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I don't know how many times I've heard someone say that they feel CorelDRAW 11 is incredibly slow on Windows XP. Obviously some aspects of speed are due to the computer itself. Having a fast processor and lots of memory is very important. But there are also settings in both CorelDRAW and Windows XP that can have a dramatic difference on the speed you experience.
Some of you might say that if Windows XP is slowing down CorelDRAW that you should just avoid Windows XP. Remember, that it doesn't have to slow down CorelDRAW. But more importantly, you'll find that Windows XP is much more stable than the operating systems that preceded it. I strongly recommend Windows XP to anyone who has a machine that supports it.
I've broken this article into two major segments. First, we'll go over the settings in CorelDRAW that should be changed to maximize speed. Then we'll go over the settings in Windows XP that tend to slow down your whole system and CorelDRAW. If you follow the instructions provided here, you should find that CorelDRAW 11 will run much better!
It is important that you have also installed CorelDRAW 11 Service Pack 1 to get the most from CorelDRAW 11.
While there are probably a bunch of settings that could be changed to get an increase in speed, there are two settings that will really provide a big increase without having any effect on your workflow.
Select Tools | Options and click on the General tab in the tree list at left. You should get the dialog box below.
The first setting that needs to be changed is the number of Undo levels. We all love undo and being able to go back a few steps is a really awesome feature. But when was the last time you went back 99 steps? 50 steps? 25 steps? If you're like most users, rarely would you go back more than five or ten steps. We suggest changing this bloated default to 15. Remember that each thing that can be undone must be stored in memory. So the higher this setting, the more data that is taking up memory and slowing down your computer!
By far the biggest slowdown is the Enable Real Time Preview checkbox. When it is checked, it disables speed. Uncheck it and you'll find that things work a lot better.
You may have seen the Microsoft hype for all the really cool advancements they've made to the look and feel of Windows XP. What they don't say is that many of the interface enhancements are processor hogs. By turning off a number of these settings, you can reclaim speed and you probably won't even notice the difference in the interface. In fact, you might not even like some of the enhancements.
Some people find the font smoothing helpful, some don't. I happen to like it and am willing to take the performance hit from using it. So I check the Smooth edges of screen fonts box.
I run my monitor at a pretty high resolution. This can make it hard to read the icon labels. To solve this, I check Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
Some people find the look of program windows more pleasing in Windows XP. If you like the XP look, check the Use visual styles on windows and buttons. Without this checked, program windows will look as they did in Windows 98 and 2000.
Those three settings are my weakness and I accept the performance loss they bring. I find the visual enhancement provided to be adequate reward for that performance loss. Some of you will find that you want more settings checked while others will be happy to turn them all off for maximum speed.
Once you've implemented the settings outlined in this article, have you found that CorelDRAW 11 runs faster? What about the other programs on your system? We think you'll will see a noticeable difference and would appreciate a little thank you in the form of a donation. Just click the button below and enter the amount appropriate to the value you've gained from speeding up your system.
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CorelDRAW X6 Font List · CorelDRAW X5 Font List · CorelDRAW X4 Font List · The Terms of Adobe Photoshop and Corel PHOTO-PAINT · CorelDRAW X3 Font List · Cropping and Rotating Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · The Magic of Color Styles · CorelDRAW's Find and Replace Wizard · Shorten Your Design Time with Templates · CorelDRAW's Multi-Faceted Eyedropper Tool · CorelDRAW and Special Characters · The Easy Way to Create Calendars in CorelDRAW · The Wide World of Labels in CorelDRAW · Including Variable Data with Print Merge · Resaving, Resizing & Resampling Files in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · Creating Your Own Fonts in CorelDRAW · The Evils of Using JPEG Files · Speeding Up CorelDRAW 11 and Windows XP · Symbols and Imposition · The Easiest Way to Recreate Logos · A Few Guidelines to Follow · Square Corners Can Be Sticky -- Rounding Corners in CorelDRAW · Creating Complex Shapes Easily with CorelDRAW · Identifying the Mystery Font · Two Ways to Create a Split Front Design · Last Word in Font Management · Calibrating Your Printed Colors with a Color Chart · Graphics Computing in 2001 · Hottest R.A.V.E. In Town · Get the Red Out of Eyes · Secrets of Color Management · Dressing Up Your PDF Files · How Adobe Acrobat Can Make Life Simpler · Why You Want PDF in Your Workflow · Converting a Scanned Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Designing 360 Degrees · Customizing Your Interface in CorelDRAW 8.0 · Fitting Text to a Path · Creating Cool Graphs Without a Spreadsheet · From CorelDRAW to Macromedia Flash, A Simple Example · Getting Rid of That Darned White Box · Converting a Bitmap Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW · Finding Clipart with ROMCAT
Xara Xtreme Pro 5.0
Serif WebPlus X2
Xara Web Designer 5.0
Xara Xtreme Pro 4.1
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional
Fuji FinePix 2800 Zoom Digital Camera
Procreate KnockOut 2
Hemera Photo Objects Volume I and II
Wildform SWfx
Macromedia Fontographer 4.1 and FontLab 4
Caligari iSpace v1.5
Xara X
Macromedia Fireworks 4
Web Site Design Made Easy
Alien Skin Eye Candy 4000
Swish 1.51
Macromedia Flash 5
Corel KPT 6
Dreamweaver Ultradev
1st Page 2000
Adobe Illustrator 9
Corel KnockOut v1.5
Xara 3D 4
Cool 3D 3
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