Need help with computer problem.

[flatnose]

Running VISTA with chrome, older compaq presario pc.
Never had any previous prblems with this pc, until 1 week ago when this problem started.
If I go to any website, for instance leverguns, and start going through posts, when I load another page, I am getting remnants of the previous page appearing on the new page. For example, there maybe a randomly placed square, or line, or part of a line of text or picture, from the previous page appearing to overlay or sometimes interwoven on the newly selected page.
I have cleared out the cache and history. Plenty of ram is left, Done the microsoft updates, windows up dates and chrome updates. Scanned for viruses. Turned off and on popup blocker. Rebooted several times. Seems ok for about 5 or ten mins, then problem may start again. Hitting F5 refresh cures the problem temporarily.
Is this a driver problem? or what else?
I can reset the computer by going back in time, whatever thats called. I have not tried that yet. Worth a try?

[JohndeFresno]

Vista was perhaps the worst O/S ever. I had one, gave it away (embarrassed to sell it).

Suggestions:
1) Defragment the drive - comes with computer

2) Download and run Glary Utilities (free edition, if still available, should work) using the 1-click maintenance feature. I believe the free edition also has an excellent defragger; I know that the paid version does.

3) Replace Chrome (also was problematic at times for me) with another browser. I have decided that Mozilla Firefox is the best, at least for my demands. It's free, of course.

Regardless of which browser you switch to, keep your other browser on the computer, including the bundled Internet Explorer, in case some sites do not allow Firefox to access their traffic. My bank only recently accepted Firefox, but they all accept Internet Explorer. It is not as flexible as Firefox, however.

And maybe some day Chrome will provide an update to fix their various bugs.

4) Reboot and try it out. Hope it solves your problem.

[flatnose]

Many thanks.
It seems that chrome is the problem. I went back to MSIE and the problem has gone.....I hope.
I am running IE 9. Is it worth going to 10? I had stopped using MSIE, because it was very slow, and chrome was about 4 times faster, and initially had no problems with it.
A lot of people disliked vista, but for me its the best operating system I have had. I like it, and its been problem free.
Have windows 7 at the office, but hate that set up, and don't like to use it. Maybe I am getting too old and tired of changes.

[crs]

Glad to hear MS IE is working for you and Chrome is no longer a problem.

Vista did have many problems when first released, but the later versions of Vista and MW IE have run well for me for many years, with the exception of occasional problems with Chrome, which I use only as a backup browser so I can do parallel ops withyut fear of forgetting which image of IE I have been working with. This post is being made on IE under Vista.
I also run W7 on another desktop and others in our company run windows 8. + and 10 on other computers, as well as Linux on other computers (some virtual Linux system run Windows too for apps such as QB).

After many years in the business, our policy is to avoid all new versions of Windows and other operating systems for critical business use (from bids to documentation and programming and customer support) until they are at least two years old and stable. After that, most versions are reliable and little trouble until MS drops support and upgrades are required. naturally someone in the company (usually a very experienced person) has to try new software, but never me.

[JohndeFresno]

...our policy is to avoid all new versions of Windows and other operating systems for critical business use (from bids to documentation and programming and customer support) until they are at least two years old and stable. After that, most versions are reliable...

Excellent advice, and I concur.

The latest exception, trying and loving Win 10 in its early stages, was only done after I backed up all my data and created a complete drive image to a couple of external hard drives.

[JohndeFresno]

...our policy is to avoid all new versions of Windows and other operating systems for critical business use (from bids to documentation and programming and customer support) until they are at least two years old and stable. After that, most versions are reliable...

Excellent advice, and I concur.

The latest exception, trying and loving Win 10 in its early stages, was only done after I backed up all my data and created a separate complete drive image to a couple of external hard drives.

And I wouldn't do that if I was still in "the industry" with ongoing daily mission-critical data flow.

[Blaine]

I was going to say graphics card. I'm surprised to hear Chrome is a problem as it solved the problems I was having with Safari....

[Grizz]

that's exactly what I thought and it may still be if the version of chrome is asking the graphics chip to do something it isn't prepared to do.

the other hardware possibility is ram if it's used as part of the graphics ops; but it doesn't seem like hardware if the browser switch resolved it.

[flatnose]

I did a little more research on the problem. Other users have a similar if not the same problem, and they claim it has started within the last week. The cure for them, was to switch off hardware acceleration. I attempted to do the same by following online instructions, but do not have the feature to be able to disable the hardware acceleration within Vista.
I may try a new reload of chrome, and may as well try firefox as well.
Best feature of chrome was its free and has an ad blocker.

[flatnose]

I forgot, there is also another problem which started about 3 weeks ago which I also attribute to chrome. When viewing post here at leverguns, if I click on a link within a post, then return to the post, all the text is missing. The posters name remains, and the box for the text is there.
I have to log out and log back in, then all is normal.
I also like to avoid new versions of anything before its been tested, thats why I am still running vista Still have a windows 95 machine, I wonder if that will still work on the internet with todays technology?

[JohndeFresno]

Best feature of chrome was its free and has an ad blocker.

Same-o same-o Firefox. There are various add-ons, also free.

As for Chrome interfacing properly with your card, hardware acceleration, etc:
The fact probably remains that Chrome has not kept up with the various patches that other browsers have had to deal with - it's a back and forth thing between patches (for security, frequently) and other products trying to use a module that has now been blocked or changed.

In using Camtasia Studio 8 just this last week to produce a family slide and photo video, I had to turn off the "Hardware Acceleration" switch within that product to make the final product. Something that I did not have to do just a couple of months before, so I attribute that to new patches. No problem, it created a perfect video after that, which is viewable on my notebook or on the TV's DVD player.

But if you turn off hardware acceleration from within your system, I learned from another user, you may not be able to view a DVD video disc on your computer. This is stretching my technical training, but I think I have stated it correctly.

So - it comes back to an easier solution, I believe:
Given whatever anomalies or "undocumented features" (as we used to say) that your setup has, if a particular product does not function properly, use another product. Try not to twiddle with your computer's setup.

As I recall, I had more than one problem with Chrome over the years, so I never use it at all anymore. In a phrase, "they" just don't seem to "have it together." They don't seem to be able to stay up with the various changes that affect the Operating Systems that the browser tries to service. Too many things to worry about, from where I stand, to be their beta tester.

[flatnose]

Thanks John,
I will install firefox tonight and give that a try.

[PriseDeFer]

Have Vista on this machine, disable Aero and a bunch of other stuff and it runs just fine. You disable hardware acceleration in the browser, not in Vista. I don't have Chrome but do have Chromium and can go to Settings>>Advanced>>System and find the checkbox for hardware acceleration. No joy with that then you could uninstall Chrome then reinstall it. Still bad and you can do the System Restore, it will give you a choice of previous states to get back to (wouldn't that be nice), pick one that is BEFORE you noticed the problem and follow the simple instructions without fail.

[flatnose]

Have Vista on this machine, disable Aero and a bunch of other stuff and it runs just fine. You disable hardware acceleration in the browser, not in Vista. I don't have Chrome but do have Chromium and can go to Settings>>Advanced>>System and find the checkbox for hardware acceleration. No joy with that then you could uninstall Chrome then reinstall it. Still bad and you can do the System Restore, it will give you a choice of previous states to get back to (wouldn't that be nice), pick one that is BEFORE you noticed the problem and follow the simple instructions without fail.

Thank you. I did find the hardware acceleration in the browser, and disabled it a few days ago. The problem did return when using chrome, but I am fine when using MSIE. I am going to try the system restore and see if that makes a difference.