3ds Max :: Not Responding And Can't End Process Either

I've just installed max 2012 on a brand new workstation. Everything seemed to work fine until I've noticed that every time I close max or try to reset/open a new scene the program becomes unresponsive!!?! If I try to end the process, the program shuts down but the 3dsmax.exe process remains active in the task manager even 10 minutes. If I want to start a new session of max, I first need to end the Wscommcntrl3.exe process... I have installed all the latest SP and hotfixes and I'm using only V-ray and a couple of scripts. The problem doesn't occur on a freshly opened scene. It manifests itself after I've been working on the scene for some time or after I render something. This is becoming quite frustrating and time consuming. Why can't I end the 3dsmax process from the task manager? I can work on a single scene for hours and render it without any problem.