Finale 25.4.1.152 loads VERY slowly

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[hg]lor47D
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Finale Version: 25.4.1.152
Operating System: Windows

Post by [hg]lor47D » Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:16 pm

After awhile, it succeeds, but the machine seems to be hung for an inordinately long time.

Any ideas?

Harvey
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Version 1709, Build 16299.19
Intel Core i7 5930K @3.50GHz
64.0 GB RAM
Motherboard: ASUSTek X99-A II Haswell-E chipset
Finale 26.0.1.655


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miker
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Post by miker » Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:41 pm

I would open a support ticket. This is the sort of thing that is best forwarded to them.
Finale 27 | SmartScorePro 64
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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:47 pm

I have an old computer and Finale loads slowly. It turns out it's Microsoft Security Essentials looking for malware.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun Nov 05, 2017 1:14 am

[hg]lor47D wrote:After awhile, it succeeds, but the machine seems to be hung for an inordinately long time.

Any ideas?

Harvey
Did you just install Finale 25? If not, has it always behaved this way, or just suddenly today?

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

[hg]lor47D
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Finale Version: 25.4.1.152
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Post by [hg]lor47D » Sun Nov 05, 2017 8:37 am

Finale 25 has been loaded for several months. At first, it loaded quickly, but it's been slow for about a month or so. I don't remember when it slowed down. Basically, I've just put up with it, but it's gotten more and more annoying so I thought I'd ask here.

Harvey
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Version 1709, Build 16299.19
Intel Core i7 5930K @3.50GHz
64.0 GB RAM
Motherboard: ASUSTek X99-A II Haswell-E chipset
Finale 26.0.1.655

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun Nov 05, 2017 3:03 pm

Save the 2 preferences files in a safe location, in case this doesn't work, so you can easily copy them back. Then, recreate your preferences. That sometimes works, short of reinstalling.

Zuill
Windows 10, Finale 2011-v26.3.1
"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

[hg]lor47D
Posts: 51
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Finale Version: 25.4.1.152
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Post by [hg]lor47D » Sun Nov 05, 2017 10:04 pm

That did it! I'm back to the normal load. The old Preferences file was 16K and I have no idea how it got to be that big. Anyway, thank you, Zuill. You nailed it, again.

Harvey
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Version 1709, Build 16299.19
Intel Core i7 5930K @3.50GHz
64.0 GB RAM
Motherboard: ASUSTek X99-A II Haswell-E chipset
Finale 26.0.1.655

montedoro44
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Post by montedoro44 » Tue Mar 17, 2020 6:30 pm

Same problem here, Finale 26, Windows 10. Where are preference files? I got to OS > Program Files > MakeMusic > Finale > 26 but search for "pref" comes up with nothing.

Also, in Finale I followed Preferences > Folders and poked around but can't find anything that looks promising.

And "recreate your preferences" = Reset ?

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motet
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Post by motet » Tue Mar 17, 2020 6:39 pm

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ ... inale-etc-

I have the slow-load problem, and the above didn't help, but it's worth a try.

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David Ward
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Post by David Ward » Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:03 pm

Perhaps this is not relevant in any way at all, but I have very different Finale loading times with F 26.2 on two Macs. One is using OS 10.13.6 and the other 10.14.6, but the crucial difference is that one has a spinning HD and the other an SSD. The HD takes a minute to load Finale, but the SSD is close to instant. I also have more memory on the SSD machine. It is maybe worth mentioning that most other applications load much faster on the HD Mac than does Finale, but I don't notice any real difference between various application loading times with the SSD.
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motet
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Post by motet » Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:09 pm

I have an SSD, 16GB of memory, and a fast processor, so in my case, that's not it.

As I said in another topic, there's a chance that Finale is trying to contact a MakeMusic server, perhaps to send statistics or something, and it's not a stretch to think such a server could be FUBAR, and that Finale is waiting for a response and eventually times out. I need to run network sniffer to check this theory.

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motet
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Post by motet » Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:14 pm

montedoro44, make sure Help/Automatically Check for Updates and Help/Help Improve Finale are not selected. Neither will do you any good, and may in fact slow you down.

montedoro44
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Post by montedoro44 » Thu Mar 19, 2020 3:57 pm

Thanks, motet. Automatic check for updates isn't it. I think it's 1) old computer and 2) preferences, as I have my 2nd copy on an equally old laptop, but I almost never use it, and it's always a faster load. Not a big problem, but if I ever find my preferences hideout I'll get short with them. The up-to-a-minute it takes to load Finale is about the time it takes me to play a 4x4 KenKen game, so winwin.

montedoro44
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Post by montedoro44 » Thu Mar 19, 2020 5:30 pm

One more symptom I forgot to mention -- after I use Finale and close it, the next opening tends to be very fast, even like 3 seconds. It seems that the longer the interval that I use the computer for other stuff, then the longer the next Finale load will take.

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motet
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Post by motet » Thu Mar 19, 2020 6:26 pm

Yes, that's what I experience. I have a new, fast computer, so that's not the issue.

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Fri Mar 20, 2020 5:11 am

montedoro44 wrote:
Thu Mar 19, 2020 5:30 pm
One more symptom I forgot to mention -- after I use Finale and close it, the next opening tends to be very fast, even like 3 seconds. It seems that the longer the interval that I use the computer for other stuff, then the longer the next Finale load will take.
Yes, that's normal. That's what a memory cache is about—some of the boot files are saved in RAM in case you want to get back to them. If you reboot, it will go back to normal since that cache will clear automatically. If you time this, you'll see other apps do the same—perhaps not as dramatically.

You should contact MM Support on this. Don't be surprised if the first thing they tell you to do is update to 25.5. In fact, that would be the first thing I try.

I don't know if the license server phones home only when you activate a new station or every time you start up — if so, it can be a VPN or firewall issue and if there's a workaround, they should know.

In my case, I have a very fast system but 25 and 26 would take over a minute to load. If I quit and restarted, it would be around 6 seconds. The recent 26.2.2 update cut my load time to 19 seconds. Re-load after quit is unchanged at 6.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
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motet
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Post by motet » Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:11 am

I have Finale 2011 and Finale 2014.5. Both use about the same amount of memory, but 2011 doesn't have the delay, so I don't know that cacheing explains the faster loading of 2014.5 the second time (since 2011 loads quickly the first time without the benefit of cacheing). Perhaps Finale is checking something--querying a broken web server and timing out, or maybe doing some slow trudging through Garritan data--then recording when it did this and not doing it again until a certain about of time has passed.

It's worth asking MM, but I'm not hopeful. (I think my version is out of warranty, so I can't ask.)

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motet
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Post by motet » Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:04 pm

I ran Wireshark and loaded Finale first thing in the morning (slow), then did it again (fast). The difference is a bunch of traffic to a Microsoft IP, so my current theory is that Windows security is checking it carefully. I thought it might be this before, so I exempted finale.exe from the check, but it occurs to me that I didn't include all the DLL files, so I'll try that next.

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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Mar 21, 2020 4:12 pm

In my case I've solved the slow loading. Not Finale's fault, but rather the Windows virus check, which apparently is bypassed if you've run the program recently, hence the quicker loading the second time. I have added Finale as an exception and it now loads quickly.

I had tried this before, but only specified finale.exe, but you need to except the whole folder of executables and DLLs. The odds of Finale somehow getting hacked seem very low--I'm not even sure how it could even happen--so it seems safe to me to exclude it from the check, but anyone reading this should do it at their own risk.

On Windows 10, find the settings for Virus and threat protection, click Manage settings, then Add or remove exclusions, and add Finale's folder in C:\Program Files or similar.

What's odd is that the earlier versions of Finale I have installed do not experience the delay, so must not be getting checked. Is there something the newer version is doing that is triggering the re-check? It's a mystery.

montedoro44
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Post by montedoro44 » Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:16 pm

Thanks, motet -- that might be it. I just had a 5-sec load. I will know by tomorrow.

Lowell
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Post by Lowell » Thu Jul 29, 2021 4:13 pm

I contacted support regarding this issue. For me, working with Finale 26, this issue was solved by changing the ASIOEnabled property in %appdata%\MakeMusic\Finale 26\FINMIDI.INI to 0.

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