I've used Photoshop daily for about three years, but after updating to Photoshop 2026 it became extremely slow and freezes whenever I use the Color Drop tool, switch tools, change layers, or zoom. The rest of my Windows 11 PC stays responsive, and there are no overheating issues. My system has an Intel i5-12400, 16 GB of RAM, and an SSD with roughly 180 GB of free space. I've already tried switching back to an earlier version, toggling GPU acceleration, changing Photoshop's memory allocation, reducing the history states to 20, changing and cleaning the scratch disks, clearing the cache, updating drivers, and reinstalling the program. The problem continues even with the older version installed.
2 Answers
Since reinstalling and changing the usual performance settings didn’t help, this sounds more like a damaged configuration, plug-in, or installation issue than a lack of system resources. Try resetting Photoshop’s preferences completely and launch it with all third-party plug-ins disabled. If it works normally afterward, re-enable plug-ins one at a time to find the cause.
The fact that the older version now freezes too suggests something outside the application may have changed, such as a corrupted user profile, graphics driver interaction, or leftover settings shared between versions. A clean uninstall that removes preferences and remaining application files, followed by a fresh installation from an official installer, would be a useful test. Also check whether the issue occurs with a brand-new blank document; if it only happens in certain files, one of those documents or linked assets may be corrupted.
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