Hi david williams,
Quite a bit here, but we need it all. Go step by step. Can you still tell us:
1) what are the names of ALL the printers you have configured on your progeCAD PC?
2) Are you using XP SP2 or SP3?
3) What is the full current version of progeCAD you are using (help -> about progeCAD -> version 8.0.xx??)
4) After downloading and installing progeCAD 2009, does it have the same problem? I am just trying to see if the software itself may have something to do with it (although 2008 is no longer developed)
There are some things I would like you to try, but they are system wide changes so I can't guarantee it won't affect something else:
1) Stop antivirus, completely as in the process not running. Then see if this makes a difference when running progeCAD.
2)
Turn off Windows effects as described HERE:
http://www.caddit.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=390#390
3) If you want, you can try further optimisation in your Control Panel (as "administrator") to "Adjust for best PERFORMANCE" from the "Settings" button on the "Advanced" tab as below:
See if that makes a difference for you. Also it would be good to have the CPU usage graph up when progeCAD "freezes" to see what the process is doing at that time. Are you able to do that?