All browsers keep crashing on windows 10

[phynix_uk]

All browsers keep crashing on windows 10. Normally just after the page has loaded or during.

It's a reasonably new laptop so has lots of storage and low RAM usage. I've ensured all browsers are updated, cache/cookies cleared as advised by a lot of websites but the problem keeps persisting. 

In a separate issue, the latest windows update will not install, I am unsure if this is related or not.  Every time I update and install the blue screen of death appears at the install part. It then removes the updates and restarts.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[WAWood]

@phynix_uk 

All browsers -- now that IS odd! 

Have you tried all of these: New Edge (which is really Chromium), Chrome, Chromium (NOT the same as Chrome), FireFox, WaterFox, Opera.  

While these have different vendors and some even use the same code base (e.g., New Edge and Chromium) what they DO have in common is that they write the temporary files to your internal drive as they are downloading the components to each web page.  So if ALL of them crash, and pretty much when you first try to go to a site, that implies a drive issue.

Windows Update would have the same problems, as it also writes temporary files to the drive.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) Press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.

[phynix_uk]

Hi WAWood,

Thanks for your reply, very much appreciated.

I've followed your link but it explains that a test on the drive doesn't work for SSD which my laptop has. 

I posted on the Microsoft forum and somebody suggested removing the virus protection i had installed (Kaspersky) and it seemed to work for a day but now it's crashing again. 

The only external programs I have installed are Keeper Password Manager and Express VPN. Even when I deactivate them the browsers still crash.

I'll happily use another browser but it feels like a work around and not a solution.

Do you have any other thoughts or ideas?

[WAWood]

@phynix_uk 

I don't use Kaspersky but I do know that some browsers (like Edge) automatically lock you out of websites THEY consider to be malware -- even if that is not the case.  And if you disable the AV product you have, then Windows Defender kicks in and that is so bad that I have gone to great lengths to disable it as much as I can on all my PCs.

When you say the browsers crash when the page is loading, is that as soon as you open the browser, or when you go to a website?  Try going into the browser and looking for an option that disables it from going to a website when you first open it but gives you a blank page instead.

Also, I know that Opera can crash if you have hardware acceleration enabled in the video settings for it -- which is a real pain to fix -- but my other browsers (Chromium, new Edge, FireFox, WaterFox) did not run into the same issues.