it was 7-zip, i removd and clrmame sped back up again. i was using the latest version of both. thanks i didn't want to start removing things until i was sure it was only me having problems.

> when it crashes it is on unrar.dll. i just loaded 7-zip recently and wondering
> if maybe that is the problem.
>
> > No slowdowns here, c2d 6600, vista 64, a full mame scan takes 7 seconds.
> > Must be your system somehow. Turn off your virusscaner and scan again (or scan
> > for malware before that). Check the taskmanager to see which tasks take all of
> > your cpu power....or maybe a different task (background defragging) accesses
> > your hd.
> >
> >
> > Roman Scherzer
> >
>