Strangest Computer Behavior I've Ever Encountered

MrPlow said:
Won't hurt anything to try a different browser, if you can manage to get one like Firefox installed. The process of elimination is pretty powerful when hunting gremlins. I doubt that would solve anything, but an easy test to do. It could also be worthwhile to see if Edge browser works (yuck I feel dirty for saying that).
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I hear you about Edge, but it would be a snap to swap out just to see if the situation changes with a different browser.
Thanks for the idea.
 
Tom NJ said:
This may be irrelevant, but I had trouble accessing my email last month and did some exploring.

In your AOL software, click Options/Mail Settings/Recent Activity. This should reveal a link to your recent activity. On that page, look under "Apps connected to your account, You have authorized these apps, sites and devices to access your AOL Account."

When I did this I found half a dozen apps "authorized" for my account along with their countries, including China, Russia, Iraq, Georgia, and Indonesia! Needless to say I did not authorize these apps. My email address and password were rather old and were apparently hacked. I changed the password and the problem went away.

Fortunately I did not keep an address book or other personal information on my email software as I use a third party client to access my mail.
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you clicked on a trojan horse virus, do an offline scan with MS defender
 
Shel_B said:
I hear you about Edge, but it would be a snap to swap out just to see if the situation changes with a different browser.
Thanks for the idea.
Click to expand...

Edge is now based on Chromium, just like Chrome, so it isn't much of a change. If you are going to try another browser, use Firefox, it's a completely different code base. In a pinch, you could fire up Internet Exploder (which is present on the machine, hit start and just start typing iexplore) but I generally shy away from recommending it for anything beyond sites that absolutely require it.

I can't see a video driver working fine all day and then crapping the bed in the evening, that just doesn't make sense. If you restart the computer, does the problem return immediately? Is the computer typically left on?

You could open Task Manager and see how much available memory you have at the time this is happening.
 
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What real time anti-virus software is running on this computer - anything beyond just Windows Defender?

I had a similar issue a few years ago where one particular website (my bank) would some times randomly crash my computer and give me a blue screen. Turned out to be the Bitdefender anti-virus program that didn't play well with that website. Uninstalled it and never had the issue again.
 
ZeeOSix said:
What real time anti-virus software is running on this computer - anything beyond just Windows Defender?

I had a similar issue a few years ago where one particular website (my bank) would some times randomly crash my computer and give me a blue screen. Turned out to be the Bitdefender anti-virus program that didn't play well with that website. Uninstalled it and never had the issue again.
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I remember that experience ;)
 
OVERKILL said:
Edge is now based on Chromium, just like Chrome, so it isn't much of a change. If you are going to try another browser, use Firefox, it's a completely different code base. In a pinch, you could fire up Internet Exploder (which is present on the machine, hit start and just start typing iexplore) but I generally shy away from recommending it for anything beyond sites that absolutely require it.

I can't see a video driver working fine all day and then crapping the bed in the evening, that just doesn't make sense. If you restart the computer, does the problem return immediately? Is the computer typically left on?

You could open Task Manager and see how much available memory you have at the time this is happening.
Click to expand...
The choice of using Edge was to see if a different browser would improve the situation, not necessarily to make a permanent change. Edge is built into the operating system and just requires a couple of mouse clicks to activate. As it turned out, moving to Edge cured the problem, and now my sweetie can use the computer as she desires.

That said, the cause of the problem has not been determined ... that will come later, after the weekend. Right now we're preparing for a family Mothers Day party, and that's taking our time.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions ... you've been great, and very helpful.
 
Shel_B said:
The choice of using Edge was to see if a different browser would improve the situation, not necessarily to make a permanent change. Edge is built into the operating system and just requires a couple of mouse clicks to activate. As it turned out, moving to Edge cured the problem, and now my sweetie can use the computer as she desires.

That said, the cause of the problem has not been determined ... that will come later, after the weekend. Right now we're preparing for a family Mothers Day party, and that's taking our time.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions ... you've been great, and very helpful.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it could be that Chrome has a plugin that's buggering things up then, since, as I noted, Edge and Chrome are based on the same codebase at this point (Chromium). Excellent to hear it was that simple to fix though.
 
Good to hear it worked out. Try installing Firefox, along with the Ublock Origin Plugin. It's a better browser than Chrome (IMO) and less likely to get viruses using Ublock Origin to block all ads.
 
MrPlow said:
Good to hear it worked out. Try installing Firefox, along with the Ublock Origin Plugin. It's a better browser than Chrome (IMO) and less likely to get viruses using Ublock Origin to block all ads.
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Sounds great. Will look into it after the weekend. Thanks!
 
If it was mine I would use DDU to remove all the video drivers and then reinstall the latest driver. Most likely it is using the intel or windows driver. Get the correct one from intel for your processor.
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/ (for DDU)
 
BeerCan said:
If it was mine I would use DDU to remove all the video drivers and then reinstall the latest driver. Most likely it is using the intel or windows driver. Get the correct one from intel for your processor.
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/ (for DDU)
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Why would someone need a dedicated program for that? I've been wrenching on computers for 30 years and never once needed a 3rd party app to remove drivers. OP should ignore this advice unless the problem comes back and nothing else works. Nothing good ever comes from downloading software that isn't needed.

OP went with a different browser and all is good. I wouldn't go messing with anything beyond that, as they should be using something other than Chrome to begin with (Firefox).
 
MrPlow said:
Why would someone need a dedicated program for that? I've been wrenching on computers for 30 years and never once needed a 3rd party app to remove drivers. OP should ignore this advice unless the problem comes back and nothing else works. Nothing good ever comes from downloading software that isn't needed.

OP went with a different browser and all is good. I wouldn't go messing with anything beyond that, as they should be using something other than Chrome to begin with (Firefox).
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30 years and never heard of that huh?
OP can do their own due diligence or not, but dismissing the advice out of hand just because you never used it yourself is weird. I've been in computers since 1992 myself and often learn new things to this day. Admittedly I do more paperwork now than diagnosing so I miss some of the fun
OP
If you have an AMD card then you can use AMD's version https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601
Nvidia has an active forum for the Wagnard software they keep sticky https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforc...d-tools-ddugmptdr-manipulator-new-cpu-core-a/

guru3d and other forums usually have plenty of info as well.

OP is was a suggestion for your problem. try it or not, your decision but DDU is not dangerous software to d/l
 
BeerCan said:
30 years and never heard of that huh?
OP can do their own due diligence or not, but dismissing the advice out of hand just because you never used it yourself is weird. I've been in computers since 1992 myself and often learn new things to this day. Admittedly I do more paperwork now than diagnosing so I miss some of the fun
OP
If you have an AMD card then you can use AMD's version https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601
Nvidia has an active forum for the Wagnard software they keep sticky https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforc...d-tools-ddugmptdr-manipulator-new-cpu-core-a/

guru3d and other forums usually have plenty of info as well.

OP is was a suggestion for your problem. try it or not, your decision but DDU is not dangerous software to d/l
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry. My reply was a little on the harsh side. :giggle:

OP has resolved the issue for the time being. I don't know how much OP knows about computers, but at this point if it works, don't mess with anything else, especially when one might not know how to handle any extra problems resulting from tinkering with a working computer.

If this was my computer, I would spend time learning what the root cause was. But, OP's daughter needs a working computer. She now has a working computer. Best to leave it alone at this point unless the same issue or something different comes up.

And, no, I have literally never once needed any 3rd party software to remove drivers. I'm not a computer professional, just some bloke who does most/all the IT work for family, friends, and close relatives, and even some sleuthing when I worked in the video game industry. If I ever do need such software in the future, I will keep that in mind.
 
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