Video Playback Freezing and Slowing, Gets Worse Over Time

Hey guys, I have a bit of an odd problem that I can't seem to find a solution to so I hope you can help me out. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

So I have a laptop that runs Windows 10. I just bought it as a thing to take to college about two years ago and then I have my main computer back home. It's really cheap and I definitely don't expect it to be able to do anything really intensive, but it's always played video just fine.

Recently, I was watching a YouTube video and the video began freezing and buffering as if the internet connection was cutting out, which it wasn't. The audio will cut out and the video moves sluggishly like the computer is struggling to play it. I can check Task Manager and I see that my browser is taking up nearly 90% of my CPU. I'm assuming this is what's causing the slowdown.

So here's the weird thing.

I switch to a different browser and everything works fine. Videos load and play flawlessly... for about a day or so. Then the same problem occurs just like it did on the old browser.

In addition, I usually go home on the weekends and so my laptop is left unused for a few days, When I come back, for the first day or so, it's back to working fine again. Then, at some point during the week the videos will start freezing and struggling to play and overloading the CPU.

I just find it odd that it seems to fix itself and then come back once I've used it enough.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you very much!

Anyone have any ideas?

Please install all available important Windows updates, you can check and install Windows updates by opening "Start Menu --> Control Panel --> Windows Update" applet and click "Check for updates".


Secunia PSI is a tool that can be used to monitor your installed applications for new updates. When started, Secunia PSI will scan your computer for applications and install any updates that are available for them. This allows your computer to remain secure from possible vulnerabilities in your installed programs.

Make sure to keep your antivirus software up to date.

Visit your laptop manufacturer website to download and install latest versions of all device drivers including graphic card driver.

Start your web browser in safe mode with add-ons disabled to find out if any one of the add-ons causing the problem.

Lets scan your computer for malware infections:

Malwarebytes' scanner
If this program is already installed: Skip the installation and run only the scan!
Download and install: Please download Malwarebytes' scanner to your desktop.

• Double-click mb3-setup-consumer-3.x.x.xxxx and follow the prompts to install the program.
• Click Finish.
• On the Dashboard, click the 'Check for Updates' button.
• After the update completes, click the 'Scan Now' button.
• A Threat Scan will begin. Please allow it to progress through the scanning process.
• When the scan is complete, if there have been detections, click Quarantines Selected button to allow the program to clean what was detected.
• In most cases, a restart will be required.
• Wait for the prompt to restart the computer to appear, then click on Yes.

How to get logs: (Export log to save as txt)

• After the restart once you are back at your desktop, open Malwarebytes once more.
• Click on the Reports tab > Scan Report. (if you have done more than one scan in the past, select the most recent that shows the Date and time of the scan just performed. Press View Report button.
• Click 'Export'.
• Click 'Text file (*.txt)'
• In the Save File dialog box which appears, click on Desktop.
• In the File name: box type a name for your scan log.
• A message box named 'File Saved' should appear stating "Your file has been successfully exported".
• Click Ok
• Find the log on your Desktop and Attach that saved log to your next reply.

(Copy to clipboard for pasting into forum replies or tickets)



Download the right Windows bit version (32-bit or 64-bit) of RogueKiller

• Quit all running programs
• Once done, move the executable file to your Desktop, right-click on it and select Run as Administrator (for Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 users)
• If the program is blocked, do not hesitate to try several times. If it really does not work (it could happen), rename it to winlogon.exe
• Click on the Start Scan button in the right panel, which will bring you to another tab, and click on it again (this time it'll be in the bottom right corner)
• Wait for the scan to complete
• On completion, the results will be displayed. Click on the Open Report button in the bottom left corner, followed by the Open TXT button (also in the bottom left corner)
• This will open the report in Notepad. Copy/paste its content in your next reply

Please download Malwarebytes' AdwCleaner onto your Desktop.

• Double click on AdwCleaner_xxxx.exe to run the tool.
• Click on Scan.
• After done scanning, please hit Logfile. Locate the logfile in the Scan tab, double-click on it, copy the information inside of it, and paste it into your next reply.
• You can find the logfile at C:\AdwCleaner[Sx].txt as well.

Hey, thanks for the reply. Sorry for taking so long to get back to this.

I went ahead and updated Windows and checked for diver updates as well. Malwarebytes didn't find anything but Rogue only found a few minor things that I deleted.

Unfortunately, the problem still persists.