PS Elements is a 32bit program...I don't know about PS9 but PS7 allocates only 50% of available ram (1602mb, half of the 3.5gb limit of 32bit OS) to PSE...
well...I'm using WIN7 64bit with 6gb RAM so I moved the slider (in Performance, see Preferences under the Edit tab at the top task bar) from 50% to 100% and use all 1602mb, far less than is actually available...
You should see improvement.
btw...also create and assign a scratch partition that will not be used for saving any data...this will also help performance...though with more than 4gb in the system, it is unlikely the scratch disk 'memory' will be needed much, especially for casual PSE use.
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