Slow to start the first time

[DeepPowder]

As of a few releases ago, PDF-XChange 10.3.1.387 is very slow to start the first time it is used during that login. I'm getting the same behavior on all 3 of the systems I use (2 Win 11, 1 Win 10). I don't see any recent posting that address this problem. Any ideas on how to fix it?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello DeepPowder,

We actually did quite a few optimizations specifically for build 387 to try and make it start much faster.
Do you use any network resources that e.g. need to be checked?

Or how slow is your first start for the day? Please note that a 3-5 second initial start the first time for the day is not unusual, as we need to read from e.g. your HDD and load some information into memory - so it can indeed take a bit longer than consecutive starts for the day.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[HVAC Elements Jeff]

Im not the original poster here but i will say that users at my company have been experiencing the same and its very hit or miss. Some will open nearly instantly, others will hang for anywhere between 10-30 seconds. When it does happen it does appear to be the first time opening the software after a reboot. I would say this was first noticed around v385 or 386. (just want to note we are all on 387 now and havent seen any improvements)

I've seen some old posts that recommended shutting off some plugins or unchecking the "Get information from AD" checkbox but have not tried it as of now. Is there any sort of troubleshooting we could do to pinpoint what is causing the delay?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello HVAC Elements Jeff,

Build 387 should have made some significant improvements to the cold start of the Editor the first time for the day/after a reboot.
Do you have network resources that are added to the Editor as e.g. custom locations?
SharePoint locations were causing some slowdowns in the past, however this has not been a problem for quite some time!

I will check with our devs on whether they have some tools that can be used to investigate your slowdowns as there is nothing built in in the released version of the Editor that could gather such info automatically.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[DeepPowder]

Thanks, Stefan

Hmmm - I'm not sure exactly what's going on so I'll just lay out what I've observed and done ...

The slow start is inconsistent so I'll try to do some more targeted testing and will let you know. Here's what's happened so far today:

1. Opened up a File Explorer window to a folder attached over the network on another local system - window opened essentially instantaneously.

2. Double-clicked a .pdf file and it took 20-30 seconds to open in PDF-XChange.

3. Made a copy of the .pdf to a local drive.

4. Shut down and rebooted.

5. Double-clicked the local copy and it opened essentially instantaneously.

6. Repeated 4, 1 and 2, but this time the .pdf opened essentially instantaneously.

I'll try some more tests tomorrow after the systems have been off overnight, though I don't see how that could make a difference from just rebooting.

I'm open to suggestions for other tests to perform.

Graig

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello DeepPowder,

How large is the file? I presume the network is quick enough - however some 300-400MB file might still take several seconds to download over that network so that it can then be displayed. The second time you might have had a temporary copy of the downloaded file and that's why it was faster.

Please try opening just the Editor - is that slow or fast in itself? Sometimes the first start of the Editor after a reboot can take a few seconds on it's own and would not depend on the file but it is rather the Editor itself loading.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[DeepPowder]

Good idea to try just opening the app: that was lightening fast.

And it was very fast to open 72KB file over the network after that.

I don't remember which file I opened the most recent time it was slow to start, but I'm pretty sure it would have ben at most 10MB and more likely under 1 MB.

I'll continue to be sensitive to what I'm doing early in a session to try to pin down the circumstances that lead to a slow opening.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello DeepPowder,

Please do and let us know if you notice anything that consistently results in the slowdown that that I can pass that to our devs to look at!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[peterneville]

Hi, wanted to say that we are getting the same problem. The first run after an install or reboot can take 30 seconds to start, subsequent starts only take a couple of seconds.
Starting getting reports from our users when we updated to 10.3.0.386, so rolled them all back to 10.2.1.385 which fixed the problem. I have just tried installing 10.3.1.387 and am now getting the slow start again.
We do have a group policy to push out registry settings to all users to set 26 places pointing to our SharePoint site, but I have excluded myself from the GPO and manually removed the reg settings and it hasn't fixed the start speed.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, peterneville

we definitely want to look into this. Can I ask you to log the process using Process Monitor? https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... or-Procmon

I would ask you to email [email protected] attention Paul, refer to this thread and I will give you a secure file drop link. I prefer not to make it public, so I will put the link in the email.

We are keen to get the logs and dig into this.

[Mathew]

I've been having this problem for a long time now (slow 1-2minute start the first time). I recently made a change that seems to have fixed it:

Preferences > Documents > Manage History and Recents

History options was set to 50,000 items and 1000 days - I don't know if I set that at some point, or it was a default, but I changed it to 500 items and 100 days and since then I've had no slow starts. May be a coincidence.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Mathew

Having a very large number of recents, especially if most of them point to no longer accessible files, could lead to a similar slowdown on launch, but it should be a consistent slowdown on every launch of the software, not just the first one after a restart.

As you found, reducing those numbers from the defaults can help, alternatively, you can use the "...Options > Clear... > All Broken" function of our recent files list, to tidy it up:

image.png

This will remove only files which are currently inaccessible/not present under the paths they were originally opened, from your recents list.

Kind regards,