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#1
Programs randomly hang indefinitely. Cannot be shut down at all.
3-year-old ASUS laptop running Windows 7 64-bit.
I recently went through a fresh install of W7 due to a major driver corruption caused by a Windows Update. Since reinstalling, various programs seem to get stuck indefinitely and nothing I can do will close them. For clarity, I'll give an example of what usually happens:
1. Program locks up
2. I try to close it. Nothing happens.
3. I try to end the application in the Task Manager. Nothing happens.
4. I try to end the process and/or process tree in Task Manager. Nothing happens.
5. I try to shut down the computer. It hangs on the "Logging Off" screen indefinitely (let it sit overnight to test).
6. I end up manually powering down the computer.
When I restart, one of several things happens with no pattern I can find:
A. It starts up normally.
B. It starts up but very slowly (maybe 10 minutes to get fully booted).
C. It hangs indefinitely at the Windows "flag" loading screen.
D. I enter startup repair (usually after "C." happens) and either startup repair hangs indefinitely or (if it loads) it can find nothing wrong or can't fix the problem.
Offending programs have included Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, Open Office, Windows Explorer, iTunes, and Firefox, to name a few.
I use Avast! as my primary protection and it can find no problems. I've also run MalwareBytes with no success. Since it's a fresh install of W7 (just a couple weeks old) and I haven't really done much downloading or exotic surfing, I have to think there's a deep-seated problem going on here. Please help before I go insane!