Strange computer moment while on YouTube and after reset. What more should I do?

BTP · April 2011

Okay, long story short, I was on YouTube looking up differences of N64 games between the original and their Virtual Console versions, as I have some Wii Points I would like to use and was considering what to use them on. (Holy crap at the differences on Starfox 64!) The only things I had going on the taskbar at this time were Firefox, its library history, and the task manager.

During this, one of the related videos was "Phoenix Wright: No Shit Sherlock", to which I went "Oh yeah, I remember those. Let's look at a couple of those for a laugh" (mousewheel click)

And that's where things went weird.

Not only did the mousewheel click open a new tab for the Phoenix Wright video, but it also loaded it on the current tab. I had to hit Back to get back to the previous video. On the new tab, where I wanted to watch more Phoenix Wright parodies, when I tried to click on another link, it was immediately stopped. I kept clicking, and it kept stopping. Then I started getting a ton of new Firefox windows (or a new window full of tabs, not sure) of various websites in my history, and I'm in a clicking frenzy trying to close them all.

I tried to get to my task manager so I could just close Firefox that way, but I couldn't get it to stay as the thing on top once I got to it, so I decided something is definitely wrong and turned off the computer by holding down the power button.

I wait about 10 seconds, reboot normally, and do what I normally do and try to open Task Manager as soon as I can. (I always do this.) It won't let me right click. I see the menu trying to open but then it immediately disappears. That has never happened before. I get to the Task Manager using Ctrl+Alt+Del. I don't see anything unusual.

I have Norton AV and Norton Utilities. I cleaned the registry and internet traces, and did a full scan. Scans only turn up the usual stuff like tracking cookies.

Before doing the full scan, I check Norton's history, and it's telling me that the computer was off for about three hours before this moment, which isn't true because it's been on for the last 12 hours.
During the full scan, I get a notice from Norton basically telling me something is using a little more of the computer than it should. It's "lsass.exe", and the only thing that appears to be odd according to Norton (because it's in red text) is that the "Disk Write Activity" is at 1MB. CPU, Memory, Handles Count, and Disk Read Memory are all at Normal.

I haven't noticed anything else unusual. There's nothing new trying to put itself on my C drive or anything like that. (That happened once, but Norton stopped it.)

Any suggestions for what should I do to make sure there isn't anything wrong with my computer?

Aeyther · May 2011

BTP wrote: »

Okay, long story short, I was on YouTube looking up differences of N64 games between the original and their Virtual Console versions, as I have some Wii Points I would like to use and was considering what to use them on. (Holy crap at the differences on Starfox 64!) The only things I had going on the taskbar at this time were Firefox, its library history, and the task manager.

During this, one of the related videos was "Phoenix Wright: No Shit Sherlock", to which I went "Oh yeah, I remember those. Let's look at a couple of those for a laugh" (mousewheel click)

And that's where things went weird.

Not only did the mousewheel click open a new tab for the Phoenix Wright video, but it also loaded it on the current tab. I had to hit Back to get back to the previous video. On the new tab, where I wanted to watch more Phoenix Wright parodies, when I tried to click on another link, it was immediately stopped. I kept clicking, and it kept stopping. Then I started getting a ton of new Firefox windows (or a new window full of tabs, not sure) of various websites in my history, and I'm in a clicking frenzy trying to close them all.

I tried to get to my task manager so I could just close Firefox that way, but I couldn't get it to stay as the thing on top once I got to it, so I decided something is definitely wrong and turned off the computer by holding down the power button.

I wait about 10 seconds, reboot normally, and do what I normally do and try to open Task Manager as soon as I can. (I always do this.) It won't let me right click. I see the menu trying to open but then it immediately disappears. That has never happened before. I get to the Task Manager using Ctrl+Alt+Del. I don't see anything unusual.

I have Norton AV and Norton Utilities. I cleaned the registry and internet traces, and did a full scan. Scans only turn up the usual stuff like tracking cookies.

Before doing the full scan, I check Norton's history, and it's telling me that the computer was off for about three hours before this moment, which isn't true because it's been on for the last 12 hours.
During the full scan, I get a notice from Norton basically telling me something is using a little more of the computer than it should. It's "lsass.exe", and the only thing that appears to be odd according to Norton (because it's in red text) is that the "Disk Write Activity" is at 1MB. CPU, Memory, Handles Count, and Disk Read Memory are all at Normal.

I haven't noticed anything else unusual. There's nothing new trying to put itself on my C drive or anything like that. (That happened once, but Norton stopped it.)

Any suggestions for what should I do to make sure there isn't anything wrong with my computer?

What OS do you have? When I had a storebought Vista machine, lsass.exe would sometimes have a memory leak and take up 50% of the cpu. Ending it solved the problem for me.

I would definently scan your stuff though just to be safe.

Off topic kinda, but Ctrl+Shift+Esc will open your task manager automatically.

Deicist · May 2011

is it possible your mouse is screwed? I've seen similar strange behaviour (menus opening then immediately closing, new windows opening in browsers) result from a problem with a keyboard or mouse.

BTP · May 2011

Thanks for the replies. I pretty much gave up hope of a reply after 3 days and 60 views.

I haven't had any problems since posting the OP, either with the computer or the mouse. I also haven't had any more problems with lsass or any other warnings like that one from before.

And thanks for the tip about Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

Penny Arcade

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