PhotoDirector4.exe *32 continues running after closing program

mistertee

Newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2009 14:21 Messages: 20 Offline

Solved by

Nov 23, 2012 14:15

I ordered the full CD-Rom version of PhotoDirector 4 but while waiting for it's arrival I'm using the 30 day trial. I ran task manager yesterday and noticed that the process PhotoDirector4.exe *32 continues to run in the background (using about 175,000K of memory) after closing the program. I'm just wondering if that's normal and if so, what purpose it serves. I guess it's not a huge problem but whenever possible I like to keep background processes to a minimum unless they needed. Any comments appreciated!

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

Nov 23, 2012 14:34

Hi,
I believe that the program updates any image files on the computer 'similar to a 'cataloging' the drive. Not entirely sure tho'.
Jim
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PIX

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 21, 2011 00:02 Messages: 2910 Offline

Nov 23, 2012 15:05

Hello mistertee & James,

When using PhotoDirector4, you'll see there are two related processes running:
- PhotoDirector4.exe *32 (the main program)
- PhotoDirectorCDP4.exe *32 (not sure what it's doing!)

PhotoDirectorXPT4.exe *32 only runs when exporting photos.

On my PhD4, the two processes stop running (viewed in task manager) a second or two after closing. See attached screen capture with processes marked.

mistertee, I'm not sure whether you mean the process continues to run long after you've closed PhD or whether there's a short delay.

PIX

Filename	PhD4_Processes.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	391 Kbytes
Downloaded:	432 time(s)

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mistertee

Newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2009 14:21 Messages: 20 Offline

Nov 23, 2012 15:33

Thanks for the feedback. The "PhotoDirectorCDP4.exe" process does close as expected when I exit PD4. However "PhotoDirector4.exe *32" continues running until I kill it manually in task manager. In fact it has to be manually closed in order to relaunch PD4. If not, the computer thinks the program is already running and won't relaunch as that would open a 2nd instance. Anyway, I doubt that it is searching for data. I dunno... guess we'll see if anything changes when I install the registered version. BTW, looking at the preferences menu I didn't see anything that might relate to this unless I missed something.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Nov 23. 2012 15:33

mistertee

Newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2009 14:21 Messages: 20 Offline

Nov 23, 2012 23:37

Just reporting back to say uninstalling and reinstalling the software seems to have fixed the problem. Both processes now close immediately when I exit PD4.

PIX

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 21, 2011 00:02 Messages: 2910 Offline

Nov 23, 2012 23:46

Thanks mistertee,

The cause will remain a mystery, I suppose, but good to hear everything's as it should be now.

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mistertee

Newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2009 14:21 Messages: 20 Offline

Nov 24, 2012 00:22

Well, I did a bit of research, looking at discussions from various forums where users were reporting an executable process would hang after an application had been closed. One of the more common theories was that such an issue might be attributed to unrelated background processes that happened to be running during a software installation. A minor conflict could interfere with the installation process causing some errors. In any case, during the re-installation I made sure that non-essential background processes were closed and it seemed to resolve the issue. So nothing definitive, but a possible fix if others run into a similar problem.