Margie,
My name is Jon and I just want to offer you some of my personal insight from 30 years within the IT industry (that's if you count the years I bought my first CoCo from Tandy when I was 13). One thing I've learned about the IT industry in general, and in your case in specific, is that OUR job, is 95% listening to what others have to say, and 5% doing/helping.
The internet can often be rife with deadends or less than meaningful/helpful mishmosh when you could use meaningful advice. From what I've gleaned from your situation, you're a very casual computer user in that you don't engage in hardcore computing tasks. With this in mind some things you may want to know if you don't already:
When it comes to remote troubleshooting, giving more info is never enough. What I mean by that is, for example, what kind of computer? What is the processor?
How much memory does it have?
Who is the manufacturer?
How long have you had it?
Also knowing how you can find these somewhat rudimentary answers can be extremely helpful to those attempting to help you.
For instance, let's say for argument sake you have Windows 10 (which, due to the forum name itself one would hope you do) and someone asks you some of those questions....well it used to be a lot more difficult as some information was more buried than others. Now, however, the Action Center (bottom right near the clock and when hovered over says 'new notifications') can be your best friend. Simply clicking on the Action center, going to All Settings, then to System and finally to About will display to you some extremely useful information about your computer.
Whether you're in a Workgroup or a Domain
The exact Windows 10 version (Home, Professional, Enterprise, etc)
The Operating System Build, which can be paramount if you possibly haven't received necessary updates.
What Processor you have.
How much installed RAM you have.
Whether you're running a 32-Bit or 64-Bit version of the Operating system.
Information of this nature can be invaluable during troubleshooting, and there are other applications built into Windows that will go into even greater detail for this very reason. Often a problem, when it comes to undesirable operating speeds are myriad and multi-leveled and relegating it to simply a 'browser that sucks' or 'malware' in my experience more times than not is disingenuous.
*MY* personal instincts, from what I've read that you said in other posts, is that you have anti-virus engines fighting against each other, for starters. Windows 10, by default turns on Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. Yet, you mentioned that you had installed Norton Anti-Virus. I think you'd be amazed how double the protection (as mindset) in fact, does exactly the opposite of what you would imagine it to do. While Windows security suite CAN be set up to monitor 3rd party anti-virus and firewall solutions, most casual users don't understand why they should opt for one over the other, or, more poignantly PROBABLY just stick with what's already built into the OS and is free.
Secondly I noticed that you said you play your 'Flash' games in IE11 (or attempt to until it crashes) but find it an arduous task in Edge. This is where you start from the small and work toward the large....the best troubleshooters in the world will tell you that's the only way to proceed. It's also where things get a little more tricky. What type of games are they? Are they GPU intensive (ie., does the graphics card need to play a huge role in physics processing in the games?) which immediately leads one to question some other things: What type of Video card do you have, what speed is your internet connection, and when was (if ever) the last time you updated the drivers for the video card? Or, are the games not so much GPU intensive, say for instance along the lines of Solitaire. I'm not asking for specifics, simply trying to give you an insight as to why things are more often than not, a little deeper than simply switching what browser you use. Also, the world is moving toward everyone implementing HTML5 and trying to get away from the ActiveX, Common Object Model, Plugin world as they are absolutely playgrounds for hackers and all forms of nefarious activity.
Honestly, and I suggest this to anyone I EVER run across who it seems struggles with PC questions, that you make the effort to familiarize yourself with some of the more helpful diagnostic utilities that are built into Windows (and most other popular OS'es) to make your digital life a bit easier on yourself. If you were right in front of me and we were having this conversation and you asked me for a short list:
DXDIAG
MSCONFIG
(The aforementioned) Action Center Information
NETSTAT
Those 4 things alone can provide a WEALTH of information not only to a potential troubleshooter, but to you also.
I also noted that you said you upgraded (presumably from Windows 7 or 8 platform?)...if you DO have a virus (at this point without diagnostic dumps I would be short to believe you necessarily do) likely you had it before the upgrade and it simply persists. Trust me on this one, that some viruses dig themselves SO deep into an operating system, that the best course of action is formatting the hard drive and clean installing the operating system. However, that isn't always feasible and sometimes you just need a powerful solution before taking what I call the Final Countdown. There is a utility (that CAN BE DANGEROUS if you don't know what you're doing or don't pay CLOSE attention to how to use it) called COMBOFIX, you can google it, that can work wonders on deeply embedded viruses....but PLEASE be warned it CAN be dangerous and I DO NOT recommend it if you don't have backups, don't know what you're doing or simply have a propensity to NOT FOCUS AND FOLLOW directions as it can leave you with no CHOICE but to load the Operating System from scratch under less than a controlled situation (ie., you have no backup of important documents or files or software that is simply irrecoverable).
Sorry for the wall of text and in summary I have to say that I think EDGE is a fantastic browser, it snaps...it's just FAST, and if you have to take some pains to get to a point that everything is operating the way you need it to, then take those pains....it's worth it in the long-run. Good luck I wish you all the best!
Jon
Quote