New Acer Aspire Desktop: problems. Help? Suggestions?

by catmum Apr 15, 2018 10:06AM PDT

Hi. I got a Desktop Acer Aspire ATC-710-ES61 at the end of Novemember 2017. I got it to replace the Acer Veriton Desktop that had become unresponsive (sent it away for repair under warranty) and had been problematic from the first week I'd had it. Looking back over my notebook, the Acer Aspire has also been problematic since the first week I got it (ie: It's always taken more than one try at double-clicking a file or folder to open it; at least as of Feb1, 2018, it takes several attempts to "grasp" a window box and move it; and any program I have open when I put the computer to sleep is shrunk down to small size when the computer wakes up). This is the first computer I've ever had with Windows 10.
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Anyway, Occasionally when I start up the computer, Chrome (with all the specific tabs I've chosen for it) self-launches with it. This sort of thing was happening from Day One with the last external drive I'd accessed and closed before shutting down the computer, but that stopped. A different forum that I'd posted in said that it was the power surge of the computer starting up that was causing that last drive to open. But that wouldn't explain why eventually, that behavior stopped. When the external drives stopped self-launching on Startup, Chrome started self-launching in their place.

On the 22rd of Feb, I took a screenshot and put it in Paint. Before I could save it, Paint suddenly closed. The next day, 23rd of Feb, when I started up the computer, Paint launched itself with the lost screenshot which was now titled "Untitled (recovered)".

Yesterday I burned some files to a blank CD. The box came up that asked me if I wanted to use the cd as a USB/Flash drive, or in a CD/DVD drive. I clicked on the link "Which do I choose?", which added a tab to my Chrome browser for Windows Help. The question wasn't actually even answered there, so I closed that tab.
At the end of the night I closed the computer as usual (close any open programs, then click "shut down"). When I started the computer this morning, Chrome opened up with it with just that Windows Help page tab.

I don't know if these are Windows 10 things, or Acer things, or yet another faulty computer. Possibly an Acer Aspire thing as it never happened with the Veriton, although the Veriton was full of bugs from the start. The technician at the store I bought the computer tells me that stuff like this can happen when occasionally a computer is sold with a bad hard drive. But both the Acer computers have been problematic from Day One. Are Acer computers just being made with bad hard drives?

Whenever something like this happens, alarm bells go off because I really rely on my computer for communication. I have my VoIP that relies on it (no cell phone) plus almost everything I do relies on email. I have the Veriton to use if I send the Aspire for warranty Repair, but I haven't tried out the Veriton since it came back, so I don't actually know if the motherboard replacement they did actually solved it's problems. The problem might have been the hard drive! I might be out of a computer and a phone while the Acer is being investigated!

Should I have it sent for Warranty Repair? Or are these things nothing to worry about? Or is there an easy-to-understand quick-fix for them?

Windows Defender is active and updated, I use Emsisoft Anti-Malware. According to scans, the computer is malware free.

So, everyone who's looked at this, thank-you for taking the time for reading the long post. I hope you've been able to pick out the problems and questions without too much trouble. I've gotten some responses from some brilliant people when I've asked a question on this forum, before, so I'm hoping that I can find that kind of great advice, here, again.

Thank-you.

Post was last edited on April 15, 2018 10:08 AM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Windows and Associations

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 18, 2018 9:51AM PDT

Is something that is decades old. When you set your browser choice, what Windows did was "associate" URL, HTML, HTM files to your choice of browser.

In rare cases where I couldn't find what was launching the browser I would purposely change the association to nothing so that if an app tried I would either get the app to bomb out or pop up more clues.

I do not think this is breaking a PC as we can always re-associate as we wish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_association for a start on this feature which appears in Windows 3 about 1992.

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Hmmm

by catmum Apr 18, 2018 2:36PM PDT

In the Wikipedia article that you pointed me towards, it says "The ability to configure advanced file association functionality, however, was removed in Windows Vista and later operating systems." I also get the impression from the Windows section of the article that even if you haven't set a browser as your default, every little thing you do with a browser sets up that association anyway. It looks like there's nothing I can do about associations.

But do you think this continued self-launching of Chrome would destabilize the computer over time?

Thank-you.

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I see that more is required.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 18, 2018 3:14PM PDT

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-change-file-associations-in-windows-2624477 covers basic associations so that STILL IS IN W10.

There was a control panel removed and it is still possible to do all the old control offered but using other methods. For this discussion I'm sticking to simple.

As to destabilize I have to answer no. But given you and I can't find what is launching Chrome that means there could be malware behind this. This is not to write it is malware but certainly is annoying.

Grif has a set of scanners that we use when we don't know.
Read http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/how-to-remove-pup-option-603542/#post-f742c795-5881-433b-a29b-6d758efe5cd3

NOTE: BIG NOTE: All the tools Grif listed are free. If you see any item ask for payment then it's likely they changed or you found a bad link.

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It's a Windows 10 problem

by catmum May 11, 2018 11:34AM PDT

Well, I did as suggested and downloaded Mozilla Firefox, and set it as my default browser. All was well for at least 3 weeks. Then a couple of days ago I was using MS Office and clicked on "Help". Default Firefox opened up to a MS Support/Help page. It didn't have any questions or answers even remotely addressing what I was looking for, so I closed the tab and the browser. Next day, when I started up the computer, viola! Firefox self-launched, with a single tab open...the MS Support/Help page.

This is how the self-launching began the first time, too. I'd never had a self-launching browser with computer start-up until I clicked "Help" in MS Office. Clicking that opened up a tab on my default browser (Chrome at the time) to the MS Support/Help page. And the next day, when I started up the computer, Chrome self-launched with that same single tab.

So the moral of the story is: if you're using MS Office, don't click on the "Help" link. That will set up your computer to periodically self-launch whatever browser is your default, upon computer start-up.

I tried asking Microsoft for help with this, but they want to sign me up for a paid service I can't afford for a remote session. The guy I spoke to could barely keep the simple details of the problem straight, and he certainly didn't know anything about how to start addressing it. MS "Support" is clearly just a sales team.

I'm not alone in this happening. Other Windows 10 users are having the same problem. Seems to me that Windows should look into it and include a fix in an update.

Post was last edited on May 11, 2018 11:37 AM PDT

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While folk will balk at this.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator May 11, 2018 11:44AM PDT

Updates are rolling back user preferences. This to me is a small problem but to some a major issue.

One of the nutty problems is when you change the browser and Microsoft's help system uses Edge or IE. I've had to re-associate HTM, HTML to IE to fix the help system then change the browser again as I wish.

But here's the thing. As users become more and more "users" without learning Windows (associations and more) THIS AREA will be called a bug instead of what we used to just dive in and adjust as we please.

New Acer Aspire Desktop: problems. Help? Suggestions?

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