CS3 Illustrator crashing unexpectedly

[Firebug06]

Ok, so here's the problem. I have a computer at work that has been giving us some trouble. The user operating it is a graphical designer and uses Adobe Illustreator from the Designer Premium CS3 bundle every day. Recently, however, it has been displaying the Windows message "this application has encountered an error and needs to close" and then gives you an option to sen or not send an error report to microsoft. Everyone's seen it at some point for one thing or another.

So first I figured we could just update to the latest version and that would fix it, and it seemed to for a few days. But then it came back. I contacted Adobe to see if they had any information, and they told me to update as well, but also if that didn't work, to try forums such as this.

And as I've been typing this, Illustrator has crashed yet again.

I could probably reinstall the CS3 Designer Premium, but that's time and effort that I'd wish to avoid at the moment.

If anyone can give me an alternative solution, I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks in advace.


The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart. -W.C. Fields

 

[apepp]

...have you tried deleting the preferences file?

If manually deleting this file, ensure Illustrator is closed first.

With Illustrator CS and later, it is also possible to delete the preferences by holding down CTRL+ALT+SHIFT(Win)/Shift+Option+Command(Mac) whilst starting the application and responding 'Yes' when prompted.


Illustrator preferences are stored in the file Aiprefs. This file has no file extension, is a hidden file, and its location is dependent upon the operating system version.

Windows:

To locate the file from Windows Explorer it is necessary to set Explorer Folder options > View to "View Hidden Files and Folders"

Under Win XP and Win 2K, the file will be located in:

%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\~username\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator[Version][Settings-(CS/CS2)].

Mac OSX:

Users>~username>Library>Preferences>Adobe Illustrator CS Settings>Adobe Illustrator Prefs

 

[Firebug06]

Thanks Apepp. It seems that in my haste I had forgotten to include that we're using Windows XP, so thank you for including multiple choices. I'll now go and try your method and we'll see how things go.

The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart. -W.C. Fields