Windows 10: Hijacked System from Strange Behaviour

Hi, I've been experiencing a serious problem the past few weeks since upgrading to Windows10 (1803); it may have started before upgrading but I only noticed after upgrading.


The problem being, the desktop constantly refreshes every 20-30 seconds, including the task bar; no screen saver works and any top most window which I have open will close, if I attempt to open the window again, it may close within twenty or so seconds, then again, depending on the program open, once again it being the top most window it may not close for up to thirty or more minutes, if at all.


I feel as though my system is being hijacked, although I do not want to re-install or format my drive. I've used malwarebytes to scan the system, the results were negative, as it in found nothing. I used anti-spyware same thing; negative, found nothing. Windows defender comes up negative as well, if something is hijacking my system, it would be great to atleast find out what it is, if anything is hijacking the system ?

:)

 

Cortana's Strange Behaviour After Creator's Edition Update


Interestingly, my Cortana also presents such a list, no numbers.

Try 'The first' 'The second' etc.

...which works well, until.... the list of available options extends beyond the box as here:




So this British English-sounding voice starts reading them 'Which Minitool do you wanna open...'

And reads the list...after which I see




Oh, come on Microsoft, this is as pathetic as your start menu, where I see



- these shortcuts, each for a different program, being taken from the folders of 2,3,or 4 per program in my nested start menu.

Which is one of a number of reasons I choose to use Classic Shell start menu which actually works. Reliably.

 

Browser hijacked by safesurfs.com Malware

After reading what you went through I would strongly suggest you read the advice of Monkey57 and try his steps. Normally

Browser hijackers don't show this kind of behavior and more could be going on. Normally I don't suggest Resetting your computer but in this case....

 

Browser hijack? GPU 15% when using google in FF

So as the title suggests I have an issue with FF when I perform a search from the address bar (google is default) or even going directly to www.google.co.uk, my GPU usage goes from 0 to 15%, it stops if I close that tab or change to another or bring another window to the forefront but it consistently displays this same behaviour.

So I have tried the following to try and find out if there is some kind of malware/hijacker going on.

• Uninstalled FF and reinstalled.
• Installed no miner, miner blocker, ublock origin and adblock plus extensions.
• Run numerous scans of Windows defender, avast AV and MBAM

All of the above to no avail and every time I am on a google page the GPU useage stays at a constant 15% and the vRAM usage inscreases. Scratching my head is there anything I am missing?