Some stressing hour today: my dreamweaver8 stops working while loading “Initializing extension data”-screen

While reinstall is not an option, registry edit is the last (and working!) trial-and-error from the Macromedia help-page:

1. The Dreamweaver 8.0.1 Updater resolved this issue for most users.
   Install the Dreamweaver 8.0.2 Updater as it includes all of the fixes in the 8.0.1 update, plus additional recommended fixes.
2. Try renaming the Dreamweaver user configuration folder, so that Dreamweaver will automatically generate a new user configuration folder the next time Dreamweaver launches.
   The Configuration folder is located here:
   C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Macromedia\Dreamweaver 8\Configuration
3. Recreate your Dreamweaver user settings in the registry as follows:
   Warning: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require reinstalling your operating system. Adobe does not guarantee that problems caused by editing the registry incorrectly can be resolved. Edit the registry at your own risk.
   • Launch the Registry Editor by clicking the Start button, choose Run, then type “regedit”. In the Registry Editor, navigate to this folder:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Dreamweaver 8
   • Rename the “Dreamweaver 8″ key to “DreamweaverOLD”, so that Dreamweaver will automatically generate a new user settings key the next time you launch it.
     
4. Recreate your Dreamweaver site definitions in the registry as follows. The steps below will delete your site definitions in Dreamweaver.
   • Launch the Registry Editor by clicking the Start button, choose Run, then type “regedit”. In the Registry Editor, navigate to this folder:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Common\8\Sites
   • Rename the “Sites” key to “SitesOLD”, so that Dreamweaver will automatically generate a new Sites key the next time you launch it.

The guide no.4 fixed my problem:

• went to registry, renamed the Sites to SitesOLD
• restarted Dreamweaver, no problems there, but all sites are gone
• Closed Dreamweaver, deleted the newly created key Sites
• Renamed SitesOLD back to Sites
• on the sub-key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Macromedia\Common\8\Sites\-Summary”, emptied the entry “Current Site”
• Restarted Dreamweaver, goes well (yaay!!)
• Clicked on Manage sites, disabled the cache on the culprit-site-definition
• Posted this blog

I can guess some of the culprit here:

• the files I’m working on are stored via a network mapped drive –> network is not running smoothly due some crappy streaming radio being played on some other computers
• the site defined contains >3000 files, and DW8’s cache setting is switched on –> I cannot reduce the number of files, so the other thing to ’speed up’ the work is to disable the cache-setting (Manage sites, on teh General tab, tick off the ‘Enable Caching’ option)

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