Thanks andytug. I have been trying for months to get rid of all signs of this. It's like a recurring virus. Hopefully your suggestion will knock it out once and for all.

I am prefer to upgrade (from Win7/Win 8.1 etc etc - if you are eligible to upgrade), let the windows do the automatic update for me. Once I am in Windows 10 and fully activated, I just use 'fresh installation' from windows 10 to start over :D

Always backup your important documents though!

Cheers.

Blank Screen Problem and Solution
 

I have been using Windows 10 for some time but a few days ago while the computer was sitting on but unused, there was a beep and the screen blanked. Moved the mouse and the cursor appeared, but the screen remained otherwise black. No amount of keyboard tapping or moise clicking would bring the screen to life, other than the mouse cursor.

Power down, power up, sleep mode, wake up, nothing worked. So I ended up pulling the power lead and the battery pack while the computer was on.

Held down the shift key while pressing the power button and the computer appeared to boot normally. A quick check on the internet suggested that it was a graphics fault, so I disabled the graphics accelerator card. The computer screen stayed on for hours without any problems.

Further reading suggested that although Windows 10 and the graphics card manufacturers supplied driver programs for various graphics cards, these programs were of a generic type that worked okay for most cards, most of the time. Individual computer manufacturers are responsible for supplying specific driver programs to work with the computers they manufacture.

So I went into settings and deleted the driver and other programs associated with my graphics accelerator card. The next step was to log onto my computer manufacturers site (Hewlett Packard) using the support program supplied with the computer and request that the computer download the latest driver programs.

Once that was done, I reactivated the graphics accelerator card and everything seems to be back to normal.

The only fly in the ointment is that a pop up message appears from the graphics card manufacturer suggesting that a newer improved driver program is available that will enhance my graphics experience. That is where all the problems started. Do not download drivers direct from graphics card manufacturers, only use the ones supplied by your computer manufacturer (assembler). They have worked out all the bugs and customised the driver to work with their machine and all the other bits cobbled together to make the computer work. I have managed to shut down the graphics card manufacturers upgrade message by instructing the computer never to check.

So if you find yourself with a blank screen and just a mouse cursor visible, or perhaps just a blank screen and everything else seems to be running, it may be a problem with the computer getting conflicting instructions from two different graphics devices. A bog standard display driver is usually included on all computer motherboards, but this isn't great for playing games or watching high definition movies. So a second graphics accelerator card is fitted that does all the donkey work when high quality graphics are required. The two different graphics systems need to play nicely with one another otherwise you end up with a blank screen. The computer manufacturer makes sure this happens. Microsoft and the graphics card manufacturers have no idea what combination of other components you may have in your system. So go to your computer manufacturer for updates as the first port of call when, or if, you have any sort of problems. This applies to just about any devices you have fitted to your computer.

Over all Windows 10 has proved to be quite a lot better than Windows 8 if you can overlook all the stuff it wants to send back to Microsoft. If you are running Windows 7, I suggest you stick with that.

I was getting quite proud of the fact that I had allowed my laptop to convert to Win10 and after a week or so it had managed to sort itself out and I began to get used to it. That was a few months ago.
Last night, I ran the laptop up twice. On the first occasion at about 19.00 I did what I wanted to, noted that there were no messages about pending updates and shut down. At 23.30 I needed to do another quick job before bed. I switched on and the usual "whirly" thing appeared. A minute or so later this disappeared leaving a blank screen. I was about to shut down and try again when I noted that I could still hear my hard drive working away so I waited ... and waited ... and waited. After about half an hour the win10 start up screen appeared and announced that updates were being installed. After another long wait the machine completely re-booted and the remainder of the updates were put in. Then, at last my desktop reappeared and Win10 was ready for action. By this time I had completely forgotten what I had wanted to do so shut it down and retired! Grr!

At least I have now managed to make my desktop machine a dual booting one Win 10 - and XP.

P.P.

Windows XP is now an insecure OS (and has been for the last 18 months), placing you and others at risk by persisting with it. It has no place on a computer connected to the internet.

SD

But it works - and there are legacy programs that only work with it

It's fine to pontificate about internet security but sometimes the day job still has to be done.........................

Nothing wrong with continuing to use XP, if it's fully patched, with appropriate anti-virus and anti malware tools (e.g Malwarebytes) and all add-ons such as Flash are up to date. Long as you're not in the habit of clicking on unchecked links, replying to Nigerian generals or browsing dodgy sites (e.g. warez) that is....but no operating system is proof against the wetware using it!

Absolute nonsense.

It cannot be fully patched because no XP security patches have been released for over 18 months.

The problem about using XP is not necessarily for the person using it directly, it's for the rest of the world because that XP machine may have been infected without the end user being aware of it, and is then being used to the detriment of the web as a whole - for example in spamming and DDoS attacks.

This isn't pontification. We were recently hit (collateral damage, not the target) by a large DDoS attack on our network provider. Where do you think the botnet members come from? XP was more vulnerable to attack than Vista, 7 or 8 even when it was being supported, so it's reasonable to believe that it's even more vulnerable now, so it really, really should not be connected to the internet any more.

SD

More vulnerable than Vista? Citation please?
I have more than one XP PC and have no problems connecting them to the net - there are vulnerabilities in every OS (including Win10), a lot of them cut across every OS (*cough* Adobe). The XP botnet problem is more likely down to thousands if not millions of illegal copies without patches in places like China and Russia.

I had some serious dealings with a large telecom, in their shop next to their HQ. Some of those computers were still using XP as late as this week.

Kaspersky, who probably should know, as it's their business to do so:

https://blog.kaspersky.com/xp-eos-8apr-3/4417/

Running XP on internet-connected PCs is like driving with no insurance, saying that "it'll never happen to me, 'cos I'm a safe driver". Until you aren't, or are hit by something you didn't see coming.

Probably a sufficiently large organisation to have shelled out hundreds of thousands of pounds to MS to continue supplying security patches for XP!

SD

Unless you're part of a large organisation that's paid for the privilege of continuing support you will not be fully patched. The fact is there have been multiple patches released. So yes, more vulnerable than Vista which has continued to receive patches.

Saab - you still don't answer the question about what we do if we have some legacy programs that we HAVE to use under XP because they have never been updated or rewritten and the customer base is so small that no-one will rewrite under W10

If its a choice between running a Microsoft version of XP behind a modern firewall avoiding the Nigerians etc and not being able to carry out the job I'm afraid it's XP everytime for me.

I never asked them to replace it TBH...................

I'd suggest you stop using XP for anything but the specific task you need it for and unplug the network cable except when you absolutely must take it on-line. Very definitely no browsing. Also very definitely no running as admin user.

Sooner or later there will be no anti-virus software available for XP. What are you going to do when the XP computer dies? Maybe you need to investigate virtual machines, noting an infected system running in a virtual machine can infect/attack the host system.

Well, I took the "plunge" a couple of days ago (after no end of prompting by M$:*) and did the 10 installation. What a waste of time and effort. Sure, it looks very slick but I soon found out I couldn't scroll up/down webpages or documents using the touchpad on my laptop, I could open photos but i couldn't click to the next in the album like before. Really really basic functions that don't work anymore. I looked for solutions online including their own help centre and the answers I found were far too vague to be of any use or too complex for anyone but a clued up IT type to understand. The one I did try just didn't work. I lasted about 3 hours with it then back to 8.1, its not great but it works fine on this machine and I'm used to it now. The extremely limited and dubious "benefits" of 10 are just not worth the aggrovation.
Win10 just proves the old adage that what comes for free is cr@p and often involves some sort of complication, trick or hidden obligation.
No wonder Gates is spending his fortune trying to eradicate malaria, because he won't be remembered fondly for anything else.
Does anyone know if you revert to 8.1 then you don't have any nasty "cling-on" apps or bits of M$ spyware added on to it?
All the nerds that develop this junk should stick to watching Star Trek in future.

FWIW touchpad scrolling worked out of the box on a Lenovo X201 I upgraded from Win7 & I can move back or forwards when viewing photos in the Photos app by clicking on the arrows or using the arrow keys. Out of curiosity what hardware are you using?

I think you'll find Win8.1 has just as much MS "spyware" as Win10.

Pingoiun

It may well come to that - I know some outfits who have a range of VERY old machines kept in use because of this problem - I'm talking about pre Windows 3, some AMSTRADS and even older - also the relevant ancient tape & disk drives.

Sometimes it's software, other times it's a database or a tape

Generally they're in a locked room just in case they go walk-about but every few months someone seems to need them. You could get the code rewritten but why bother - it works fine

They're certainly not connected to the internet tho'...............

It's a HP Pavilion laptop.

HP should have the drivers. pavilion 10, for example: HP Products - Common Solutions for Windows 10 | HP® Customer Support