Calibre locks entire machine for 1-2 mins on first startup

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cybmole

Chaney, also I can at anytime manually start a windows system file check.doing so does not freeze my controls.
So it is being raised again because the root cause of only calibre doing this is still not found or fixed I don't accept that nothing can be done about it, if we collectively pool findings

I think chaley is referring to the 'Windows Update Cleanup' in the 'Disk Cleanup Utility' which is different from the 'System File Check' utility



I run Disk Clean Up weekly

BR

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I think chaley is referring to the 'Windows Update Cleanup' in the 'Disk Cleanup Utility' which is different from the 'System File Check' utility

Attachment 140478

I run Disk Clean Up weekly

BR

ok yes, but I can , and do ,run that manually and it does not freeze my PC.

i think the links to windows update processes account for some delays to calibre launch but do not explain away the freeze, which , as Harry also points out. is calibre-specific

ps re the check list of services issue. it would have to be something that is not set to automatic. otherwise it would be running before calibre start attempt. so if I look now for a service that is now "started" but is not on "automatic", I have candidates but no obvious suspects.
and it would have to be a very badly written service that caused a freeze out.
I will go try log out rather than reboot, turn on all diagnostics & report back....

PS >eschwatz - I cannot face reading the whoel thread again, but pretty sure the debug option was tried by others and revealed nothing i.e. whatever is causing the freeze is before the debug initiates. Good to know you can't experisnce this on linux thoguh, it does point to being a windows-only issue

[cybmole]

well log out, log in launch did not trigger any freeze.
services: I count 10 which are manual and started before launching calibre and 10 after launching calibre. so no new process initiated, ( but discount that result as there was not freeze - need to repeat it after a reboot).
CPU: I see a brief spike into the 90% zone but that's quite normal for a program launch

so to test each hypothesis requires a full reboot, it seems

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

PS >eschwatz - I cannot face reading the whoel thread again, but pretty sure the debug option was tried by others and revealed nothing i.e. whatever is causing the freeze is before the debug initiates. Good to know you can't experisnce this on linux thoguh, it does point to being a windows-only issue

The procmon experiments in this thread showed exactly where the freeze happens. Calibre via qt loads the Adobe Font Manager (atmfd.dll), which triggers the security scan. If you google for "catroot atmfd.dll freeze " you will find several other programs that can trigger it, including firefox.

As an aside: note that atmfd.dll has been identified as having a severe vulnerability allowing remote web sites to take control of your computer. A recent windows update corrects it. That update apparently has had a few problems of its own. I don't know whether installing this update will help or hurt the freeze, given that for me the security scan happens during boot.

[cybmole]

ok
can I force test that i.e. is there some other way to load that dll and observe the results

and, can calibre operate if that dll is not present ?

i have firefox but do not use it much - if after next reboot I run firefox before I run calibre, maybe I will see some confirmation via that route
meanwhile I will go google your suggested search - I don't want to do any more reboots this morning.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

ok
can I force test that i.e. is there some other way to load that dll and observe the results

No idea.

and, can calibre operate if that dll is not present ?

Yes, but then if any open fonts are used they will not render. I have no idea what will be used in their place.

i have firefox but do not use it much - if after next reboot I run firefox before I run calibre, maybe I will see some confirmation via that route
meanwhile I will go google your suggested search - I don't want to do any more reboots this morning.

Be sure to install the font vulnerability update. It was release this week I think.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@cybmole - have we checked the list of services running before and after the initial slow start.

As theducks said



BR

here are all the services which did not start automatically but have now started manually - due to some user activity?:

background intelligent transfer services
computer browser
credential manager
disgnostic service host
function discover provider host
human interface device access
PIsec policy agent
microsoft network inspection
network connections
network list service
windows backup
windows connect now
windows driver foundation
winHTTP web proxy auto-discover service

I will have to do a before/after comparison after next reboot but meanwhile will go google Chaley's suggestion...

[BetterRed]

That update had no effect here chaley, didn't have the issue before nor after

I still don't comprehend why this problem effects what appears to be a small subset of calibre users - why not everyone.

However, on the Pale Moon forum I might have glimpsed a clue - there was mention that a change in the about.config file related to graphics hardware acceleration would overcome the problem - but the bloody Pale Moon forum well belly up whilst I was reading it

==>> Palle Moon Freezes

AFAIK - I don't have any additional fonts installed

It came back up - this is in the last post of thread

But workaround for the security problem described by Microsoft gave me an idea. It looks like atmfd.dll is not really an essential part of system and one can live happily without it. So I renamed it and sure, freezes are gone. It disables OpenType fonts, but I don't have any on my system and if some web page uses one and it will be missing, I can probably live without it.

BR

[cybmole]

wel well well...

1. yes I have the font vulnerability update.
2. after re reading Chaley's advice I decided to go one more time around the disk cleanup merry go round.
Previously, disk cleanup it had stubbornly said "nothing to see here, move along now," but after this weeks windows updates it decided there was stuff worthy of deletion... and after a reboot at which it went into cleaning up... mode I seem to have eliminated my freeze. I used to have in immovable 100+MB in winsxs\temp\pending_renames but that has all gone now

so I quickly made a fresh system image and am off to practice " if it's no longer broke, stop fixing it.. "

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cybmole

wel well well...

1. yes I have the font vulnerability update.
2. after re reading Chaley's advice I decided to go one more time around the disk cleanup merry go round.
Previously, disk cleanup it had stubbornly said "nothing to see here, move along now," but after this weeks windows updates it decided there was stuff worthy of deletion... and after a reboot at which it went into cleaning up... mode I seem to have eliminated my freeze. I used to have in immovable 100+MB in winsxs\temp\pending_renames but that has all gone now

so I quickly made a fresh system image and am off to practice " if it's no longer broke, stop fixing it.. "

@cyb - if you ran with UAC on, I think you had to run the disk cleanup as admin to get the extra options, like clean up WU and scrap service packs etc. I run with UAC off.

BR

[cybmole]

I also run as admin and with uac off. So it is a mystery as to why clean up worked today. Except that there have been several fresh updates this week

[theducks]

FWIW
Adobe type manager dll name is found 18 times on my W7 X64 (Intel)system
the last dll update: 14 Jul 15


Windows (font folder) Fonts installed (I have other folders of fonts ): 152 items

BTW my previous comment on a Cloud connection intention:
was it in use ANYWHERE on the machine (you guys all know the pitfalls of the Library on a cloud )

[eschwartz]

Well, well, well -- the problem was an Adobe product it seems. How about that.

No wonder I can't duplicate it...

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, well, well -- the problem was an Adobe product it seems. How about that.

No wonder I can't duplicate it...

Given their unflagging support for the Linux operating system in general, I'm surprised you've never come up against this issue before.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, well, well -- the problem was an Adobe product it seems. How about that.

No wonder I can't duplicate it...

yep - does linux not use any adobe stuff then ?