Google Chrome or the Laptop?

[Tiger Carson]

I've been having some computer issues for a while now.  And I think it might be Google Chrome behind it, but I want to make sure.

Ok, so sometimes, when I have chrome and firefox active at the same time(Chrome plays youtube vids better than Firefox), Chrome will straight up freeze.  To the extent I can't shut it down normally.  So I go to task manager, and I try to end the process tree as it's called.  Now, doing this with anything else will close the whole tree.  But when Google Chrome is this fubar, doing so only closes the process I clicked.  Not the entire tree.  I continue this until I reach one process that does the whole thing, except for one.  And when I try to end that one, no dice.  It doesn't work, no matter how much I click it.

Here's the thing, firefox closes and reopens fine.  It won't load sites when Chrome is fubar, but it will shut down properly.  Also strange?  My IMs work fine, no issue.  winamp streams fine too, like nothing is wrong.  Also, I can shut down my computer fine, without doing the force shut down.  This also closes out Chrome(No idea why task manager doesn't), so obviously to get Chrome to shut down and allow me to browse freely, I have to restart the computer.

Now, knowing all of this, can anyone who's a tech wizard tell me if it's my computer?  Or is it Google Chrome?  If it is Chrome, what can I do to fix it?  I know if it's the computer, I have but one or two options. (At this point, replacing the computer is cheaper than having it repaired, especially since it's over 10 years old now.)

[Arashikage]

That's 100% impossible.  There is no way your OS can be updated and turn into 64 bit from 32 bit, as MK has said. 

I recommend a power wash.  Not a literal one mind you, but just remove all the stuff that's likely taking up unnecessary space.  Clean out the registry, and maybe reinstall your drivers.  There's a tool called CCleaner by Piriform that should help you do all of that.  You might have bad cookies or something of the like.

[Sideways]

 

 Clean out the registry

Be careful when messing with your registry, as you could easily do more harm then good. Use a program like what @Arashikage recommended rather then trying to just delete things.

[MKGirlism]

Did you already try to uninstall/reinstall Chrome?
Another thing you can try, provide us a screenshot of the chrome://extensions/ page, to verify if you don't have any suspicious extensions installed.
If all doesn't work, you could give another Chrome-based browser a try, like Chromium (supports extensions perfectly fine, and has no Google telemetry, but unless you're using Linux, updating it can be a nightmare).

[Arashikage]

It sounds like a weird Chrome thing screwing over your browsers.  I'd suggest just using Firefox for youtube anyway and installing the Magic Actions for Youtube extension on Firefox since it's a better browser overall.  Though to better figure out what the issue might be, I'm gonna need to know what kind of a laptop you have and what its specs are.

[Tiger Carson]

I'm too scared to go into Chrome at the moment, and I haven't tried to reinstall it either.  I guess I could give that a try later...  As for Chromium, yeah, that's not gonna work since I use Windows 7 currently.

As for the laptop, it's a Toshiba, though I'm not sure of the model precisely...  It might be the Satellite model, since that's the word under the CTRL button on the left side of my keyboard.

Specs wise, it's being sent to you via PM Arashikage.  I don't feel comfortable saying all of that detailed info publicly.

[Sideways]

Something to point out is that Chrome uses multiple processes. Each plugin has it's own process, as well as each tab (unless it's the same domain), as well as any extensions. That way if a web app or plugin crashes, it doesn't crash your whole browser.

[Tiger Carson]

Well, so much for thinking Chrome was behind it...  The issue happened again, and I didn't even have Chrome going.  That means it is the computer...  Joy...  Should also mention, the OS is 64-bit, but the ram is 3 gig...  I think Microsuck forced an update on me that turned my OS from 32-bit to 64-bit.  That might be the actual issue...  Which is just great...  I knew this day had another wonderful surprise for me... /sarcasm

[MKGirlism]

16 minutes ago, Tiger Carson said:

I think Microsuck forced an update on me that turned my OS from 32-bit to 64-bit.

Even with black magic, this is not possible.

You might want to remove garbage you don't need, run a proper anti-virus scanner, or even give Linux a try, if you're not a PC gamer.