Recently my Hard Drive has been filing up with Gigs of data, and I could not find any file(s) corresponding to that amount.

Today while using Vue it crashed and tried to recover the scene but froze and I had to use Task Manager to stop the Process.

I found more than 1.2 gigs of addittional data on my hard drive once again, and now figured it might be Vue that was adding these data files, crash files that were not recognized or recovered by Vue or my OS. That assumption was correct, becasue Vue was unable to write a file header it left the data as inaccessible.

This means that if you want to get rid of this extra data, you will have to use Scandisk, or CheckSum to delete the lost file fragments and recover you hard drive space.

Wow! This should be reported to tech support.

Does DeFragging the HDD help...this is file fragments we're talking about, right?... and those should be easy to keep clean with good houskeeping so to speak, I defrag regularily so haven't noticed a problem with Vue6InfPLE.. ...

This won’t happen to everyone, and is an occasional event. However, I think others should be aware of the possible problem. If their hard drives start growing unexpectedly, this could be one possible reason.

Defragging won’t get rid of file fragments that have no file header, only using Scandisk, if using 32 Win XP, or Check Sum if using Win XP 64 and all Vista versions, will get rid of fragments.  Bobby is correct, if you regularly scandisk or checksum your drive these fragments will be deleted, or in some cases if found with a damaged file header, you may be asked if you want to recover them. I would say no, and let the system delete them, or it may take hours or days to recover.

I have been keeping tech support politely informed, but got the brush-off today. They are in complete denial and sent me to Microsoft to view the KB’s. Having been a system builder of computers for 40 years, the first place I go is Microsoft. I love to blame it on Microsoft!

To be fair to Vue, they do warn you they may not be able to save the crashing file. Usually the warning comes after the scene has crashed, and if Vue can’t recover you may get a bad file, no header and fragments.  However, they do not warn you of the possibility of large and corrupted fragments if Vue fails to write the backup.

Life goes on.

Cool...info I didn't know...typical to pass M$ the buck tho.....hope they fix this before I can afford the full program.. ...

Hi Keenart,

I had the same problem with Vista - my drive started filling up for no apparent reason. I found this information at www.vista4beginners.com :

"System Restore is a very useful feature of Windows Vista but it has one main drawback. After running for a few weeks, it can use a lot of your hard disk space. With the default settings turned on, System Restore might use up to 15 percent of the space on each disk. For example, if you have a 250GB hard disk drive, System Restore might end up using 37,5GB of it."

Scary stuff!!! I followed the advice from these guys to limit the system restore to 1GB and my hard drive stopped expanding exponentially!

Now, I only ever ONCE did a system restore with Vista and I swapped one set of problems for another. I ended up doing a clean install anyway. So, this was good advice for ME, because I am already dubious about the value of System Restore. 

The article is called :"Change the amount of space used by System Restore" and might be worth reading. The change requires using the Command Prompt, so if you are comfortable with that, it is not difficult.

As I said, this is fine for me - I am not sure what happens if I want to do a system restore, but as I said, I prefer to clean install anyway. 

See what you think. 

Rocco.

Rocco,

Thanks for the advice. 

Personally I do not and have not used System Restore or Hibernation since the days of ME. During installation I turn this feature off and never turn it back on again. SR rarely ever works, even in Vista, and usually will cripple the Restored system in one manner or another. Although improvements have been made for Vista, SR is still a big Virus Catcher.  Some Viruses thrive on the fact that Virus scanners can not look into the SR file, which helps to spread a Virus and other Malware over and over again, without the users knowledge.  I do not recommend this action for those who do not have an alternative backup solution.

Instead of System Restore I rely completely on Partition cloning software. I use Norton Ghost 2003 for DOS, and did use Acronis True Image, until I installed Vista. TI is a Linux based prog ported to Windows, and unfortunately no longer works with Vista for various reasons.

For those interested, I run a Full System virus scan, clean my drive of garbage files, checksum with Vista and defrag with PerfectDisk 8 each week, which takes about 30 minutes. Drop into DOS, with my DOS CD, which contains Norton Ghost 2003, and create a complete clone of the Main Partition, storing it to another partition. That takes about 5 minutes for every 5 gigs of data on the drive. Once a month I copy one of those partition clones to a DVD, just incase. When my drive is attacked with a Virus or any other difficulty, it takes about 10 minutes to restore from a partition clone. I typically keep my important files on another partition or DVDs, so reinstalling does not affect the current contents.

I have used this method since the days of ME, because System Restore destroyed several thousands of dollars worth of work on my drive afterit could not restore the Registry correctly.

Hope that helps.

Indeed thanx for this info both of you but FYI , I just did a virus scan on my FAT System Restore partition[came up clean] on my e machine with ZoneAlarmSecuritySuite[the suite comes free with my internet account] and it is clean....whew....
I had a need to use this [Restore] once a month or so back and my experience was quite the opposite....it saved a whole bunch of work, like a month's worth, as it did the restore, to a  dir it made during the process. There was a button to click during the process that asked whether I wanted to do this and I said yes......just my experience on my XP MediaCenter e machine.. ...

That blue is the hardest font color to read I have tryed to read.  I have bad eyes so that probly the reason. :) I can highlite it and its ok so no problem.

I have a black backgound is probly reason they dont show good on my machine.

I use it cuz I have an unaltered forum face and am near blind as well and it's the best colour for my eyes...sorry mate...the battle of the blind...we could throw stuff at each other and see how much we miss by...LOL, this one's for you,heh heh heh.. ...

OH, I agree if you are not the type that moves files, deletes a lot of stuff, and has to install and unintall a lot of software, and other stuff that most will not have to do, for the average person, Restore can be a life saver.    But for me, it always failed to restore various items, that always caused major problems.  

I was a programmer at the time, and wrote books, so found it was easier to just shut it off and follow the course I have been using since.  I tried the Vista version of Restore and it worked pretty well.  Old habits die hard.

Later I found that a particular person was sending me pics with viruses.  I would delete them and scan the drive, but did not realize until later that Restore was making a copy and the virus would come back later without my knowledge.  In years past many a friend has asked me to salvage their system, and almost all of the time a virus was in the Restore file.  

Should that occur, and your system keeps getting a cold, then shutdown System Restore and reboot.  Run your virus scanner for a full system scan, at least twice, and if you find nothing then turn System Restore back on, and scan one more time.  This should get rid of the virus, but you will not be able to recover the system since you have lost the previous restore points.   You may have to reinstall the Virus software in Safe Mode to get it to nail the virus.

lol........Much better bobbystar.    It all depends on the style with back ground color a person uses I think more than the font color. :)

I did a system restore was after nVidia video driver 158.18 caused major problems with my system, making it very unstable and causing normally stable programs to crash. Once "restored", my system was still unstable - although different problems to the video driver issues - so I re-installed Vista.

Of course, you can only ever install Vista once - according to MS, the reliability of Vista and modern computer components means you will never have a problem and you will never need to re-install Vista again - yeah, right!!! 

So there I was on the phone to MS explaining why I needed to re-activate their operating system... sigh...

I had a major hard drive crash a little while ago and lost everything - and I mean everything. It is a shame you never really appreciate backup until you need it!!! So I now back up all the time.I keep Vista and all my data separate on C and D drives (always have) and now have an external hard drive for backup as well. 

But I won't bother with system restore again!

I agree MS has gotten too big for thier britches!  I always reinstalled every 9 to 12 months just to get rid of all of the accumulated junk and problems.  I guess I will have to wait and see, but have in past been on the phone many times for activation codes.  Since I am almost deaf, that is a difficult situation for me. 

The NVidia 158.18 drivers work for me pretty well, just went to the 158.24 beta update, and the system is still very stable.  I am running a new but old bus type card, a Gigabyte NVidia 7600 256 8X AGP, which seems to be a little more stable than the PCIe.  Too many system configs, too many conflicts. 

I would have to say the Vista x64 on my system has been very stable, which surprises me, considering the past troubles with MS OS's that have had problems.  I do recommend adding a fast 4 or 8 gig usb flash drive, 160 x to 200x to bump up Vista's slow speed.  Although e-On keeps telling me to turn off Aero, since it is not compatible with Vue, noway, that is one of the reasons I like the desktop with all of my floating gadgets. 

Software compatibility has been the only major concern for me, other than that I have not had many of the problems with hardware others have encountered.  Linux, Mac, Python, or Java based progs usually will not funtion correctly within Vista so I do not run them anymore.

Another consideration is Windows Defender.  It can be a hazard to the system and other software, and so I have the service turned off and manually use it once in awhile.   MS still has some work to do on this OS.

I've seen System Restore save a lot of people grief - but certainly one has to consider each case carefully before using it - and your advice about System Restore and malware is very valuable.
 
I'm a big fan of both Acronis and Norton Ghost (now Norton Save & Restore) for Win XP.

The newer DVD drives with the 8.5GB capacity (double layer writing) are very handy.

I am surprised they have not pushed the 8.5 harder and come down on the price.  Using Ghost I can compress to 40% of original size, but that takes twice as long as a non-compressed backup.  So, it is still cheaper for me to use two 4 gig DVD's. 

I rebuilt my system earlier this year for Vista - It is a compromise between cost and performance, as always. I have an AMD 5600 dual core and 4 gig of RAM, so it is quite fast. I use a 2GB USB drive for 'Readyboost' as well. My graphics card is a nVidia 7600GT, the first PCIe card I have owned.

I am still using early video drivers - 100.64 - after my experience with 158.18 I haven't trusted enough to update these drivers. I blame 158.18, because prior to installing them, everything was fine... after was a different story.

I updated Vue with the first patch while I had the 158.18 video drivers installed and Vue stopped working completely... after I did the system restore, Vue was very unstable and had major problems (along with other programs), hence the clean install.

Call me chicken, but I am still running Vue in its original form - no updates applied. Which is very out of character for me - normally I'm an upgrade junky and usually can't wait to get the latest drivers, patches, fixes etc. But my earlier experiences have taught me to be a bit wary...

I'm sorry to hear that e-on expect us to turn off Aero. I love the look of Vista and despite some issues, am very happy with my Vista experience.

Yes I have heard the same about the 100 version drivers they work better on the PCIe, and for some reason I cannot use them with Vue, or I have major glitches and crashes. I have been part of the NVidia Beta program so keep a xlose eye on the drivers.  NVidia is really trying its best to get the 7000 and 8000 series working with Vista. They know they have a lot of competition with ATI now.

Yes, e-On has relegated Vista as a next year we will take care of the prog, but this year we will concentrate on XP and the internal Vue problems. They are pretty much pushing now for Vista users to go the compatibility route, since there is little they can do other than rewrite the code, and that will tear everything else up.

So, Microsoft has a few KB’s that deal with programs like Vue that refuse to work in Vista and settings that you can institute that have helped some.  

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555917/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931362/en-us

Of special interest was setting the Vue.exe to the following that helps stop crashing on small scenes.

Select the file and right click and from the Menu select Properties and select the tab named Compatibility;

1. Check: Run this program in compatibility mode: Windows XP (SP 2)
2. Check: Disable visual themes.
3. Check: Desktop composition.
4. Check: Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
5. Run this program as an administrator.

Selecting these features can also give Vue upto a 20% memory boost taken from the system resources. These resources are returned as soon as you close the APP. 

Great work around mate, and this thread is a fine contribution all around, even to a non user such as myself as I've learned bunches just reading this thread. You are a valuable resource mate.. ...

My pleasure, I understand frustration, you just want to use the program and get your work done, not take it to the Doctor's Office everyday.

I know that there willl always be issues with new operating systems and I also remember there were problems with XP when it first came out - it took a while to get all the issues sorted and now, of course everyone is happy with the XP experience. If I remember correctly, many software companies said then that they wouldn't support the "new fangled" XP operating system...

On the whole I don't have too many problems with Vista and I know that the driver issues will be sorted with time. I am quite amazed by some of the comments people leave on the nVidia forums - Vista is new and sufficiently different to be an issue and it's not like nVidia are having problems with it on purpose.

I'm sure as more and more people move to Vista the software people will need to look at their programs. I don't like running things in compatability mode - only because I'm stubborn, of course! I think in time e-on will have to think about Vista too. Whether it's a patch (like PSP-XI) or a complete rewrite, I don't know. 

In the meantime, I tell myself that patience is a good thing!!!

Yes, NVidia reps keep telling everyone it took 6 years to get XP NVida style drivers to perform so give them a bit of time with Vista. They are hiring many new programmers right now to catch up. AND, I remember that XP was not even stable until after the release of SP 1, and then a complete change in security screwed things up in SP2, then everyone was back to square one again. I hope MS does not follow the same route. 

Most retailers are slowing the spread of Vista and reintroducing XP x64. I do not agree with that idea as XP is more difficult to work with and less supported by third party. Guess we will have to see if that has a beneficial result for the rest of us.

Snipping Tool is a neat gadget that is built in to Vista, except Home Basic.  Use the tool to capture your entire desktop, a single window, or anything else. Areas you do not select dim, so it is easy to see what you are capturing.

To access the Snipping Tool, click the Windows Start icon, then type "snip," and select the 'Snipping Tool' that appears. The prog won’t send the capture to Photoshop or a similar graphics prog.

Virtual PC and BackUp are some pretty nice software, so Vista does have a lot going for it, if you have the Business or Ultimate edition. Home and Premium do not have a lot of the goodies that the other packages have. And, after getting my hands on these extras, I have tried to run them in Home Basic, and it won’t happen, since MS had made sure you HAVE to upgrade to get the goodies to work.

e-On has indicated they will support Vista later, but they better get away from the “ported core” concept if they want their software to perform. Vista is really picky about a lot of security issues, and likes to work with *.exe files not *.eon style files. 

I do know that this last patch has really changed things for me.  Last night I imported a lamp and the outer casing glowed.  Kept me occupied until I figured out that Vue applied a custum Lens Flare to the point light in the metal casing.  Once I turned it off things went back to normal.  I have been getting a lot of materials switched around during import of Vue 5 objects.  One of my old lights I built came out with a glass lens that was made of rock, and the lens matrerial was applied to the outer casing, strange stuff.  

I do not know what is going to happen with all of these Beta patches, but it cetianly is making life "A Strange Happening."

thanks for the info!

I'm using Business and run BackUp automatically every Sunday night to make sure everything I have done during the week is, well, backed up. Knowing my luck though, my hard drive would fail on Sunday afternoon...

After I run BackUp, my computer grinds to a holt. If I'm in P7, I go to render  and I get a "not enough memory blah, blah, blah..." error. Now, I have 4GB memory, so this is a bit upsetting. 

I can only assume BackUp ties up memory and doesn't release it, even when it's finished doing its thing. I don't know, this is just what I think... Poser and Vue would be pretty memory intensive, I guess? 

This is my theory - I have to remember to finish doing anything before BackUp runs and run it late on Sunday night, so I just let it finish and then switch off anyway (school night!!!). Otherwise I have to reboot after it runs, which is really annoying, but it seems to work.

You are absolutely right; the Backup process is very disk and system intensive. I also had the same problem with Norton Ghost and True Image. Sometimes I found a file or two missing or damaged in the Backup process, one that the system would not release for backup. Of course with two processors, this usually does not happen anymore, and Vista says it never happens.

My remedy was not to use the Vista versions, but to make a CD DOS bootable disk with Norton Ghost 2003 (a bootable DOS version) that contained all necessary boot device drivers. I just put the disk in the drive and reboot, and when the screen asks to boot from a CD: I hit the space bar, and Norton Ghost loads and then launches. 

As I mentioned before; all of my backups are to a second partition, which takes about 1 minute per gig of data. Later, when I have the time I then copy the Backup Data sets to a couple of DVD’s. I am still using the older DOS version, because it cuts the Volume up into 2 gig sets. This is important, because a backup set recorded to CDDVD will fail if you use more than one disk to record. This is an anomaly of the drive, and the manufactures say they are working on the problem, but that has been for about fours years now. So, do not look for a change anytime soon, since MS has done away with DOS. That is why I record to another drive letter and then record the individual sets, two each to DVD’s, no hassle. I cannot boot from the Volume set, so I leave a copy of the Volume Backup on the Drive and one on a DVD, just in case. I make a new backup of the drive each week, and one to DVD each month. 

As for the slow response and system resource problem goes. Vista typically uses 30 to 33% percent of system resources for its own performance. That means if you are trying to use the Full Backup, a very CPU and disk intensive program, and Render, you will have a major problem. First of all Vue is CPU intense, and does not like to share the processor with anyone else, Vista is the same, so both programs compete, and even more so with disk access, which puts a maximum strain on your CPU and memory.

It is not uncommon when a Backup program touches untouchable files that the system gets sluggish.  I do no know why but it happens.  Rebooting is the only method of getting the system back to normal speed.  Memory managers are no help here.
 

Since Vista does all of the maintenance and system resource management, it is very difficult to run programs in the background as in XP. In Vista you setup Group Policies to manage system resources. There is another possible remedy, which is expensive, and that is to get a motherboard that can handle duo quad processors, two quads, one to handle Vue and the other to handle the system programs. OH! Don’t I wish I could have a sweet setup like that!!!

If your interested in taking on the Group Policy concept,

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/grouppolicy/default.aspx

I was at a trade show recently and they were showing some new motherboards. Space for two quad processors and 8X RAM sockets for EACH processor!!! WOW... I was slobbering on the glass display case.

It is amazing - if you can believe the gadget that shows memory usage on the Vista  sidebar - how much memory Vista hogs, even when it has just booted and is sitting idle! And if you look in Services and Processes, you can see how much stuff is running "automatically" - you gotta wonder just how much of this stuff is really necessary??? Even now, just sitting on the net and typing this, my system is using 963MB of memory!

When I upgraded to 4GB RAM, BIOS correctly reported I had 4096MB... When I booted Vista, it reports "3581MB". At first I thought I'd lost some memory but found a MS article about how Vista won't report the full memory installed over 2GB. 

In a nutshell (the article is entitled "The system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect if 4 GB of RAM is installed" - what a mouthfull!!!): "The reduction in available system memory depends on the devices that are installed in the computer. However, to avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory to 3.12 GB." 

So, apparently "the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB."

I feel ripped off!!! But, I have 3581MB, so maybe I am actually doing okay???

YEAH! Don’t I have a long wish list, two quads, dual SLI 8800’s and 16 gigs of 1066 DDRIII. In my Dreams!!!  OH! But I can dream!

With the advent of MS’s idea of self sustaining and maintaining systems, more than a dozen of those programs are running in the background at one time. This is excluding Anti-Virus, Defrag, and other standard tools such as SuperFetch. With the right Snap-in you can see all that is going on under the hood. Typically my system uses 450 to 960 megs also. That causes a problem for Vue since that prog requires at least 1 gig to function, and 2 gigs to do its job properly. 

While monitoring Vue with some of Vista’s tools, I find that in a 2 gig system, when Vue does not get its 1 gig, it tries to access areas of memory that are reserved and off limits to other programs, unless they have privileged access, which Vue does not. All of this usually causes a crash, when the system gets stressed.   Vista will shutdown a program and restart if possible when this happens, something XP does not do. Unfortunately, Vue is not coded to take advantage of these features and hangs the system or crashes. So, 4 gigs or more is the only current remedy for this problem, even if you have a 32 bit system. You may not think that extra gig is going to get used, but the system will quietly find a use for it, especially if it needs the extra memory to get itself out of a crash. 

That is where Readyboost comes in handy in a 2 gig system, when you have 4 extra gigs of fast flash ram that can run at speeds of 160x to 200x, you will notice a boost over the system access times, especially if you have slow drives. And, Vista will consistently use the extra Cache for other system tasks if you have a good quality USB Flash Drive. 

Typically my very fast IDE drive will access at about 120x compared to flash, while my SATA runs at about 160x. I do not know about SCSI. Choose your Flash carefully, and take the time to find out what speed they really work at. 

Most do not advertise the speeds, as they barely make the minimum requirements to run under Vista. That is a savings for the manufacturers, but not for you. Right now you can find very fast USB Flash from 200x to 300x. Of course they are expensive, but the right Flash will make a difference to Vista.  Vue cannot use this extra memory, only the system and other related progs do.

Microsoft wanted to have a system that did not require user intervention or user maintenance, and could report all that MS needed to diagnose and stabilize the OS. There are programs that monitor everything, which has been a hot debate by the privacy advocates. I like them simply because I can find out what has happened when something is going wrong. I now have an idea of where to look for a solution.   Do not get the wrong impression, I did not say I love MS.  I divorced them a long time ago.

Thank you keenart, for your informative and interesting information. 

There is certainly so much going on under the Vista hood! To keep the car analogy, Vista is a bit like Formula One - seriously more complicated than your average family sedan! I believe MS will have the first service release for Vista around November, so it will be interesting to see what transpires there.

I have a 2GB USB drive for my Readyboost - I didn't have too much money left over after upgrading my system, so I grabbed a cheapy. I have since read about how important it is to have the "right" drive as it does affect performance. Will have to save up and get a good one soon.

With 4GB of RAM, I have set my virtual memory to minimum 8GB and maximum 12GB on the main C: drive and I have the other drives vurtual memory set to be managed by the system. 
This did help a lot with Vue and Poser 7, which are my two most graphics-intensive programs. 

I have it in my head that I should actually set virtual memory away from the same drive that Vista is on - ie. C: drive - and have it set up on another hard drive, say D: drive. I don't know why I think this, but I think it has something to do with more efficiency of access to the virtual memory or something... 

Of course, I could just be off with the pixies... will have to do some more research on this.

You are really going to get me started on this post. About hard drives, swap files, and memory.  I will use my usual "phraseology." 

Techs have test driven this scenario many times, and usually the results are nearly the same, depending on who is doing the testing. If you have a single drive with two drive letters, it reduces the efficiency of the OS to have the swap file on the other letter. This is not the case if you have two drives of the same make and speed, in which case, the swap file improves performance of the OS when on the second drive. Then there is the scenario of one drive is faster than another of a two drive setup. Typically the tech’s agree that you should use the fastest drive to put the swap file on, not the OS.   The reason other applications will need the speed over the system.

About swap files and low memory problems;

Increase the paging file (virtual memory) size: Typically Windows can address 3.1 gigs of memory on a 32 bit system, which means you should set the Virtual memory size or page file to a minimum of 3100 megs in a system that contains 2 gigs of RAM. The system requires 300 megs for XP and 600 megs for Vista to function, add this additional amount to get out of a bad situation. The maximum should be no more than 3 times the size of the minimum. Too much Virtual Memory will slow down the system rather than speed it up. 

There is another problem with all of this 2 ram MS uses 3.1 formula, many programs are held to the 32 bit format of 1.99 gig per max file size, and in this case it may not make any difference if you have 4 gigs to the program. But, it can make a difference to the Operating System. This extra ram may avert crashes and allow the OS to recover from a “Bad App” situation.

Determine if a program overuses memory;

If the computer becomes low on memory whenever you run certain programs, one or more of those programs might have a memory leak. To stop a memory leak, you need to close the program to recover used memory. Because some programs do not use managed code they will not release the memory threads, in which case you must reboot the system to recover the the dirty threads of memory. 

To repair a memory leak, you need to check for updates for the program or contact the publisher of the software when possible.

To determine which program is using the most memory:

Click on Task Manager;

Click the Processes tab and find the amount of usage.

You can also check for program errors and troubleshooting information using Event Viewer.

Memory Leaks and how to find them;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177415

If this is too difficult, use the System Monitors, to read memory, disk and CPU usage while an application is running. If the app is about to crash, the memory usage will take off until depleted, instead of remain low or constant, . By using the System Monitor, you wil have a better monitor before a system crash. 80% usage of System Resource is nearing crash time and you should be saving and getting outing out if possible.

Vue uses Visual Studio 5, in particular read Discussion;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318263/en-us

Automatic Memory Management: Vista uses Visual Studio 2003, and Vue uses Visual Studio 2005.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f144e03t.aspx

The explanation of Garbage Collection and the use of 3 GB switch.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0xy59wtx.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319043

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316739/EN-US/

MS recommends http://www.liutilities.com/products/speedupmypc/speedupterms/recovermemory/

I do not believe this will stop Vue from crashing, since they port and use unmanaged code. As long as Vue uses unmanaged code, the OS cannot always get out of a crash, because it is locked in indecision as what to do until too late to recover. This is a bad scenario for an application that continually crashes and brings the OS to a halt. 

Microsoft will not tolerate continual system crashes and interventions buy third party software. There are several hundred snippets of code that analyze and determine how an app behaves and how to classify its conduct according to compatibility and other factors. It starts out as a Good App, but after the crashing starts, it gets reclassified, new code added to make the app more compatible. However, if the app continues to crash, and begins stopping the function of the OS, MS will finally intervene by killing the app when it misbehaves. Vista is good at this and usually after killing an errant app, even its own apps, it restarts them and things are back to normal. Unfortunately, Vue is unmanaged code, and most of the time cannot be stopped from crashing, or restarted to recover memory and bring the system back to a normal stat of function, because Vue does not address the OS in the correct response.

Now the problem with all of this is that many of us have been having a horde of crashes and all of this info is going to MS. Recently I received two new x64 security patches, and noticed different handling of Vue when it crashes. When it crashes I now get a “BSOD” and Errors in the Events viewer:

"The program Vue6.eon version 0.0.0.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed."

I have never before gotten this Error message during or after a Vue crash, and this happened hours after the last Vista update. I would say that MS is now aware of the problem, BIGTIME!!!

I think one of the reasons this error occurs is because of Vue’s coding. Also, my video drivers and Vista use a combination of Video Ram and System Ram to bolster the Aero desktop, a sort of mini-SLI mode. 

That means that my video cards 256 ram also gets 256 additional shared ram from the 2 gig System ram so that my video card appears as if it has 512 megs. Unfortunately this leaves my System ram with 1.75 gig. This should be enough to run Vue and the Vista OS if you turn off the features I mentioned previously.  It isn’t, Vue tries to take what is forbidden, ergo, crash. 

The only solution, new managed code. Again, do not get me wrong, I am not trying to bash Vue, just explain what is happening, so that others can see and possibly find solutions to the problem. I got to take a coffee break!?!