<b>Speed Doubler 8.1 startup problems

Speed Doubler causes freezes/crashes at startup? First, I know these issues do not affect everyone. I know this because they have not yet happened to me. But many people are reporting startup freezes and crashes related to Speed Doubler. For example:

Trip Mitchell: "Several times I froze at startup. Conflict Catcher reported a Speed Doubler conflict with ATM (4.0.2)."

Jim O'Hearn: "Speed Doubler 8.1 works fine except for a freeze (just before the desktop comes up) when Sleeper 3.0.1 is running."

Chris Czel: "My computer freezes on startup when it tries to load the Speed Doubler control panel, not the extension. Norton Disk Doctor reports no problems."

Michael Mortilla: "With Speed Doubler 8.1 installed, my 9500 won't always start-up reliably. I frequently get a blank (empty) dialogue window. If I force quit (Cmd-Ctl-Esc) I get a "Force Speed Doubler to Quit?" message and can continue."

Update: A couple of readers suggest that reinstalling Speed Doubler 8.0 before updating to 8.1 will prevent these crashes.

SAM Intercept prevents Speed Doubler from loading? Will Stern writes that Speed Doubler 8.1 did not load on his Mac when SAM Intercept was enabled. He claims that Connectix is aware of this problem (which apparently does not affect all Macs) and is working on a fix. Symantec also has advice on how to fix this (stay tuned for details).