Im actually very relieved to find this thread and realize its not me or my computer. Its been driving me nuts and cost me much time and $$!
I needed to have a failing internal hard drive replaced last month, so assumed the problem was associated with that. Then, when I reinstalled everything, Premiere Pro was still freezing. Oh no! So I suspected my external hard drive, and replaced that. Still no luck. Then I sent my computer back to the repairer but they couldn’t find a problem. After a week of feeling defeated and making excuses to clients, it occurred to me it might be Premiere pro. YES! I see many others are having the same problem, and feel Im finally getting somewhere.
Premiere pro had been so reliable I never thought I might be the cause - until today. For now I will just go back to CS6 – Im over fiddling with stuff!. If I can find the energy I will report the details - but now I just need to get back to work. (and probably call my computer repairer to explain). Thankyou everyone for reporting the issue and suggesting fixes.