This is the same problem I'm having.... the program just eats memory and cpu. the blocks download, then slow, then stop updating (but still download) then the whole works freezes up. I cannot quit the program without it crashing, and even after it leaves a memory-intensive process hanging. the longer I leave the program running, the bigger the memory usage, I've seen it at over 2.5 gigs. The last time I tried to access my account, I downloaded the chain and got to 12 days remaining, then it thrashed my hard-drive, crashed, and the next time I started it, it started downloading from 178 days again.
The program acts strangely, certain functions work, while others are freezing. trying to access the market causes a freeze, while the account view works fine. one version of the unlock screen freezes, while the one you can access from the drop-menu works.
does anyone have any ideas about why this version is so buggy? what could the program be doing to require so much memory and cpu? is the program dependent on some other program such as Java that needs to be updated for the wallet to work correctly? is there some way that I could choose to install the 32-bit version? are these problems only happening on the Windows platform, or is everyone experiencing issues?