Thanks for your help, but I don't know what I did.....but it started working again. (???)
Oh and by the way......the moment that Servant Salamander froze, the whole computer froze (apart from the mouse cursor). So starting a second instance would have been a no-go
mmmm.....I'm having the exact same problem as you have but I've already scanned the whole computer for viruses + a specialized tool to recognize the so-called 'love-gate worm' mentioned earlier......
Unfortunately it didn't help......anybody got a clue what's wrong?