Alright, what next markschum?

With 1 htread and NO seperate process, the render didnt give me anything and while trying to get back to the preview tab, I got an alert saying that I was out of memory and then Poser crashed and closed.
(Sorry this is bold BTW, it wont go normal for some reason)
**

^^
Do you know if the threads and separate process thing would affect the Queue rendering?
(You said you had Poser 7, so that's why I ask)
I tend to do Queue rendering, but now that you mentioned all that, I am going to try rendering in Poser itself.  Ill still do what you said.

(the tab is always set to FULL BTW.  I dont touch that)

Well, Im completely stumped!
I have tried different combinations of bucket sizes (32 and 64), dps (300 and 72) and even changed the pixel samples to 4.
Every single picture failed to completely render and is giving me half or a quarter of a picture.

BTW, I dont want to reduce raytracing since I have a glass table that reflects and is transparent.

Im running some renders right now, so Ill let you all know if anything works.

So far, i tried a bucket size of 64 with a 300dps and it still didnt work.
Right now, Im trying a 32 bucket size with 300dps and then  a 32 bucket with 72dps.

Hopefully SOMETHING will work :/

Thanks for all the help so far :)

I unchecked the Smooth Polygons option because things were turning out "bloated" for some reason.  I WAS unchecking the option for each individual item in their properties tab, but then I got sick of doing it and just unchecked the option in the render settings.

So I should try a bucket size with x^2? (Where x is some number.)
Does it depend on my RAM and/or CPU at all?
Also, what could be the highest that I should try in order to maximize the use of my system?

I forgot to mention this:
In poser, the "Smooth Polygons" and "Remove Backfacing Polys" are both UNchecked.  Everything else is also UNchecked as well.

Im not sure since I dont have Pro, but I THINK it also relies on Flash Player.  So my guess (assuming this to be true) is that if the Poser 8 freezes were caused by other programs running Flash Player, then you should also get similar freezes in Pro.

Im not trying to jinx you there, but if you DO get freezes in Pro as well, then still do what I had just mentioned.  (about looking for other programs using Flash Player).
Still, good luck softcris :)

Everyone who was originally posting in this thread:
After originally solving MY problem, I began to have the same issue just a month later and just now fixed it.  It seems that, for me, the problem this time was caused by Veoh Webplayer, which is a program that I have set to constantly run in the background of my PC (allows me to download videos from Veoh.com- a YouTube-like site).

A test I did:
With Veoh Webplayer running in the BG, I open Poser 8 and make a GUI popup appear.  I then clicked CANCEL and P8 froze up.
I then went and made some dinner.  Yum!
I returned to my PC (with a full stomach) and Poser 8 was STILL frozen.
I then closed the Veoh program and all of a sudden, P8 unfroze!!!!!!!!!

I then repeated the test a few times, but without leaving my PC for a long time.  I noticed that EVERY SINGLE TIME that the Veoh program was running, P8 would freeze; but AS SOON AS I CLOSED the Veoh program (with P8 still running and stuck), P8 would suddenly unstick!

Conclusion:
If Poser 8 is still freezing up for you, check all programs that you have CURRENTLY running- background OR foreground- of your operating system.  What you need to look for is any program that is running any sort of Flash application, or requires Flash Player in order to operate.  In my case, that Adobe Active File Monitor program (caused the problem for me before) as well as the Veoh Webplayer, BOTH rely on Flash to operate.  My educated guess is that because Poser 8 requires Flash too, any other programs running who also require Flash Player may interfere with the P8 graphical interface, making it freeze up.
So, look for any programs that require Flash/Flash Player to run, and close them out while using P8.  I am CONFIDENT that doing this will fix the problems.

How to figure out if a program requires Flash:
If you dont know whether a program requires Flash to run, look them up online and look for their computer/operating system/system specifications.  If it says that it requires 'Adobe Flash' or 'Adobe Flash Player' (any version), then that program may cause issues with P8.

Hopefully this will help anyone experiencing these annoying and work disabling problems!
Good luck!

BTW Cris, it may not help you, but also check your render settings.  Maybe you are just rendering at too high of a quality.  I used to try rendering at very high details and the program would always crash during the rendering process.  To find what works best though, you pretty much have do a bunch of playing around with the settings.  Eventually you will find your computer's maximum ability.

Just for your information too, the Temp folder is just where Poser stores calculation and rendering data that gets overwritten every time a new render is done.  Basically, Poser is constantly deleting files and writing new ones to that folder, so deleting it really doesnt do anything that Poser is already doing.
I just wanted to make sure you walked away knowing exactly what that folder was.

Even if you dont have that Adobe service running, there COULD still be a service interfering.  I had just read on the Smith Micro site that some programs can interfere with Poser's ability to run and/or install (I would provide a link, but I am too lazy to search for the page again).
So, try searching for a service that is interfering, and also play with your poser settings.  Since you say that P8 is crashing while rendering or deleting something from the scene, it could be a problem with Poser itself, and not the computer.  Either way, try both of these things (Poser settings are easier to test).
Have you tried deleting the preferences and uninstalling and reinstalling the program? If not, try doing that too.  The preferences are located in [User folder]> AppData> Roaming> Poser.  They are all contained within the 8.0 folder.  Just make a copy of that folder, and then delete the original.  (Use the copy to restore the settings in case resetting them doesnt work.)

Looking for interfering services:
Run through the list of Services and disable maybe 3 or 4 at a time.  Restart the computer, then test Poser.  If Poser suddenly works, then you know that one of those 3 or 4 services are interfering with the program, and just weed them out 1 by 1 until you find which one is causing a problem.  If there is no change in Poser though, then just re-enable those services you disabled, and disable another 3 or 4 and restart again.
After you go through all the services (that aren't Windows related) then you at least know that there arent any background programs screwing things up.  Then, it could be maybe some vid card driver settings, CPU problem, or a memory issue (unlikely in your case though, since you have 8GB, but that IS assuming you arent putting a heavy load on your RAM).

Check Poser settings:
Also, under Poser's Preferences, go to the Render tab and try lowering the Number of Threads and checking the Separate Processes checkbox (if not done already).
You can also go to the Misc tab and clear the Use External Binary Morph Targets option... I dont remember exactly what that one does, but I think it helped solve some issues with the program crashing due to slow read rates or something.  You could just try it... it wouldnt hurt.

If none of these help, then that is all I can suggest, unfortunately.  For anyone else who cant find the Adobe service, try these things too I guess.  Its possible that maybe you and I are having slightly different problems, but similar "symptoms".

Good news (for me anyways)! I FIXED THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully, if you all do this too, it will solve your problems as well:

1) Go to START > type 'MSCONFIG' (without the ' ) > press ENTER

1. Go to the Services tab
   3 Click the 'Hide all Microsoft services' box in the lower left corner (to prevent you from messing up your Windows OS, and to narrow the list of services)
2. Look through the list for a service titled 'Adobe Active File Monitor V6'
   4a) If you do not have it listed, or it is already not running, report it here.
   4b) If it IS listed, and IS running, then uncheck the checkbox next to it
3. Press the APPLY button
   6) Press the OK button
4. Restart the computer
5. Test Poser 8
6. Tell me your results!!!!!

I was playing around with the Services by enabling and disabling them one-by-one and restarting the computer, then testing Poser.  EVERY SINGLE TIME that Adobe program was running, Poser 8 would not work right.  EVERY SINGLE TIME that Adobe program WAS NOT running, Poser 8 was working correctly!!!! That cant just be a coincidence!!!!
(I havent tested it yet, but MAYBE this will fix the random crash issue that I still have, but learned to deal with)

... Aaaaaand now its doing it again....

Just an update from me as well, last night I was having the problem, then put my PC to sleep for the night, and woke up this morning and Poser 8 is working fine.  No reboots inbetween and no changes done to Windows inbetween.
Now isnt that just the strangest thing?

I didnt even have to reboot in Diagnostic mode either.

The only thing different between now and last night was that last night, Windows Update was downloading updates in the background.  Right now, it isnt, and I cannot say for sure whether or not it was running in the past when this Poser problem was happening.

(Man, computers are just soooooooo strange, Ha ha ha)
I dont want to rule this out as FIXED though, because the day before yesterday, everything seemed to work fine, while the day before that, it was "broken" again.

Sorry ratscloset, you posted your message while I was typing my last one.

Yeah, I have Windows Update already set to download updates automatically, but to let ME choose which ones to install.  Windows Update often wants to install stuff that I know will screw up my PC, so I have always set WU to do things this way since XP.
HOWEVER, it doesnt rule out that a normal Windows 7 update, or "Compatibility" update (which seems to be quite common lately in the Windows updates) could be the culprit.  Like I said before, some Windows update had screwed up my PC's sleep ability and printing ability.  (And of course Microsoft support doesnt want to admit it).

As for your suggestions ratscloset, I will try starting my PC in Diagnostic Mode late on today (gotta go to classes in 5 minutes, LOL).  If that doesnt solve anything (meaning that no 3rd party programs are interfering), then I will include those additional details to Smith Micro support (as I just said, I already began discussing this problem with them).

sturkwurk:
Are you also running Windows 7 (32 OR 64 bit)?
What version of the NVidia driver are you using?

softcris:
Are you saying that when the freeze in Poser 8 happens, your computer's memory usage increases (in other words, your computer system slows down)? Because my computer DOESNT suddenly use a bunch of RAM... Poser 8 just stops working, while the RAM usage remains at a minimum.

I am also talking to Smith Micro about his, and they are blaming my NVidia driver upgrade or my Poser 8 preferences.
I told them before they responded, that deleting the preferences doesnt fix the problem for me and that I had updated the driver BECAUSE of the problem.  I am foreseeing a whole BUNCH of emails back and forth on this issue.  :(