Calibre Locks up Laptop during news D/L

[yocalif]

I keep hoping that the next update will stop Calibre from locking up my laptop during calibre news download.

specifics:
IBM Thinkpad T60
1.83 GHZ cpu
2.5 gig memory
Plenty of storage
Win XP sp3

I have been using Calibre since late Dec 2010 for my Nookcolor. I daily d/l /sideload to Nookcolor about 40 News items. The Nookcolor is not connected to the laptop during this process. I start Calibre with no other apps running on the laptop, allow Calibre to auto start d/l process, minimize Calibre and either load Firefox, or an online poker app. At some point during the news d/l process calibre locks up. I can start just calibre and no other apps and during the d/l process read news that is updated and again the d/l process will eventually lockup. I then have to power down the laptop since it is completely locked up. Last night I had to reboot the laptop 4 times to complete news d/l.

On my desktop PC, 3.4 ghz I5 cpu, 9 gigs ram, lots of storage, I can multitask, but during the Calibre d/l process whatever app I might be in i.e. Firefox browser or online poker app, will freeze up for about a minute then resume.

I think the desktop pc with the more powerful cpu and lots of extra memory compensate with horse power to keep working, compared to the much slower laptop with marginal memory locks up when the desktop pc only freezes momentarily.

Help is appreciate...

[kovidgoyal]

Go to preferences->miscellaneous and change the maximum number of worker processes to 2

[itimpi]

I found tha to keep the system responsive (particulaily if it i a single-core procesor) running Calibre on Windows it helps if you set the calibre worker processes to run with low priority.

[yocalif]

Thanks so much for a prompt reply, I will give it a try and report back.

Rem. I said on my desktop I5 cpu which has plenty of horsepower and memory for multitasking, that calibre still freezes up for 30-60 seconds (not lockup as the laptop does) and it effects other apps running. Example I play a lot of online poker, so all the time I'm browsing the net or reading a ebook, or watching a streaming video, at the same time I am playing online poker. I never have a problem that locks up the online poker app or the other apps that might be running. I load calibre and the news d/l starts I get freeze ups maybe two or three during the 40+ news source download.


Also something else I have noticed. On my laptop that when calibre is running, the laptop fan stays on and a lot of heat is coming from the air exhaust ports on the laptop.
It is very obvious that calibre is using up a lot of cpu and system resources during operation. I use another database program mytreedb Pro (not a plug), I have some very large d/b files that easily load and there is very little draw on system resources. I AM NOT complaining I am simply trying to point out the difference so I can understand.

again thanks

[kovidgoyal]

You likely have an antivirus program that is interfering with calibre's operations. Try turning it off and see.

[DoctorOhh]

I have a dual core machine (similar to your laptop) and suggest the following two things (already suggested).

1. Go to Preferences - Behavior and change Job priority from Normal to Low.
2. Exempt your calibre library from virus scanning.

Just doing number 1 will ensure both of your computers remain responsive.