Browser keeps crashing/closing unexpectedly

Hey everyone,

So, about three or four days ago, I started dealing with this incredibly weird glitch. Basically, about 10 minutes after I boot up my laptop, every single one of my browsers just... dies. Safari, Chrome, Firefox—you name it, they all quit on me. I’ll be right in the middle of something using Chrome (which is my go-to), and suddenly, I try to type in a URL and absolutely nothing happens. It's like the keyboard isn't even talking to the app anymore. Same thing if I open a new tab and try to click one of my bookmarks. It’s happening across the board in every browser I own.

If I do a full restart, everything works perfectly fine again for those first 10 minutes before the whole mess repeats itself.

Just to be clear, my connection is definitely active. Other stuff that needs the internet is working flawlessly—like Windows updates, Steam, or my firewall updates. Everything else connects just fine; it's strictly the browsers that refuse to cooperate.

I've been scouring the web trying to find a fix, but honestly, none of the stuff I'm finding really matches what's going on with my machine.

I'm running Windows 11 (just installed it about two weeks ago). I also have ExpressVPN and Norton running, but I already tried disabling both of them to see if they were the culprits, and it made zero difference.

Has anyone else run into something like this, or does anyone actually have a solution for this nightmare?

Thanks...

Sent from my iPhone 12 via Reddit

quietfalcon3 said:Sir,

About three or four days ago, I started encountering a highly unusual issue. After roughly ten minutes of having my laptop powered on, every single one of my browsers—Safari, Chrome, and Firefox—simply ceases to function. I will be working normally, and then suddenly, when I attempt to type a URL into Chrome, which is my primary browser, absolutely nothing happens. Even if I open a new tab and try to click on one of my favorites, there is zero response. This exact same failure occurs across all other browsers as well.

If I restart the laptop, everything works perfectly again for those initial ten minutes before the problem repeats itself.

Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue, or does anyone have a definitive solution for this situation?

There are already several threads discussing this specific issue, but to summarize: it is highly probable that some network process (.dll/.exe) or perhaps the Windows firewall is malfunctioning due to a buggy update. Without being able to diagnose it blindly, my immediate recommendation is that once you boot up your laptop, you should use Firefox as your sole browser and ignore all others until further notice. Do not even attempt to launch the others.

If things don't improve... well, I suppose you'll just have to find another way to get online, perhaps using an iPhone 12, while we wait for Microsoft to resolve this mess in a future update.

Thanks for the reply!

I saw a thread about this somewhere else, but it didn't look quite the same thing. I'll dig around for more info.

Basically, the whole mess started right after I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. So yeah, there's definitely our culprit.

I spent all day yesterday cycling through every fix I could find online, but honestly? Nothing worked. Total waste of time.

For now, I’m just gonna boot up my laptop and stick strictly to Firefox until this gets sorted. Hopefully, this "emergency" workaround holds up until a real fix drops, like you mentioned.

Thanks again. Fingers crossed this actually works...

BTW, can you explain that part about Xiaomi? I didn't really follow what you meant there...

Sent from my iPhone 12 using Reddit

quietfalcon3 said:Thanks for getting back to me!

I spotted one thread here, but it didn't look quite right to me, so I’ll go hunting for others.

Go ahead, but frankly, I think you're wasting your breath. As I’ve already pointed out elsewhere, Microsoft is effectively killing off Internet Explorer "for good," and in my view, IE was far more than just some outdated browser; it served as the primary distribution mechanism for libraries that all browsers on the Windows platform rely upon. Even if you didn't have it explicitly installed, its components were embedded deep within the very core of Windows.

It’s blindingly obvious... they botched something during that migration from IE to Safari, and instead of conducting proper beta testing, they just shoved it onto Windows 11 users via a standard update.

The distinction here is that your issue involves browsers working fine for ten minutes before crashing, whereas in my estimation, this kind of failure can only be caused by a firewall, a rogue .js file, or perhaps a graphical .dll stuck in a locked state. It is highly improbable that every single browser would suddenly fail simultaneously on a Windows system.

This doesn't necessarily plague every Windows 11 user, but I would wager it's isolated to a specific series of graphics cards. I am merely making a logical deduction, given that browsers are incredibly graphically intensive applications.

By the way, could you clarify what you meant regarding Xiaomi? I didn't quite follow that...

What I meant to say is that until the next Windows update rolls out, the only browser that will actually be functional or accessible is whatever you have running on your phone, sorry. 😁

Internet Explorer was actually perfect for its specific purpose: it served as a Microsoft tool meant for one-time use, letting you get set up and download a real browser right after installing Windows...