Internet browsers cause my laptop to crash.

D

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Doesn't matter which browser I use. It's very strange. It only happens when a website is loading. So I'll be trying to open a new tab, say gamespot.com, and while the page is loading, other tabs will pop up with completely gibberish URLs, sometimes 2 or 3 of them open. Sometimes one opens up and causes my computer to blue screen and crash. Sometimes I can go a whole day without it happening, other times it happens multiple times in an hour. It's really frustrating.

I have ran multiple virus scans and also ran diagnostic scans and have dealt with my virus protection's support team and they insist I don't have a virus. What else could this be? My only other recent activity has been installing the games Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and Diablo 2 with the LOD expansion + patch. I uninstalled both of them and removed all associated files and this still happens. Any ideas?
 
I'd say just back up your files and re-install your os. It's often just a few click process on a laptop.

Probably take much less time than trying to diagnose your issue.
 
try removing flash and installing it again (or not).
 
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try removing flash and installing it again (or not).

Blowing away flash and java and reinstalling sounds like a good plan. You might have some corruption somewhere.
 
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Sounds like you got some spam crap on it. Have you tried running Malwarebytes yet?
 
Haven't tried running anything but my anti-virus anti-spyware suite yet. And that program is finding nothing, even when running a diagnostic scan and having it looked at by their tech support. Should I still run Malwarebytes?

Unfortunately the problem has gotten so bad now I can't even open my browsers. If I open Firefox, the program simply won't open no matter how many times I click it (had this problem forever now, even before my computer started crashing). Then finally it starts to open but my computer crashes. If I open Internet Explorer for some reason it won't connect to the internet and I just get endless "page not found" errors. If I open Chrome it doesn't even connect to anything and I just get a blank screen to look at. So I don't know what to do. I guess I will have to reformat or something. IF I can even find my start-up disc. I don't remember where I threw that box.

How do I remove flash and java and re-install?
 
Haven't tried running anything but my anti-virus anti-spyware suite yet. And that program is finding nothing, even when running a diagnostic scan and having it looked at by their tech support. Should I still run Malwarebytes?

Unfortunately the problem has gotten so bad now I can't even open my browsers. If I open Firefox, the program simply won't open no matter how many times I click it (had this problem forever now, even before my computer started crashing). Then finally it starts to open but my computer crashes. If I open Internet Explorer for some reason it won't connect to the internet and I just get endless "page not found" errors. If I open Chrome it doesn't even connect to anything and I just get a blank screen to look at. So I don't know what to do. I guess I will have to reformat or something. IF I can even find my start-up disc. I don't remember where I threw that box.

How do I remove flash and java and re-install?

You can remove both from the control panel under add/remove programs. However, with all the problems you're having, it might be a good idea to attempt a system restore back to before the problems first started appearing. This assumes that you have system restore turned on and backups available.
 
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I would advise system restore as well. And If you don't have restore point that you can use than you will have to re install OS I am affraid.
 
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Yeah, try going back a month on your system restore first, check your browsers to see if OK. If OK then make a named restore, then reinstall things you had changed since. And test your browsers as you go. Should be able to isolate to any malware you may have inadvertently installed.
 
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Is there a way to turn on system restore to periodically make updated restore points? The only restore point I have on the computer is more than a year old. I would like it to automatically make restore points as time goes on, if that is possible. But I will try restoring it to that year old restore point and see what happens.
 
Yes, there is a setting in XP at least. Open System Restore. At the bottom left there is hyperlink to System Restore Settings. Make sure the Turn Off System Restore checkbox IS clear and I slide the slider for Disk Space all the way to the right.

The default is to create a restore point once a day and after program installs.

If it still isn't working, it sounds like your registry settings have been borked. There's separate instructions for fixing those.
 
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Possibly bad news; every single time I have ever gotten the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), it has meant that there was a hardware problem. Always with desktops though. Usually the hardware problem is power supply. Sometimes it has been video card related. It can also happen from a failing hard drive.

Possibly good news: There's a freeware program that will make every single browser, bar none, run faster and better. The program is CCleaner. What it does is clean out the browser caches and other junk that interferes with hard drive and browser. Don't get the paid version. You don't need it. Just get the free version. I've made lots of computers run at much much faster speeds just by installing this. I've seen reports from computer techs who say this is often the only solution needed to fix an ailing computer.

Trying to figure out what your problem might be: Another solution might be to reinstall your video driver. Bad video driver can cause BSOD. Opening multiple browser tabs will stress video card, so that could be problem. Opening multiple browser tabs will also stress the memory, and you might have a bad memory stick. You can get various free memory testing progs; so you might try running one of those. Also multiple tabs can also stress hard drive and hard drive cache. It could be worthwhile to test hard drive with a freeware test program.

Malware: Malwarebytes Antimalware is the program you want to use to look for malware. It's free (don't get the paid, always running version). A quick scan should find any problem. A full scan will almost definitely find any malware problem that you might have.

Good luck.

__
 
!? Restore points get made automatically when Windows updates come through, don't they? Have you been getting all the Windows updates as they come out, Fluent?
 
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Possibly good news: There's a freeware program that will make every single browser, bar none, run faster and better. The program is CCleaner. What it does is clean out the browser caches and other junk that interferes with hard drive and browser. Don't get the paid version. You don't need it. Just get the free version. I've made lots of computers run at much much faster speeds just by installing this. I've seen reports from computer techs who say this is often the only solution needed to fix an ailing computer.

I've known it for some time now. I usually use it for "cleaning" out Registry errors.
 
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I haven't touched the "broken" laptop in a few weeks. Been using my older laptop, have it cleaned up and running really nice so I'm not too concerned about the other one. When I do get back around to trying to fix it though, I will use some of the tips in this thread to see if I can get it to work. I'm thinking a system restore will probably work. If not, I'll try to reinstall my video driver, because it does seem like that could also be the problem, since the issue only happens when I seem to open media-intensive webpages. For example, I don't seem to get the blue screen when I open something simple like RPGWatch, but if I try to load up a Gamespot page, it's almost guaranteed to crash. I'm hoping that's what it is anyway. By this description it also seems like it could be a bad memory stick, but for some reason I don't think that's it. Just a gut feeling I have I guess. I'll give these suggestions a whirl when I get around to it and post my results.
 
Bad memory sticks are rare but it does happen. In my current laptop I had two 2GB sticks and was getting all sorts of weird errors and shutdowns. Turns out that one of the sticks went bad somehow. Easier to test if you have two sticks. If you only have one then I would just assume its not the memory as you can't test really.
 
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