I am aware that there is a problem when working with Captivate and connected to company network. As a result of this issue I do not work in "My Documents" but in a folder on local C drive. Not sure if this problem is related to the below...I guess the two are related however.
I "suffer" with the time delay from the moment I click on my desktop shortcut for Captivate (v4 / Win XP) to the time I can get started in Captivate.
When I click on desktop shortcut I get the below screen.
The section at the bottom (marked #1) is initially empty and can take up to 30-40 seconds before the data appears.
The main section (marked #2) is visible from the initial start up, but the links are not activated. I have to wait for at least another 30-40 seconds AFTER the bottom section 1 has become visible before the links become active and I can get started.
1. Is it the case that Captivate does not become "active" until it has connected to an Adobe website to enable the different links to help / tutorials etc, and this is the cause of the start up delay ?
2. Am I alone in experiencing such delays and therefore have to get my IT people to look at my laptop and try and work out why we are causing the delay ?
3. Or is this delay something other Captivate users suffer and something we have to live with as long as we have to use Adobe Captivate ?
Noel
25
Replies
Hi Noel.
Ok, firstly an advisory note..
Get one of your tech's to do this or else they will have a heart attack 
Simply take one ram chip out of the computer and see if the performance is the same, if it is the same with one chip taken out(providing you have two, you may have one 4gb chip), then you know that it is obviously not working any better with or without.
However there are diagnostic programs these days to test RAM, which your tech's should be able to have access to.. I'm assuming you are in a med to largish business that has dedciated Technicians, otherwise this may be harder to show.
Were you able to check the performance monitor to see Ram usage and CPU usage?
I can put a little video simulation up if you want so you can see what im talking about, let me know.
Also, you can check your BIOS to see if RAM is working properly, however your tech's should be able to show this.
What would be ideal, would be to load something else to the system to see if it also takes a long time to load, such as Office, and or adobe cs5.
Usually slow load times is simply RAM, age of computer, no space on hard drive, Software needs to be re-installed, or computer needs to be re-imaged... one of these is generally the problem, however if it is a captivate only problem then that wont help.
Also you can ask your tech;s to check you have the latest windows patchest etc installed, and you have the latest Flash player installed, and also the latest browsers installed. For example if your using IE 5, that could possibly cause problems, though not while Captivate is running, but with previewing content afterwards. Generallly you just want to know that EVERYTHING software wise, is up to date, and your tech's should be able to confirm that for you.
As a tech though, they should be able to check all the things mentioned in this message so forward it onto them and ask if they can make a time to check these things specifically if needed.
Hope that helps,
Benny.
Oh, dont touch the insides without the Tech's permission though, i dont want to suggest something and something incidental happens as a result
And remember, often the fix to a problem is not the logical solution.. though things are slow, the Ram is obvious, but it is not guareenteed even if it looks like it is the problem, but that is the tech's responsibility, so lets pass it onto them to make them work it out, but you can tell them where to look so it gets fixec quicker
Hi Benny
Personally, I'd only suggest investigating possible RAM issues if the system in general were misbehaving. From what I've seen of this thread (and from Noel's other past threads) the only issue is Captivate. So for me, the suggestion of RAM being culpable doesn't really pass the sniff test. Perhaps it is, but it's difficult to buy if there have been no other issues reported with other applications prior to Captivate.
Just thinking out loud... Rick
| Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form |
Hi Kris
That would make logical sense. My own guess is that it has to do with what you see (or don't) in the lower right corner of the screen as shown below:
As I understand it, that area presents a flash widget that pings home to the Adobe servers to present any news they wish to present. So if killing the start screen improves performance, it's likely because of this gizmo phoning home.
Cheers... Rick
| Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form |
Hi Noel - and anyone who can help,
I have noticed the same issues with starting up, and some more....
I am trying to run 5.5 on a work pc for someone. Loading the apllication seems slow - around 30-50sec. When they try to capture an application through IE7 browser it is slow to the point of crashing.
We have gone though 2 pc and 2 laptops; reformatted, re-imaged both and still no luck. All tests were done with specs abouve the "reccomended requirements". Oh, and when it is so slow to the point of not responding the CPU never spikes - is happily around 2% no matter what. The staff member went home and downloaded the free trial on him home pc. He ran as many applications as possible (over 30) a couple of you.tube streaming pages and a full norton diagnostic - Captivate ran FINE
What I suspect, and I am by no means an expret - is Captivate does not like being used on a Network - or being told to access info on a network. Noel, are you able to do what you need to and not be connected to your work network? If so it might pay to test it out.
If anyone else can help that would be great - I have forked our alot of money for this staff member to produce e-learning training tools on SharePoint (yes yes I know!) and at this stage there is no point 
Thanks
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