MEP slowing machine down dramatically

[Eno Nedlog]

I have been using Macro Express Pro for almost two days all day long

The strange thing is it hasn't slowed or locked the computer at all

 

Most days I only use it for short periods and most days if I keep it loaded it slows and locks things up.

It seem it is stable if using it all the while but gives problems when resting.

 

I just wish something could be done to make it stable all the time

 

I have been using MEP now intensely for some time now with no problems

 

But it has just locked

 

I was updating the program "Direct Access", this uses a lot of hot keys and

abbreviations. At the time MEP was not in use but just as "Direct Access" was reloading all its commands, hot keys etc my computer almost froze.

 

I managed to use "Process Hacker" to kill Macro Express Pro and wizzo my computer immediately came back to normal speed again.

 

Quite a few people seem to be linking hot keys and clipboard usage to the problem.

 

Could it be ??

 

"Direct Access" does not seem to have a problem, killing MEP always cures the speed problem.

[Cory]

ISS is aware of the problem and working on it.

...............................................................

I know ISS has been working on the slowdown issue and making some changes to the clipboard and I believe we will see an update very soon.

 

I wonder if some of it isn't that there are too many fingers in the clipboard pie. I run ClipMate and remote desktops all the time which have RDClip.exe for transferring clipboard events and I wonder if all those combined are having conflicts. I have noticed before when nothing is happening on my laptop, which I haven't gotten around to disabling the clipboard sounds on yet, I will hear clipboard copy events happening when I am standing over by a server. With a million things going on I have dismissed it as a curiosity. But now I wonder. Also in the past I have noticed what appear to be duplicate clipboard events in ClipMate. For instance I am looking now and I see 18 copies of a small piece of text which I am fairly certain I only copied and pasted once. There are no other clips between them and they span an hour an 20 minutes with no discernable pattern. However some appear with the same or one second time difference. Lookng back further I see periods of time with normal activity then periods where there are half a dozen or more duplicates. What do you see Paul?

 

I'm beginning to think you're right Paul. I originally just tossed the idea out there as a shot in the dark but now I'm seeing more strangeness that lends credence to the idea. Furthermore I wonder if it isn't some sort of feedback issue. Let's say something that ClipMate or MEP does locally makes RDClip think something's changed and copies the clip even to the other machine that you are Remote Desktoping to. Then something happens over there to cause RDClip to push it back. Now consider having multiple RDs open in this scenario and the clip is something huge like an Excel worksheet. I could see how possibly one could induce a death spiral with MEP constantly scanning if the clipboard contains a specific piece of text. Now I don't use clipboard activations but that doesn't mean MEP isn't still grabbing the contents each time or some other activity where it's getting confused.

 

There is a config option for the clipboard hook. I am going to disable it and see what happens for awhile. However I have not experienced the MEP molasses in some time so I don't' know how much value any of my observations will be. How about some of you try it that are experiencing the problem more frequently?

[michaelkenward]

I wonder if some of it isn't that there are too many fingers in the clipboard pie. I run ClipMate and remote desktops all the time which have RDClip.exe for transferring clipboard events and I wonder if all those combined are having conflicts.

 

Interesting. We went through another bout of trying to find a common feature between those of us who have seen this slow down. We pretty well ruled out DOpus because quite a few users of that and Macro Express see no problems.

 

I also use Clipmate. Anyone else who sees the slowdown?

 

The multiple copies issue in Clipmate is something that I have seen, but not recently.

 

The guy who developes Clipmate, Chris Thornton, is very responsive to user feedback.

 

But the thought that it might be a general clipboard might rqruie a wider trawl.

 

But if IIS is on the case, maybe we can all just wait to see what they discover. This is the first note I recall seeing that they were even investigating the issue.

[monaghana]

Has anyone tried version 4.1.1.1 yet to see if it has cleared up any / all of the 'slowing down' issues?

 

Alan Monaghan

Kirkcaldy, Scotland

[michaelkenward]

Has anyone tried version 4.1.1.1 yet ....

I didn't know there was 4.1.1.1.

 

Macro Express is rare in not offering some form of aurtomated update check that I can find. Always has to be manual.

 

Perhaps I am supposed to write a macro.

[Cory]

No automated update check.

.........................................

However you can from the help menu On the Web > Check for Updates.

 

I believe ISS is planning on doing an email announcement today as they always do and making an announcement in the forums. C’mon guys, it’s only been a day! Give them a break.

 

Also if it were me I wouldn’t want and auto updater unless the updates were randomized over a couple of days. Can you imagine your entire client base downloading the install package all within the same hour? Then they would all complain that the download is too slow. Also it’s nice to get some initial feedback so that you can be aware of issues like the sidebar and toolbar getting stuck on.

[Cory]

What about Remote Desktop?

.......................................................

Is anyone experiencing the problem running Remote Desktop and RDClip (Clipboard transfer) option?

 

Can you email the Clipmate guy and see what he thinks? It’s worth a shot.

[Cory]

No problems so far.

......................................

I downloaded 4.1.1.1 yesterday afternoon and so far so good. However I have not had very many molasses incidents lately so I’m probably not a good source. Can’t figure why. Anyway we all need to install it and see if anyone is having the problem.

[michaelkenward]

Also if it were me I wouldn’t want and auto updater unless the updates were randomized over a couple of days.

 

That's how it usually works.

 

Put it on a server, then when the program starts it will check to see if there is an update.

 

DOpus handles it just fine. So does Clipmate. Both, I suspect, have similar sized audiences.

 

Thinking about it, Macro Express is just about the only commercial software I use that lacks this feature in some form or other.

 

Email is fine, and with a short delay. DOpus does likewise to give people time to smoke out any last minute bugs.

 

An RSS feed is another option that some people use.

[Cory]

How about BitTorrent?

....................................

If I had a small software company I would supplement my traditional download server with a BitTorrent post as well. I'm sure a fair percentage of users like me would opt for it and once in the wild it would virtually eliminate server load because we would all be downloading it from each other. And it would be lighting fast.

[Cory]

Early report on clipboard hook.

.................................................

I had a W2k user who complained that she was having the molasses symptoms 3 times a day. I taught her to kill macexp.exe with the task manager and she claimed that was fixing the problem. A little more than a day ago I disabled the clipboard hook on her and my machines. Since then she claims to have had no molasses. Same with me but unfortunately I have not been experiencing it regularly. But as always you can never trust in user reports.

[terrypin]

No problems so far.

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I downloaded 4.1.1.1 yesterday afternoon and so far so good.

 

Was there an announcement about this release? I see nothing in the pinned section of the forum. (03 December 2009, 19:24 UK time)

 

Can you remind me where I can read what changes have been made please?

 

Edit: OK, found the answer to my last question. It's readable after you've installed the new version.

 

The impressively long list of changes. mostly bug fixes, has this as its first:

1. Fixed some problems with the clipboard interface.

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Cory]

There is also a link on the download page.

[paul]

But as always you can never trust in user reports.

That's a bit worrying. After all, to Insight we're users, aren't we?

[kevin]

That's how it usually works.

 

Put it on a server, then when the program starts it will check to see if there is an update.

 

DOpus handles it just fine. So does Clipmate. Both, I suspect, have similar sized audiences.

 

Thinking about it, Macro Express is just about the only commercial software I use that lacks this feature in some form or other.

 

Email is fine, and with a short delay. DOpus does likewise to give people time to smoke out any last minute bugs.

 

An RSS feed is another option that some people use.

When a new version of Macro Express Pro is released we announce it on this forum, via email with the Macro Express News email newsletter and with an RSS feed. We always wait one business day to announce so we can find out from a smaller audience what problems there may be. So far Macro Express Pro v 4.1.1.1 has two issues that are serious enough that we may decide to hold off on the announcement until we determine how to resolve them.

 

So, this is NOT an announcement that Macro Express Pro v 4.1.1.1 is available.

 

We want to add an automated update feature but there are other issues that have taken priority. (Non-sticky settings and crashes when Variable Restore command used, for example.)

Edited December 4, 2009 by kevin

[michaelkenward]

When a new version of Macro Express Pro is released we announce it on this forum, via email with the Macro Express News email newsletter and with an RSS feed. We always wait one business day to announce so we can find out from a smaller audience what problems there may be. So far Macro Express Pro v 4.1.1.1 has two issues that are serious enough that we may decide to hold off on the announcement until we determine how to resolve them.

 

So, this is NOT an announcement that Macro Express Pro is available.

 

We want to add an automated update feature but there are other issues that have taken priority. (Non-sticky settings and crashes when Variable Restore command used, for example.)

Makes immense sense.

 

Nice to have an update feature, but the challenge of creating a macro to check for updates on startup appeals to me. Then again it is probably far beyond my skills.

 

On the slowdowns, Chris Thornton of Clipmate suggests turning off "Use the Clipboard Hook" in Macro Express.

 

I'm reluctant. Might lose something important that I need.

 

Given that the new version that doesn't really exist has some work on the clipboard interaction, maybe it has sorted out the problem.

 

I haven't see a freeze since installing it, but freezes are not that common anyway.

[kevin]

Given that the new version that doesn't really exist ...

Oh, it exists. We just aren't going to advertise the fact yet.

[Cory]

Yup, can't trust users.

...................................

I admin one company of users among my other exploits and over the years have helps a variety of folk and I always bear that in mind when reporting to ISS or anyone else. Because users have reported to me something they absolutely 'know' to be fact and then we find different. Some of the time they’re deceptive but some of the time they forgot, didn't realize or some other innocent mistake. Of course it is just more complex than their little paradigm. So whenever I report things to developers or support staff I try to bear that in mind. They can trust I won't lie but I might be omitting something important to them or not realize something. After all there is no one in the world that know everything about a simple personal computer. And I can't tell you how many times I've asked "Did you reboot" to which they answered "Yes" and found in the event logs that they hadn't. Or how many times I've asked "Have you installed any software or made any changes", got a negative response, then found that tried to sync their Crackberry to the Exchange Server with the magic CD. But in their mind they did not change anything or install software. Hellooooo? ActiveSync? No wonder your contacts are all gone in Outlook!

 

Ever watch the show House? His opinion of users is exactly how I regard users. I care for them and I want to help them but I take what they say with a grain of salt.

[paul]

Ever watch the show House? His opinion of users is exactly how I regard users. I care for them and I want to help them but I take what they say with a grain of salt.

And I'm sure you've described very well exactly the relationship between Insight and us merry band of pilgrims!

[schrama]

Hi,

 

I have used MEP on 2 systems (XP Pro SP 2 and Vista)

MEP version 4.1.3.1

(I will try 4.1.5.1 later on)

 

I have lockups/slowdowns on both systems (even after a fresh reboot without running anything)

Not running DOpus

 

Hope it gets solved soon.

It's rather irritating... since it is besides this a very useful program.

[michaelkenward]

Hope it gets solved soon.

It's rather irritating... since it is besides this a very useful program.

I don't know about anyone else, but the phenomenon seems to have abated.

 

I haven't had to force MEP to close for a while.

 

I suggest trying the newest version. No one is going to put any effort into helping someone to solve problems in defunct versions.

[Cory]

Should have been fixed in your version. At least I haven’t seen it since. Might be something else on your system.

 

FWIW on older versions I found that disabling the keyboard hook eliminates the problem.

[schrama]

I just installed the latest version (4.1.5.1) and the issues are the same,

MEP is started on boot and the whole system becomes really slow.

 

I have the keyboard hook disabled, so no luck there (thanks for the tip though).

 

 

========

Edit: by the looks of it, terminating the macro by the MEP menu solved the problem (killing the process in the taskmanager did not).

[michaelkenward]

MEP is started on boot and the whole system becomes really slow.

The symptoms you describe are not those that people have discussed in this section.

 

What I see, and most other people I assume, is mostly normal behaviour in MEP with suddenly unexplained and unpredictable events that are nearer to a freeze than a slowdown.

 

MEP starts and works just fine for quite some time, days even, before we see, or saw, the onset of lethargy.

 

I mention this because you may have a different issue that might be better pursued in its own right.

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I've had quite a few hangups (most of which seemed to require closing MacExe, MacEdit and MacScript in Task Manager and waiting a while). The occasional hangup required a reboot. Most have been limited to two scenarios:

 

First, using Test Run in Script Editor. After using it a couple of times, a hangup seems obligatory. I normally troubleshoot new macros by adding in multiple Text Box Displays as breakpoints and manually running the macro so it's not a big problem. Having used Test Run a few times and exiting Script Editor, the hangup problem may still persist. I find the Script Editor highly suspicious. Even if I have not made any changes, it takes 5 seconds for the window to close (no backup on exit selected). On the plus side Script Editor can handle large numbers of macros under edit at the same time.

 

Second, I run housekeeping macros that are run from my System Maintenance macro file. It is open in MEP Explorer. It opens each pre-selected macro file one at a time, does the necessaries and closes it. Repeat through the list. While running a macro that added a specified macro to each macro file, it would hang at the point the current file was closing and the next one was opening. I resolved the problem by allowing more time for the current file to close. Other than for these operations, I usually only have one macro file open at a time.

 

Have you tried not starting MEP at startup and starting manually? When I was running my PC unattended for weeks on end I would do a forced reboot each day using another program and delay the start of ME (in Options) to ensure no conflict with other starting programs. I had no particular reason to do that other than to ensure it started up exactly the same way each time. ME itself started other programs on its startup and kept them clear of the boot process too.