Max Payne 3 is pausing itself randomly

The recently released patch should alleviate the issue, if not, try using msconfig to disable sound drivers you aren't using on startup (Startup tab). If that doesn't work, go to device manager and disable sound devices you aren't using.

I tried all the fixes posted online as well as the ones suggested by RockStar with negative results.

Finally I figured out what was causing my"Pausing Issue".

Simply disabling Microsoft .NET Framework 4 didn't appear to have any effect on the game. It would still pause during game play.

What finally worked for me is complete uninstall of Microsoft .NET Framework 4. I then reinstalled Max Payne 3 and had not experience a single pause.

I have crashplan installed and Max Payne 3 pauses every time crashplan starts a backup or scann files. I workaround the problem by telling crashplan to sleep for some hours.