HEM is making my comp freeze up

[pderugin]

When I am running HEM and using the HUD / importing hands, my computer will freeze at what seem to be RANDOM times.

First the poker tables will stop responding (on FTP, though the exact same thing used to happen on Stars). For a few seconds I can click on other things in Windows (i.e., browse Firefox), but only for a few seconds, and then all of Windows freezes (I can move the mouse pointer, but that's it; clicking on an FTP table will make the HUD disappear and will "grey" / ghost the table).

The freeze will last anywhere from 5 seconds to up to almost 2 mins. Sometimes I will go through a whole 3 hour session without this happening, and sometimes it wall happen 3 times within 15 minutes.

There is NO excessive CPU / RAM usage before or after this occurs.

Sometimes after it unfreezes, the windows in my taskbar will be re-arranged.

Some info on my system (it's a laptop):

Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
Pentium T4300 @ 2.1GHZ
3 GB RAM
60 out of 287 GB of HDD space free.
Comodo Firewall
Avast AV

I run Malwarebytes Antimalware every couple of weeks and have never had any type of malware on this computer, ever.

I recently installed all important Windows Updates and also updated my version of HEM--the problem persists. I am running postgresql 1.8.4

I also have a couple of recurring "errors" under Event Viewer>Administrative Events that occur every time I start my computer (doubt they are the culprit, but thought I'd include them just in case):

Event 10, WMI:
-Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

Event 7000, Service Control Manager Eventlog Provider
-The Parallel port driver service failed to start due to the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

Event 7026, Service Control Manager Eventlog Provider
-The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
SRTSP
SRTSPX

Any suggestions?

The problem has been going on for a while, but with a greater frequency recently (maybe just variance) ... and also at very inopportune moments (like timing out with top set on a dry flop vs heat). I posted this problem on a poker forum and was advised to do maintenance on my database. I did, that ... the problem went away for two session (variance?) but has come back since then.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[netsrak]

Please uninstall Comodo as this is the firewall which causes the most problems.

[pderugin]

I tried that while troubleshooting (just disabled it from starting up in both msconfig and services). I also have Windows Defender and Windows Firewall disabled ... so it surprised me that when I restarted my comp (now with NO Comodo running) and opened HEM I got the following error message:

the following error occurred when trying to open the database: failed to establish a connection to 127.0.0.1

I even tried turning on Windows Firewall and adding HEM to the list of trusted programs. That didn't help.

I haven't tried changing my hosts file like it was suggested in in order to fix that error message as I'm hesitant of that possibly posing some security risks (yeah, I'm a little paranoid). But I suppose I could just back it up, change it, and be very careful while I test HEM?

Thanks

[Patvs]

This is usually a firewall or windows update issue.

First try to reboot.

If no help, try this:

Start > Programs > PostgreSQL > 8.x > Stop Service

Start > Programs > PostgreSQL > 8.x > Start Service

If that doesnt help delete the \postgresql\8.x\data\postmaster.pid file, if you see it. And reboot.


If that doesn't help you will have to reinstall PostgreSQL completely


And read:
http://forums.holdemmanager.com/mana...ease-tips.html

And check the hosts file. Make sure it's clean and looks like:
Fix for PostgreSQL cannot start error 127.0.0.1 - Holdem Manager Forums

[pderugin]

Deleting the postmaster.pid file worked for me. I can now start HEM without Comodo running. Thanks.

I will report back if my original problem persists, or, if after a few days, it has gone away.

[pderugin]

No Comodo running--still freezing.

[Patvs]

Did you do everything from:
http://forums.holdemmanager.com/mana...ease-tips.html





For W7 and Vista you must set \holdem manager\dbcontrolpanel.exe, holdemmanager.exe and hmhud.exe are started as administrator. Run the windows explorer and navigate to your Holdemmanager installation directory. Right click the executables and select properties... then select "Run as admin" from the compatibility tab.

Add exceptions for those files to the windows firewall, even if it is off.

Basically both HoldemManager and PostgreSQL need superuser administrator privileges on your computer, otherwise another program can mess with the database server.
It's best to just completely turn off Windows User Account Control and reboot.

[The Minder]

The support guys here have to be nice because they are in a commercial environment and don't want to step on the toes of other commercial products. I have no such constraint.

Don't just stop Comodo and Windows Defender... get rid of them entirely. Uninstall them with Revo. These two products are responsible for more b/s on Windows systems than all other products combined... with the possible exception of McAfee.

[pderugin]

Did you do everything from:
http://forums.holdemmanager.com/mana...ease-tips.html

No not all of those things .... it will take me a little while to get around to some of them, but I will do my best (though I do not plan on purging).

Regarding updating postgresql: my postgresql is installed in the following directory:

Program Files>PostgreSQL>8.3

However, when I open pgAdmin3 it says that the version is 1.8.4. So I just want to make sure, I do have version "8.4," right? Also it says on that page that 8.4 is the latest, but there is version 9 now--should I update to that?

Also, should any of those recommended performance tweaks be used more as a last resort (i.e. because they may be complicated, take a long time, or pose some type of risk / inconvenience?)

Thanks for your help so far.

[pderugin]

The support guys here have to be nice because they are in a commercial environment and don't want to step on the toes of other commercial products. I have no such constraint.

Don't just stop Comodo and Windows Defender... get rid of them entirely. Uninstall them with Revo. These two products are responsible for more b/s on Windows systems than all other products combined... with the possible exception of McAfee.

I do not see Windows Defender in my list of programs in Revo ... I probably uninstalled it when I first got my computer.

What would is the difference in completely uninstalling Comodo vs just preventing the program from loading when Windows starts? I love Comodo because it has never caused any problems in the past, always gets the best ratings, is easy to use, and keeps my mind at ease ... so I am very reluctant to completely uninstall it ... so I think I'll try a few more things before going there.