CPU type and speed, memory amount and speed, disk speed, quality of housekeeping etc), perhaps the effect of antivirus software, other processes running at the time, where the database is located, whether the start up folder is on a local, an external, or a network drive, and also perhaps the number and type of images present in the start up folder. (you may have noticed from my previous post that I use a specific start up folder with a single image in it, on a fast local SSD).

The 3 to 4 seconds I quoted in my earlier post relating to the U2023 installation on this desktop is very much the norm for this particular PC. As I have no control over the performance of the internet, very infrequently a particular startup might take a bit longer, but it's not been enough to be of any concern. As I consider this PC to be fairly average by today's standards, I would expect many others would be seeing similar or perhaps even slightly better times.

But all that shows is what is possible from the software as it is.

There are no doubt older, less capable PC's, on slower local networks, and perhaps on slower internet service plans, where even if everything has been done to optimize performance, the startup times are longer. At some stage one has to say "it is what it is, and I can live with it", or upgrade. But if your start up time was an average of say even 30 seconds, and you started ACDSee three times every day, would that justify the cost of upgrading the PC, the network, the internet service?