limited tool bar and lost filters in Illustrator 7 1

[throckner]

I seem to have lost my full tool bar, as well as fillters and effects, in illustrator 7. I had attempted to reload the software in the hopes of fixing some limitations I was facing when applying the drop shadow effect (no blur option), and when I did I lost the ability to access any fillters and effects at all, as well as having a condensed and limited tool bar. Does anyone know what may have happen? thanks

 

[jmgalvin]

If you use Windows, did you disable all antivirus/antispyware before reinstalling?

If on Mac, trash Illustrator Preferences in System Folder/preferences and see what happens.

 

[throckner]

I use windows. how will it help to disable the antivirus software?

 

[dimoj]

I would 99% say trashing prefs will fix it.

In Windows do a search for aiprefs (make sure Show Hidden Files is checked).

Delete that file when you find it and restart Illy.

 

[jmgalvin]

No software installer app likes AV to be running when doing the install - on any platform - as the AV might see parts of the install as a virus. such a warning is usually carried on the Install directiona for most apps.

There have been numberous people here in the past who had problems with ILL installs on Windows and the turning off AV worked for them.

You might try running the Uninstall for Ill before reinstalling. The problem is most often in Preferences and reinstalling, without trashing the prefs first, often does not solve the problem. I don't know if the Uninstall will uninstall your prefs (I hope it does) and I don't know where they are stored on a Windows machine.

Go back through this forum and you might find the way to trash ILL prefs in Windows if the Uninstall/Reinstall doesn't work.

 

[dimoj]

Go back through this forum and you might find the way to trash ILL prefs in Windows if the Uninstall/Reinstall doesn't work.

Sigh. No one ever reads post number 4.

 

[jmgalvin]

Yeah! I was responding to his post about why he should disable AV when installing.

Are prefs hidden in Windows? I know very little about Windows.

 

[dimoj]

By default the Windows Explorer (the doo-hecky* that shows all your files) has certain files that might harm your computer if they were to be deleted, hidden.

You need to tell the puter that you want ALL files to be seen.

It's a safety net for us dumb PC users. ;-)

* "doo-hecky" is not a term endorsed by Microsoft or it's affiliate companies.

 

[jmgalvin]

That's good to know. If you read the questions here about problems with Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, etc, you find a lot that could be fixed by trashing prefs.

One thing I've found seen is that reinstalling often does not clear prefs (on Mac too). That's why I've been recommending that Windows users use the Unistall feature (I had a Win 98 machine for a while). I don't know if this wipes out prefs though.

 

[dimoj]

It does not delete prefs jmgalvin.

I feel sorry for all the people I see who have wasted their time reinstalling the program. Trashing prefs takes about 5 seconds if you know where the file is.

While we are discussing it, here is a good thing to do that most don't:

When you are happy with the way Illy is working, make a back-up copy of your AIPREFS file (call it AIPREFS2 or something). So then if anything goes wrong with your prefs you can rename the backup to become your proper prefs file and have all your settings back rather than starting from fresh.