Blind crash bug when accessing color dialogs...

I have been experiencing a repeating bug in both CorelDRAW and Corel Photopaint.  The bug works as follows:

If the program has been running more than a few minutes, it will crash without any notification or error message when accessing the color selector dialog boxes.  This happens in both Draw and in Photopaint.  The app does not issue any form of warning (aside from freezing momentarily) and just exits, resulting in the loss of all work that has been done since your last save.  I have tracked the problem down to a couple of DLL files which throw a .Net exception code.  The same errors happen regardless of whether you are using CorelDRAW or Photopaint.  The offending DLL's are CrlClr.dll (part of the color subsystem for the Corel suite) mfc140u.dll (part of .Net).  The error code is almost always the same, regardless of the offending DLL: "0x c0000005"

My primary system is a dual Xeon CPU (twin E5-2670's) with 128GB of ECC RAM, an SSD main drive and dual Quadro 2000's, running Windows 10 Pro (64bit, all updates current).  The same problem happens on other machines I have tried the app on (several different machines from Core i7's to i5's with RAM ranging from 8GB up to 16GB, all running Win10 pro), so this is not an issue isolated to my personal hardware.  The same exact silent crash happens on all of them, and the same DLL files and error codes are reported in Windows' logs.

This is a show-stopping error that has cost me hours of work and lost money as a result.  The problem is repeatable and from what I have seen, it is common with other users in these forums.

I contacted Corel tech support by their support chat and the person on the other end had the nerve to tell me that CorelDRAW 2019 is not compatible with Windows 10 Pro, even though it states quite plainly on their website that it is compatible and the fact that literally no professional or business machines run Win10 "home" edition.  It was easy to tell that the person honestly had no idea what the problem actually could be and was simply trying to get rid of me.  I then tried to talk to tech support on the phone.  I was barely through my explanation (see above) before the lady told me that the problem needed to be elevated and that her supervisor would call me back shortly. 

THAT WAS A WEEK AGO.  I have yet to hear back from Corel on the matter.

I have been using CorelDRAW since version 3.  Literally for DECADES.  I have NEVER seen such a bug that was so easily repeatable and show-stopping.  This problem has persisted through THREE updates now.  It seems like a relatively easy problem to track down and fix, and given the number of people it effects, I find it mind boggling that Corel has not done something about it yet.

What is going on?  Why can't you fix this major problem with your software, Corel?  You are losing customers over this.  You need to make it a priority over adding features or even smaller non-critical bug fixes.

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  • UPDATE:

    I MIGHT have figured it out...

    Question: How many of you that are having problems with 2019 have upgraded from previous versions?  My guess is all of us. 

    The problem became so pervasive that yesterday morning CorelDRAW wouldn't even start up.  It would crash out silently after the splash graphic.  Uninstall and reinstall did nothing to fix the problem.  It still would not start. 

    What I did to fix it was to uninstall 2019 and any other versions that I had on the system.  I did a search for ALL Corel files ANYWHERE on the system and deleted them ALL.  This takes a while because Corel puts stuff all over the place.

    Once that was done, I dove into the registry and removed ALL references to Corel.  All of them.  With extreme prejudice.  I eradicated ALL signs of anything having to do with it.  It took a while, but once it was complete, I rebooted and then reinstalled 2019.

    It's 24 hours later.  I have had the same instance of Draw running for the entire time.  I have yet to experience a single crash and the performance is quite good. 

    I have a suspicion that the source of our troubles has something to do with remnants of old Corel installations causing problems. 

    Perhaps the Corel Support team could whip up a quick app that uninstalls every trace of the program and previous versions automatically?  I think it would solve a TON of issues that people are experiencing.

    An important caveat is that I have NOT installed any patches yet.  I am running the app as it was installed.  I am scared to install any updates for fear of it jacking up the install.  The version installed is: 21.2.0.706.  How far back is this version from current?  Can someone compare and let me know?

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