bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Hi all,
My daughter does some work for me on the side, and uses Elements 14 when editing. After the most recent update, she now gets an error message stating she doesn't have enough ram (to do anything, simple cropping gives her the message) I visited the adobe boards, and saw that a lot of people have this issue, and it's some kind of registry error. Neither one of us is bold enough to go into a otherwise perfectly operating laptop registry and mess with things.

So, my question is, what are the free editors that look/feel the closest to Elements? I'm a Photoshop CC user, and am comfortable with the likes of Gimp, but she's not. She owns a reception hall, and just does some of my culling, cropping and some slight color/exposure tweaking from the weddings I shoot. Occasionally, she likes to get fancy with her own photos, so she would like at least SOME of the Elements features, but in an easy to use format that won't take a ton of time to learn. (Kind of like when I use Gimp when on vacation and don't have my good computer with me... PSCC already loaded on my desktop and my business laptop)

I did look at the posts of free processing software links, but that looks like it was last updated in 2013. I'm guessing since Picasa is still there, that there are several updates since then.

Thanks
Bob

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

For light-duty editing I've found the free Faststone Viewer to do probably 70% of my photos. It's quite easy to learn and use.
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I have PS Elements on my laptop, but use an online app, befunky, sometimes when on my Chromebook. For $35/year I enjoy a great many tools and effects: https://www.befunky.com/

It's only for online and working with jpg's, so may not meet your daughter's needs (If you try the free version, please note there will be no ads on the screen when you do the upgrade).

Picasa has not been supported by Google for years, so if you find a download site, be very careful about what you're getting in the "package."

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

As stated, Faststone is really nice. Especially for free.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

First step, install and the free version of CC Cleaner and or trial version of System Mechanic, they both have a basic registry cleaner function.
Then do a complete uninstall and reinstall of PSE.
I use PSE 13 (with elements+) and PSE 14 on different Win 10 machines and they are up to date as of last night, no problems with PSE on either machine.

How often does she run "house keeping" software to clean out old files etc. That alone will prevent a lot of problems. System Mechanic does a pretty good job of several functions (I have the paid version.) She could also try the free on line version of Comodo Cleaning Essentials.

Built into Windows 10: Windows Administrative Tools > Disk Cleanup > pick disk to clean > check all items you want cleaned > check Clean Up System Files at the bottom.
At each stage let it do its thing, make choices and after Clean Up System Files it may take a long time if this has never been done before - it will also recover a lot of disk real estate. I keep System Mechanic and Malwarebytes covering my system. I run System Mechanic once a week and once a month run CC Cleaner and Comodo Cleaning Essentials just because different apps will often catch things other apps miss

CC Cleaner: https://www.ccleaner.com/

System Mechanic: https://www.iolo.com/landing/special-offer-2/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=scu-usca-s&utm_term=system%20mechanic&gclid=Cj0KCQjw08XeBRC0ARIsAP_gaQCut79Ar5VWxfyA3eIimbzImihT6IVIdEo43UOHQI5xxVoAZrLqyWIaAo93EALw_wcB

Comodo Cleaning Essentials: https://www.comodo.com/business-security/network-protection/cleaning-essentials.php

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

That's the reason I will not touch ant Adobe product, there are plenty of better alternatives as others have suggested.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

So, Adobe runs perfectly for 4 years for her, and Windows does an October update that has been wreaking havoc on people's files, and various programs, and this is why you won't touch an Adobe product?

Hmmm Interesting.

To all the people who offered help, she did find a free one, she didn't say which one, that allowed her to do the basics, and she's happy until hopefully Windows fixes this "October surprise" update

vino2nite Loc: Bluffton, SC

Try changing the compatibility setting. Just a thought.

papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA

Five years ago with my experience of Windows 8.1 updates causing constant problems and after researching, I decided to install Windows 7 Pro (6.1) and Ultimate (simply Pro with 256 bit encryption) and only the first update. Then turned off windows updates "forever". Since then, I've not had one problem or slow down and no telemetry to boot. Past Windows 7 it's been nothing but trouble.