Win 7, Browsers quit working.

[ErrosionOfAccord]

I run three browsers. Chrome is wide open and is used for the rare visit to online retailers.
Firefox is largely email and a backup to Brave.
Brave is somewhat locked down and ad free. I use it for my general browsing on most days.

I went to check my mail with Firefox, clicked the link, the loading dodad came up for a second then nothing. Alt,Ctrl, Del, and it's not in the list. It's as though the shortcut is dead. I moved on to try Chrome and got the same thing. WTF? Then I restarted the computer and got the same results. Deleted the broken browsers and reinstalled and they are still broken.

At least I still have brave but, this may be the oddest thing I've had happen on a computer for quite some time. Anyone else with an old operating system experiencing this or is it just me?

 

[Usury]

Malicious link? Run anti-virus / anti-spyware

 

[ErrosionOfAccord]

Already scanned the system.
Also tried the following.

[SOLVED] Google Chrome Not Opening (2022) - Driver Easy

Having trouble opening your Chrome? Don't worry, you can fix it! Here are five solutions you can try to fix Chrome opening issue in Windows 7, 8 and 10.

www.drivereasy.com

I haven't had crap like this happen since I got away from windows 95. I'm wondering if it's related to a recent update and they are trying to make us migrate from 7 to 10 but, if no one else is experiencing the same it must be me.

 

[ZZZZZ]

I run three browsers. Chrome is wide open and is used for the rare visit to online retailers.
Firefox is largely email and a backup to Brave.
Brave is somewhat locked down and ad free. I use it for my general browsing on most days.

I went to check my mail with Firefox, clicked the link, the loading dodad came up for a second then nothing. Alt,Ctrl, Del, and it's not in the list. It's as though the shortcut is dead. I moved on to try Chrome and got the same thing. WTF? Then I restarted the computer and got the same results. Deleted the broken browsers and reinstalled and they are still broken.

At least I still have brave but, this may be the oddest thing I've had happen on a computer for quite some time. Anyone else with an old operating system experiencing this or is it just me?

I'm sure you're aware that Win7 is four versions behind. Now might be a good time to upgrade. Lots of Win 10 PCs on sale all over the place as retailers transition to Win 11 machines. I bought a new Win10 laptop about 3 months ago, came with free upgrade to WIn11 (which I HATE!)

Or have a look at Linux. Maybe set up a dual O/S boot.
.
.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I've been letting Brave update, and a few days ago "Allow Scripts Once" quit working correctly (on win 7). I don't let Firefox do any updates. I will resist win 10 or 11 as long as I can. I run linux on the laptop but I have to stay with win on the desktop because of a couple of win-only apps.

 

[Ash_Williams]

My linux box is mostly pre-2008 hardware with a CPU upgrade, extra stick of RAM, and an SSD. Still works smoother than any windows 10 machine.

 

[Bottom Feeder]

or is it just me?

Its just you

win7 and chrome here
workin ok
they don't do updates on win7 no more eoc

Time to move to linux

BF

 

[Voodoo]

I've been letting Brave update, and a few days ago "Allow Scripts Once" quit working correctly (on win 7). I don't let Firefox do any updates. I will resist win 10 or 11 as long as I can. I run linux on the laptop but I have to stay with win on the desktop because of a couple of win-only apps.

That's only 3 versions and Windows 10 is as damn far as they are getting. It will be a cold day in hell when I use 11.

 

[ErrosionOfAccord]

They still do updates. I think it's largely virus related updates to keep MS as a whole looking solid. Like jello is solid. Mine updated fairly recently.

As to 10, not really interested and trying to avoid. Have used it at work. I manage but dislike it.

As to Linux, I think high end systems are hard to find drivers for. That's been my experience. Granted this is a 2009 laptop but it was very high end back then. It's an MSI and has been the best computer I've ever owned.

 

[RebelYell]

I run three browsers. Chrome is wide open and is used for the rare visit to online retailers.
Firefox is largely email and a backup to Brave.
Brave is somewhat locked down and ad free. I use it for my general browsing on most days.

I went to check my mail with Firefox, clicked the link, the loading dodad came up for a second then nothing. Alt,Ctrl, Del, and it's not in the list. It's as though the shortcut is dead. I moved on to try Chrome and got the same thing. WTF? Then I restarted the computer and got the same results. Deleted the broken browsers and reinstalled and they are still broken.

At least I still have brave but, this may be the oddest thing I've had happen on a computer for quite some time. Anyone else with an old operating system experiencing this or is it just me?

I am not having this problem. Did you take an update for the browsers and/or windows?

 

[ErrosionOfAccord]

I think the browsers update automatically in the background so I wouldn't know.

Pretty sure the See Eye Aye is on to me because they are back to working today. Weirdest thing I've ever seen happen on a computer since I started messing with them in '95.

 

[the_shootist]

Linux desktop has come a long way in the last few years. Those who remain skeptical and haven't revisited the topic during that time are doing themselves a disservice. Linux is much better than Windows IMHO and it's all free to use with no restrictions.

 

[MrLucky]

I have Win 7 with FF and this weekend when I turned on the computer I had no problems. I will say this. If you run FF, export your favorites to a file for safekeeping. When I ran FF they apparently changed their update procedure as it deleted all my bookmarks. I had to import them from a file I had made a few months earlier. Got most of them, but not all.

I have resisted moving to Win10, even though it is 4 versions old, as I have some programs that may not run in 10. I'll probably have to bite the bullet at some point, buy a Win10 [11?] machine and run 2 computers eventually.

 

[DodgebyDave]

Win 7 ultimate, will never use 8 +

 

[RebelYell]

I think the browsers update automatically in the background so I wouldn't know.

I'm pretty sure you can control this and set them so they don't update without permission.

 

[RebelYell]

Win 7 ultimate, will never use 8 +

The trouble is more and more software no longer works on win7. Turbotax is the really anoying one.

 

[the_shootist]

The trouble is more and more software no longer works on win7. Turbotax is the really anoying one.

I've already told Mrs Shootist that she had better prepare to be off Windows 7 soon for that reason. I'm not putting her on Win10 or any other MSFT OS. WIN10 is a nightmare security-wize (like swiss cheese), like all their other previous versions of crap OS

 

[RebelYell]

I've already told Mrs Shootist that she had better prepare to be off Windows 7 soon for that reason. I'm not putting her on Win10 or any other MSFT OS. WIN10 is a nightmare security-wize (like swiss cheese), like all their other previous versions of crap OS

I just put win10 on an old laptop that I now use for turbotax and nothing else.

 

[Bottom Feeder]

I just put win10 on an old laptop that I now use for turbotax and nothing else.

ditto that
BF

 

[Casey Jones]

I have not had this problem...with Windoze. I never had a Windoze version long enough...I had 2000 for six years, and then used XP for a few years until I learned Linux.

But I HAVE had two stealth "updates" that rendered part or all of the OS inoperative. This was with Ubuntu...which I'm convinced is not the best Linux version out there. When it's time to reformat and reload, I'll try Mint.

But the real killer...was with an older HP netbook that I'd gotten cheap at a pawn shop. I loaded Ubuntu in it, and even with that pathetic Atom processor, it worked fine.

Until I had an update. Because I was going traveling and wanted all my wireless drivers to be up to date, and not have to worry about having to do an update when away from an Ethernet cable.

Once the update had worked through, and I rebooted as the machine told me...the whole thing was useless. Slowed to an amazing crawl. I mean, just OPENING a file. Nothing would play. I could barely look at indices, everything was so slow.

I dug out an old flash drive, reloaded the original Ubuntu 14 on it...and, wonder of wonders. Everything worked.

Except, now, web pages, most wi-fi connections...this event was three years ago. I keep the machine around for one specific purpose, use it once a month...it's valueless on the secondhand market. But yeah. Programmed to self-destruct.

Since Ubuntu has moved to working closely with Microsoft and Google (they forced an update that took away an easy way to capture Ewe Toob vids...just forced it on me, no asking "Do you wish to continue?" No mistake - for one thing, when it happened, was when I was booting, and I saw it go into Update mode before even opening. And when it did, I'd lost the capture ability in the TEMP file.

So...surely Microsquish is doing the same stuff, now.

So that's THREE OSs you don't want. OSX, and Windoze, and Ubuntu.

 

[tigerwillow1]

What do you do when you have a necessary app that runs only on windows, and doesn't run with wine? Running windows in a VM under linux could be a compromise, but to do this you have to buy a ~$100 activation key, even if the host machine already has one. Has so far been a catch-22 for me.

 

[Casey Jones]

What do you do when you have a necessary app that runs only on windows, and doesn't run with wine? Running windows in a VM under linux could be a compromise, but to do this you have to buy a ~$100 activation key, even if the host machine already has one. Has so far been a catch-22 for me.

Have you tried a dual-boot system? Have Windoze on one partition, and Linux on another.

 

[tigerwillow1]

Have you tried a dual-boot system?

I run dual boot on the laptop and rarely boot into windows. On the desktop, I use 2 win-only apps frequently, and dual boot would be a headache.

 

[the_shootist]

~$100 activation key

People actually pay for those?

 

[ttazzman]

I still run w7 and had no issues with firefox.....kids got me a w11 laptop with chrome for cmas I will try to migrate to over a while

 

[wastrel]

The trouble is more and more software no longer works on win7. Turbotax is the really anoying one.

TurboTax does the same thing on the Mac side too. Had to update my Mac laptop from 10.14 (Mojave) to 10.15 (Catalina). They've already indicated that next year they won't even support 10.15. If I didn't do my siblings taxes for them each year, I'd just do it all by hand and mail in the forms.

 

[RebelYell]

The trouble is more and more software no longer works on win7. Turbotax is the really anoying one.

Here is a solution to this:

How to Install TurboTax Deluxe 2021 in Windows 7

How to Install TurboTax Deluxe 2021 in Windows 7. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com

If you buy the cd version, just xcopy the entire disc to a new folder and hexedit setup.exe directly in the new folder and then run from there. Works a charm.

Download a free hex editor here if you don't have one:

Free Hex Editor: Fastest Binary File Editing Software. Freeware. Windows

HHD Free Hex Editor is a fastest binary file editing software for Windows. Using this freeware hex editor you'll be able to edit extremely large files/dumps of raw data and try advanced functions: search/replace data incl. RegExp, disk editor, computer memory editor, checksum/hash calculations...

www.hhdsoftware.com

 

[chieftain]

It looks like the user profiles on both browsers have been corrupted. There's a way to delete the user profile for each browser (Firefox is easy, Chrome is properly stupid).

Firefox:

Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles | Firefox Help

Firefox stores your personal information and settings in a profile folder. Learn to work with different profiles on Firefox.

support.mozilla.org

Chrome:

Remove a Google Chrome Profile (The Quick Way!)

Google Chrome power users likely make use of profiles to manage various browsing contexts. Learn how to delete or remove unused Google Chrome profiles.

howchoo.com

 

[hammerhead]

properly stupid

LOL. Stolen.