How long have you allowed the "freeze" to continue?
There are several issues which involve apparent freezes as Microsoft
Antispyware apparently tries to parse large text files.
Some folks have reported a freeze at the Scan page--Microsoft Antispyware
analyzes previous scans to determine a time estimate for the next scan, and
if the previous scan had a very lengthy output, a freeze on this page has
been noted.
I've seen one report of a wait of 6 hours (!) for the UI to come up to
remove files from quarantine--where the number of files in quarantine was
quite large.
And there was a third instance, I believe, which has disappeared from my
brain while writing this magnificent prose, I'm afrad.
So--I'd be interested to know how long it takes with a given large hosts
file!
(note to add to the FAQ)--Microsoft Antispyware will be free--Bill Gates,
2/15/2005, Security360 webcast of talk to RSA security conference.