WTF is going on with Google Chrome? Who are Petal and Fritz?

[TheFarSide]

I used to love Google Chrome but over the past couple of months it's gone haywire.

YouTube sound has gone stuttery, pages of some websites are taking ages to load, it's crashing and freezing regularly, and now I have been invaded by gremlins - this evening a head appeared in the top left hand corner and users by the name of Petal and Fritz have been mysteriously created.

I disabled one of the two shockwave plugins and have deleted the invading profiles but problems persist.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I go back to Firefox (which loads pages and plays YouTube absolutely fine) or are there any other decent browsers?

[CajaDeLaMemoria]

I'd run a full virus and malware scan...

Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers now and I use it on everything, but I've never had the issues you've had. Combined with the random log ins it sounds like a virus - be careful with logging in to online banking etc until you are sure your PC isn't infecred!

[TheFarSide]

AVG scans run every day, and I did a full Malware scan a couple of days ago.

[ladyWordy]

I don't think it's anything to do with google chrome :(. You seem to have the symptoms of malware infection.

Unfortunately it's quite possible to have your AV scanner pop up and say 'all clear!' - even as you're being plagued by system slowdowns, browser redirects, mystery popup windows et al.

Try one or more of Malwarebytes, Spybot or Superantispyware until one of them tracks something down and quarantines it. Malwarebytes is the best IMHO. If you already have it, try the others.

This may not solve your problem immediately, but it's a place to start!

• Incidentally, if you have Java running on your machine you should disable or remove it if you can. It's a security risk
  www.howtogeek.com/122934/java-is-insecure-and-awful-its-time-to-disable-it-and-heres-how/
  
  I haven't read up on what nasties Java invites in, but have removed it on any machines I come across.

[TheFarSide]

I have done a full Malwarebytes scan, and I don't have any Java plugins.

Firefox and IE are working fine on my computer, which is why I thought there might be a problem with Google Chrome. When I googled, other people seemed to have similar issues but as always no-one had a simple solution!

Thanks for your help Caja and Lady.

This might mean a trip to the computer hospital.

[ladyWordy]

that's very true FarSide ...Google is wonderful but can come up with 500+ complicated solutions for some tech problems, and you can lose the will to continue.

I see your reasoning - it does sound as if Chrome has been targeted on your PC. I guess you have tried uninstalling it, and reinstalling with no add-ons? Though I would still want to try another anti-malware product. What one misses, another may pick up.

I have Chrome on several machines and have had no issues to date... But tomorrow could be different

[mais]

In case it's not a malware...
Petal and Fritz are profiles on Chrome. I have about four (maybe five) different ones on mine it is handy if you have multiple gmail accounts, it means you don't have to log out of one to see another, just open another browser window with a different profile.

Hmmm I don't know if I explained that well!
I have one profile for work, I sign into Chrome, profile is called Happy or Fritz and that profile saves my passwords, auto fill for forms, history etc. I can sign into Chrome on any other computer and access this.
I have another profile for personal. I can click on the little face (Petal or Flower or whatever its called) for this and it opens a new window and I can have both personal and work gmails open at same time.

[mais]

Maybe you knew all this already, I'm just a Chrome nerd I love it

[AitchTwoOhOneTwo]

i've stopped using chrome recently for all the reasons you state. a LOT of people moaning about it, if you google 'chrome freezing/crashing/sound stuttering' etc.

i miss it, though, so if you come up with a fix that would be great. i run avast every day etc etc but if it's malware then i'd be glad to get rid.

[TheFarSide]

Thanks for that mais - I managed to delete the profiles but I'm not sure how they got created in the first place . Having different profiles for different situations sounds really useful. I think I'm just very suspicious of anything new. I don't even like signing in to my Google account in case it takes over my entire world.

I tried reinstalling Chrome ladywordy but YouTube still stutters. Pages seem to be loading OK this morning, though, so we'll see.

I wondered if the Google Chrome people are fiddling around creating "improvements" which some computers (like mine) can't handle.

[TheFarSide]

I have fixed the crashes and the stuttering sound!!!

I fully uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome, which seemed to stop the crashing.

As for the sound, I went to chrome://plugins as suggested and found two Shockwave Flash players - I disabled the 11.5.31.5 version. (I had previously disabled the other one but that didn't fix it).

THANK YOU EVERYONE

[TheFarSide]

[ladyWordy]

Well done FarSide! Glad you are back in YouTube heaven :)