Okay, this problem has bugged me for too long.
It's been 3 days that Windows Movie Maker has practically killed itself. If I a project file, it will crash in about 30 seconds. When I try to load it again, it just freezes upon loading. It's really screwing up my entire computer. What could possibly be the problem and is there any solution.

I found this page. I hope it helps you with the problem.

http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Issues-Acceler...and-Codecs.html

Virus, corrupted file, old beat up computer, etc... You could try
un-installing and re-installing WMM. Other then that I can't help, sorry.

WMM cannot be uninstalled very easily (and reinstalling too). I've always say, as you use WMM more and more, it will finally colapse and start to freeze even when you do little things like opening a project or adding a clip to the Time Line.

That has occurred in many computers I've used, despite being shiny-new or powerful...

Alright, that might help. I still think it might be a codec, but he doesn't explain how he gets there..

"'If you're running MM2.1, see the Setup > MM2.1 page and the info about the new compatibility tab feature for managing filters.'"

and for MM2.0

"'The lists are from the GSpot utility"'

That's how he got there.

Well I looked into it and it happens that I don't have Vista, so I can't disable codecs or do anything with them. And what is GSpot for?

I think that there are only 2 solutions...

- Get more powerfull PC

- Live with it

Seriously, I always had this problem and I got used to it already. If the program freezes, just wait. It will un-freeze after a minute. If not, ctrl+alt+delete and terminate WMM. To avoid big loses in projects because of freezing, save often.

It usually freezes for me when I am trying to set up lenght of the music in the timeline (shortening).

I dunno why that happens but I think it's because of my low-end PC (512 MB RAM, Radeon 9600 pro 128 MB, 2.4 Ghz Inter Celeron).

When I use it, every five minutes it stops responding, but continues later. When it doesn't continue, nearly everything else on my computer freezes with it.

Try the software called Jahshaka. it a free, open source movie editor that also support plugins you should try it!

GSpot is for viewing the installed codecs. That page indicates which codecs have troubles with WMM, so the solution should work for XP and Vista. For me, the best solution is this, if you want to continue using WMM.

That worked well for me, but after some uses, WMM will start to crash again.

Wow, hate to say it, but your computer is better than mine. That could be part of the issue as I get the same problems you described.

I can't seem to find out how to use GSpot. It loads all the codecs, but how do I diable them? It wants me to open files, but I don't know where they are. I have about 6 .ax codecs, so I want to try those.

Also, I haven't tried GM's account for the video. It breaks all the links in the project file so I would have to start again.

WMM has an option for disabling codecs. Disable those you think are the problematic ones.
And I had the same problem on Windows XP, and my comp has 1GB Ram, NVidia GeForce 6200 (256 MB), Intel Celeron D 2.66 GHz.... this is clearly a bug of Windows XP's WMM, because the one supplied with Windows Vista isn't so laggy...

When I look in Options for WMM, it doesn't have the extra tab that the pictures show.

You will have to rename the .ax files, then. GSpot shows where codecs are.

Oh!
Oh wow, I have a lot of .ax codecs. How do I know which ones are causing the problem? Am I looking for a particular name?

Look at the list at the page. It names the ones which have conflicts with WMM.

It looks like I have a lot of those. I'll see which ones yield the best result.

Edit: Hmm. It seems disabling ffdshow made WMM run smoother, but it still has problems showing video in the video box. Still, disabling them removes them from the list, so how do I get them back?

If you renamed the ffdshow codec, rename it again to the name it had. If that doesn't work, install a codec pack (BTW, K-Lite Codec Pack it's very good), and ffdshow will be back.

I don't think it even a powerful pc cause even my own pc has done that before but I don't remenber how i got it to work again.

When I use WMM, it doesn't crash on me... o.O I use Windows Vista and its WMM. Sometimes it's slow on the Title adding, and once it crashed when I accidentally added an 11 minute song(O_O), but besides that, it's fine. You should try the Windows Vista WMM. Maybe it'll help. Unless you're already using its WMM?

MegaRock has Windows XP. Windows XP's WMM is very buggy, nothing compared with the Vista one. Also, you cannot run the Vista WMM in XP. It will say it's a 'Non valid Win32 application' or something like that.

Oh... that explains it. Maybe MegaRock should just transfer all his files to a Windows Vista.

Stangely, I have Windows Server 2003 (which doesn't includes Windows Movie Maker), and following some tips, I've installed the Windows XP Movie Maker into it, and it works perfectly, without any freezing. When my comp had Windows XP, working with WMM2 was a nightmare. I had to use a very old MovieMaker (which doesn't have transitions, titles and video effects), which is only in Windows ME, Windows XP RTM and Windows XP SP1.

Well I opened it again and it worked fine! My video is saving as we speak. It seems like it will all be okay. :)

I'm glad now it worked. I hope to watch your video :D

What!? jahshaka=chop liver?