Windows 7 Media player causing lockups

[tom the unappreciated]

Guys - I am not a technical user so this description will lack some detail, I ran into a problem and thought I would post here for suggestions.

My machine recently started locking up when browsing. (Toshiba laptop running windows 7 that I have owned for about a year since new) I ran all the tools I could figure. I did a disk check, a virus scan (Kaspersky) , Kaspersky vulnerability scan, checked software level,s missing patches, deinstalled flash and every other thing I could think of. It still glitched and these were hard glitches. Machine became unresponsive to keyboard input. I was forced into a hard reset more than once.

When this occurred I was only browsing. No other apps open.

Last time this happened I was able to launch the task manager. I saw that media player media synch or service or something (this is the detail I dont remember) was using >20% of the computer cpu and had gobbled lots of space and was growing. I was not synching I had not using Media player since the hard reboot. I ended the piggish process but it kept coming back. I wondered if this were a virus in in disguise so I finally removed Media player. Problem solved, sort of. No more glitches but clearly something happened recently that caused media player service to misbehave.

2 QUESTIONS: If I reinstall media player will it inherit the settings that caused the problem? If so, how can I reset or wipe out those settings to avoid the problem.

 

[Twinnii]

I would scan for malware. Go to download.com and look for
Spybot - Search & Destroy from Link Removed and a program called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - From Link Removed.

1st thing. Install and grab updates for both programs. When updates are up-to-date, Disconnect from Internet and then Run the programs. I use AVG usually, but Symantec is probably the best out there; Probably.

Disable your wireless if you have to.

Also, you can run sfc /scannow - runs an integrity check on system files
To do so, click start and in the Run box type cmd and right click on the Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
I usually disable the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service by right clicking on My Computer --> Manage --> Services and go all the way down.
I don't use Windows Media Player, but if you have a big library in Windows Media Player, then that could be the issue. Please do these and let us know what happens.

 

[brkkab]

Also, go to Toshiba's support site and get any new driver's for your laptop. Also get any sound/lan driver's from Realtek if your laptop use's anything from Realtek. Also install updated versions of Java, Flash/Shockwave Player and Silverlight.

 

[tom the unappreciated]

Twinnii. I ran SFC first. No integrity problems found. While that was running I installed and updated spybot and malwarebytes. Ran malwarebytes first - no issues. Next ran spybot and it found things but they were all flagged green. Most were flash player artifacts of some sort. I had the software "fix"" these

brkkab - I do run the toshiba service station app about every week just to check for driver updates. It has never found one. Toshiba does not seem to update their drivers or the update application sucks. I also check Java, flash and shockwave versions regularly as part of firefox plugin check. I dont do anything special with silverlight. I am not even sure I have silverlight. I will check.

 

[tom the unappreciated]

I do have silverlight and version is current.

 

[brkkab]

Go to Toshiba's website and search for the drivers. If the update software is out of date, it most likely won't work properly. You're better off searching for the driver's yourself and not just relying on a program to do it. Also, did you run the malware scan's in Safe Mode ? If you didn't your pc may not be malware free. A lot of malware can be undetectable while Windows is running in normal mode. Also, download and run SUPERAntiSyware free www.SUPERAntiSpyware.com . Spybot is kind of behind the time's, just like Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender are. Behind the times in finding malware.

 

[brkkab]

Also install SecuniaPSI from this link. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

 

[tom the unappreciated]

brkkab - checking drivers took more time than I thought. The toshiba web site does not make it easy. I found several that needed update. Also found a tool called slimdrivers that found some more. In total believe there were 2 realtek drivers that needed updating. At this point drivers are current. I ran the malwarebytes and superantispyware from safe mode and malwarebytes didnt find anything, superantispyware found tracking cookies but nothing that looks like a malware cause of the original problem. I will try the last one you suggested.

 

[tom the unappreciated]

installed and ran secuniapsi. It found 3 things - 2 adobe type app / plugins plus downlevel thunderbird. Not being an expert its possible that one of the drivers could have been a culprit however I didnt find obvious spyware. This gets me back to original question: If the problem I had was due to some corruption of the media player settings if I reinstall media player will it resurrect the original problem?

 

[brkkab]

Believe it or not, the tracking cookies and the Realtek driver's could've been the issue. Let Secunia PSI install the updates it found. Also try going to The Windows Club and download Fix WMP from this link http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-windows-media-player-with-fix-wmp-utility. Here's a link of all there free windows utilities http://www.thewindowsclub.com/list-freeware-releases-from-the-windows-clubutility

 

[tom the unappreciated]

Unfortunately when I put WMP back in the machine is still freezing up. None of the diagnostics helped. I am going to try to download and reinstall WMP and see if that does the trick. If not - well -I will do something more drastic. I have been wanting to try an SSD and this may be the time. I hate doing a rebuild but with this thing is behaving so poorly I am suspicious that some where I caught something. I cant continue to use this while suspecting it has been compromised. I could rebuild the HD but if I am going to go through the pain of a rebuild I may as well upgrade my drive.

 

[davidhk129]

@ tom the unappreciated,
Windows Media Player 12 is part of the Win 7 operating system.
You cannot "download" another copy. The system will not accept it.
The only so called " uninstall/reinstall" WMP is go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Features On or Off > expand Media Features > UN-check the box in front of Windows Media Player > OK
Then reboot > repeat the procedures except check the box in front of Windows Media Player > OK

Perhaps you would want to try using VLC.
It is free. It plays almost all types of audio and video formats. You won't have to worry about codec issue.
VLC media player is widely used.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

[Twinnii]

Also, did you try disabling the service as stated above. Try that and make sure the service is stopped and disabled. Restart and see how the computer operates. Also, Click start and type in msconfig. Select the startup tab and uncheck items that you don't want to start when Windows boots up. Also look out for suspicious items also. Also, did you run an anti-virus scan.
SSD drives are faster obviously more expensive. Just check out reviews of one you are interested in and to see what others are saying about it.