Ongoing 7-Zip Compression Issue After Closing ComicBase

[Jeremy S]

I’m starting a new thread as the original post by Fred Slota (“Weird system hang when closing ComicBase”) appears to be resolved for them, but I’m continuing to experience the same issue despite multiple troubleshooting attempts.

Issue Summary:
After closing ComicBase (latest build, downloaded today, WIndows 11), the 7-Zip process continues running in the background, consuming significant CPU resources. This persists for an extended period (over 30 minutes), even when backups are saved locally and not to a cloud folder (i.e., OneDrive). A compressed backup file folder is created but often shows a file size of 0–1 KB, and the 7-Zip process does not terminate on its own unless I manually end it.

What I’ve Tried:

• Uninstalled and reinstalled ComicBase and its Resources
• Changed backup directory from OneDrive to local SSD
• Manually ending the 7-Zip process as a workaround

I can avoid the issue by disabling the compression, but this prevents me from being able to save the backup online.

I am wondering if anyone has any tips? This issue has only been for the past few months (since the latest major update). I am wondering if there is a process for repairing or reinstalling 7-Zip?

[Adam Sternberg]

@Jeremy S, I've had issues with the 7Zip compression also.  Take a look at your RAM usage in Task Manager.  Browsers such as Firefox and Chrome tend to be RAM hogs, so consider closing them and other high-usage programs until the compression is done.

I don't have a full solution, but that's been my observation, so hopefully it helps.

Good luck.

[Adam Sternberg]

On 6/27/2025 at 7:56 PM, Adam Sternberg said:

@Jeremy S, I've had issues with the 7Zip compression also.  Take a look at your RAM usage in Task Manager.  Browsers such as Firefox and Chrome tend to be RAM hogs, so consider closing them and other high-usage programs until the compression is done.

I don't have a full solution, but that's been my observation, so hopefully it helps.

Good luck.

Never mind; I've seen it take over 16 hours without completing (and that's with no browsers running), yet if I create the 7z compressed file by "hand", it takes 2 minutes.  Something is definitely wrong here (maybe the thread/process priority is too low?)

[Jeremy S]

Thank you! I was beginning to think that it must be a problem with my specific installation.

The only solution I have been able to find is to disable the compression. If I then close ComicBase and run SIdekick, I can at least save the backup online (as it does whatever compression is required for that okay). However, the compressed local file backups are never created.

I never thought of the local file creation. If I create a WinZip file, it is pretty fast. If I manually create a 7z compressed file, it  works and completes, but takes about 10 minutes - still an improvement.

I must admit that the technically/programming elements are but beyond me, but hopefully others will have some ideas

[Sky McCormick]

Any update on this from devs?  I just downloaded/installed the latest version of Archive Edition and the 7-Zip Standalone Console consumes 99% of CPU and Memory.

[Jeremy S]

No updates as of yet. I am not quite sure how to flag this post for the devs.

I have disabled the compression of files within ComicBase and have been manually compressing the files afterwards - it takes about  10 minutes to run manually.

[Steven L. Dasinger]

I don't think I will be out of line to mention this.

With the new release of CB (probably coming out soon (but that is an outsider observation and NOT from HC (Pete is making an announcement Thursday at SDCC))), there is some change to the compressing that may (or may not) help with this.

[Jeremy S]

Thanks for the comment Steven. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Adam Sternberg]

@Jeremy S and @Sky McCormick:  I actually DO have a bit of an update.  Before going to SDCC, Pete and I hopped on a debug session, and we found what we think is an issue (if not the issue).  It looked like my antivirus (AVG Free) was preventing the actual compression from occurring.  I can't say if that's your particular issue as well, but it certainly seems reasonable.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more info than that, but hopefully it helps.

Adam

[Sky McCormick]

Thanks for looking into this.  Some data points that might help us figure out what is going on.

1. My machine has 16GB of memory.

2. My database file size is 2,866,164 KB.

3. I use McAfee Anti-Virus (have since I first started using ComicBase).

4. I have installed the latest release of Comicbase as of 7/25/2025 and performed the content update.

Tonight I reset my preferences to compress on exit.  The 7-Zip Standalone Console has been running for approximately 60 minutes with CPU consumption starting at a 99%, Memory around 900-1000+ mb and disk 700=1000 MB/s).  After about 15 minutes the CPU usage stepped down to ~50% with disk and memory still remaining roughly the same.  The process is still running as I write this (~60 minutes after exiting Comicbase and the start of the 7-Zip process), CPU has dropped to ~20% with  disk and memory beginning to drop.  I have checked the zip file in file manager and file size is still 0KB, I assume that means that 7-Zip has not finished writing the file or failed to properly close it.  I also have been checking the McAfee processes and they have not increased resource consumption since the Zip process started.

Hopefully this info helps troubleshoot a solution.  If it would help I can try turning off McAfee Monday night (I am attending SDCC this weekend, BTW Good Job Pete!) and letting the 7-Zip process run.  Until then, like Jeremy, I will manually end the currently running 7-Zip Standalone Console process and disable compression in Comicbase.

 

Cheers,

Sky

[Adam Sternberg]

@Sky McCormick, I'm afraid the fact that the 7Zip console was running is already different from what Pete and I were seeing on my system.  From what you described, everything seems OK from a resource standpoint (although I'd be concerned about a full 15 minutes of maxed out CPU).  Are you running anything else during the compression?  Browsers can be notorious memory hogs, for example, but again, it shouldn't like you have enough headroom there.  If you can, you may want to try an experiment with much else shut down as possible, to try to isolate which (if any) resource is maxing out and slowing things down.

All that is just me putting on my software developer hat, not knowing anything about the guts of the processes.  Hopefully, it helps.

Adam

[Jeremy S]

@Sky McCormick and @Adam Sternberg - I am not sure I can add much. I can confirm that the 7zip console was always running for me as well in the background and I saw no evidence of anti-virus being the issue. I use Bitdefender.

I will try to do some additional troubleshooting, but since I have a workaround and there may be changes coming, I will hold off.
 

[Mark J. Castaneda]

programming team suggests...

 

-be sure you've downloaded/installed the latest setup file for ComicBase 2025:

https://www.comicbase.com/mycb/Registrations.aspx

 

-Do a search on your PC for %temp% (aka searching for your temp folder).

 

-delete all the contents within the temp folder

 

-restart your computer then retry what was giving trouble before and see if you're successful.

 

 

[Sky McCormick]

I checked the Registrations page and I have the latest setup file for ComicBase 2025.

I verified I had no Windows 10 updates pending.

I then started ComicBase, checked for updates and began the latest content update.  During that update ComicBase came up with an Unhandled Exception message (see screenshot attachment).

One question, if I delete all the contents from within my temp folder, won't that affect any other application that uses that space?

Let me know if the Unhandled Exception should be in a different thread.  I will hold off deleting the contents of the Windows Temp folder and running another test with compression enabled until I hear back.

Sky

[Mark J. Castaneda]

50 minutes ago, Sky McCormick said:

I checked the Registrations page and I have the latest setup file for ComicBase 2025.

I verified I had no Windows 10 updates pending.

I then started ComicBase, checked for updates and began the latest content update.  During that update ComicBase came up with an Unhandled Exception message (see screenshot attachment).

One question, if I delete all the contents from within my temp folder, won't that affect any other application that uses that space?

Let me know if the Unhandled Exception should be in a different thread.  I will hold off deleting the contents of the Windows Temp folder and running another test with compression enabled until I hear back.

Sky

You should be fine deleting the files in your temp folder. Alternatively, You can also just move the files to a different folder on your desktop.

 

[Jeremy S]

@Mark J. Castaneda Thank you for the suggestions. I am away from my laptop at the moment, but will try clearing the temp folder as my next troubleshooting step.

[Sky McCormick]

Hello,

Here are the steps I executed for the test tonight.

1. Checked for updates to Windows 10 (None Found).
2. Deleted the files from the %temp% folder.
3. Started Comicbase.
4. Attempted to perform the content update and received the same Unhandled Exception (see my message from Friday).
5. Cancelled the Content Update.
6. Shut down Comicbase.
7. Started Comicbase again.
8. Changed Comicbase Preferences to enable compression.
9. Exited Comicbase (to start compression/7-Zip Console Process).
10. Started Task Manager to monitor system utilization.
11. As expected there was a spike immediately after exiting ComicBase (See Screenshot).
12. After about 5 minutes the 7-Zip Console process finished and released the system resources

Manually deleting the contents of the %temp% folder seems to have addressed the issue.  I assume it will reappear if/when %temp% returns to the state that it was in prior to deleting the contents of the directory.

Hopefully there is a solution found that does not include manual intervention by the Comicbase customer to clear the %temp% directory in order for 7-Zip Processes to run to completion. 

Also, please let me know what the resolution is to the on-going Unhandled Exception errors being received when attempting to perform the latest Content Update.

Thanks for the help and support.

Sky

 

[Adam Sternberg]

@Sky McCormick, if clearing %TEMP% helped, that implies to me (in my somewhat limited experience) that HDD space could be a factor.  You may want to look to see if there are files you can move to an external HDD or remove altogether.  Also, I often forget the Recycle Bin, so giving that an empty could help also.

 

Best of luck!

[Sky McCormick]

Hi,  

Just a couple of data points that might help the programming staff (yes, I was in tech/programming) find a more permanent/less Comicbase User impacting solution.

• Current Comicbase Database Size: 3,565,420KB
• Current Comicbase 7zip archive file size: 917,031KB (Excellent Compression!)
• Available space on device where Comicbase software is installed: ~40GB
• Available space on device where Comicbase Database resides: ~1.8TB
• Latest Comicbase Software Update seems to have addressed the on-going Unhandled Exception errors being received when attempting to perform the Content Update.
• Possible suggestion to the programming team: Dig into the myriad of switches available when invoking the 7-zip server as there may be opportunities to optimize the execution of 7-zip and/or provide the Comicbase user with some preferences to optimize the archive process based on their needs/system configuration.

 

Cheers,

Sky