# Why does YouTube sometimes freeze my computer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-sometimes-freeze-my-computer/595168>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 4, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-sometimes-freeze-my-computer/595168 "2011-09-04T16:03:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-sometimes-freeze-my-computer/595168/1 "2011-09-04T16:03:42Z")

</div>

Occasionally/often, when I click on a Youtube link, my computer completely freezes up. The mouse cursor won’t move, using either the touchpad or my USB mouse. Ctl-Shift-Esc won’t bring up the Windows task manager. Even the CapsLock and NumLock buttons don’t toggle the indicator light. Something is using CPU, since the fan starts running and I can detect the heat. The only option is to hold the power button to turn it off, and reboot.

I had blamed this on Firefox, but it does it under Chrome as well.

I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, Service Pack 1, on a Lenovo ideapad laptop with 3GB of RAM. Processor is AMD Phenom II N660 Dual-core, 3.0 GHz.

Any ideas?

(The most recent freeze was when clicking on

> [@The Youtube Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-youtube-thread/595067/9):
>
> [Jeb Corliss Grinding the Crack](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k).

from [The Youtube Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=622894).)

(I also have Linux Mint dual booting on the laptop, but it has its own stability issues, and not just with YouTube.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-sometimes-freeze-my-computer/595168/2 "2011-09-04T23:46:13Z")

</div>

You could try to update Flash. It was happening on my Macs as well. I’d been blaming Lion, but since updating, no more killing my machine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-sometimes-freeze-my-computer/595168/3 "2011-09-05T11:42:15Z")

</div>

A couple of suggestions:

As Balthisar said, [make sure you have the most recent version of flash](http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html). Even if you do, reload it.

If that doesn’t help things, try [turning hardware acceleration off](http://pixelmetrics.com/Tips/VidBlank/GlobalAcceleration.php) if it’s on, or on if it’s off. If turning off hardware acceleration fixes the problem, you might need to update your video driver or maybe even replace your video card.