Brave grinds Windows 11 to a halt

Brave Browser Desktop Support
1

Windows 11 Pro Build 22000.1042
Brave Version 1.44.108 Chromium: 106.0.5249.103 (Official Build) (64-bit)

While using the Brave browser to binge on twitch.tv and youtube videos for hours on end, the OS loses functionality. Apps will partially work and display some content, then apps will open and display no content, then apps won’t open at all, then nothing on the taskbar works, then the mouse freezes and finally keyboard input goes bye-bye and I have to do a hard reset.

  1. I tried using brave in the same manner with all extensions disable. Didn’t help.
  2. This happens in Windows 11 only. I have identical brave configurations on two Windows 10 SSDs and one Manjaro (Linux) SSD, and the OS works fine many hours later.
  3. The situation never happens while using other browsers on Windows 11 which are Edge, and now Vivaldi. I use the same extensions on all three browsers.
  4. Reinstalling Brave did not help. I also deleted any brave related folders beforehand.
  5. The Event Viewer shows nothing of use. The problem is events get blocked long before I notice anything is wrong.
  6. This has happened over a period of at least six months. I’ve tried removing other programs thinking they were maybe at fault. Just when I think I’ve solved the issue it reoccurs. Having Brave running for hours is the only constant here.

When I start noticing things grinding to a halt I run Task Manager, but at that point it’s too late. Either nothing displays in Task Manager or there’s content but it no longer updates.

2

Hi

Is is possible to have a screenshot of Brave processes as below?

PROCESSES
PROCESSES811×729 47.9 KB

Meanwhile:

  1. Try disabling hardware acceleration by opening brave://settings/system.
  2. Try working in a private window, by holding CTRL+SHIFT+n.
  3. Clear browsing cache, by opening brave://settings/clearBrowserData.
3

Thanks for responding. Here is the snapshot of the Windows 11 version of Task Manager. I’ve also disabled the use of hardware acceleration and cleared cached images and files. When I get back from work I’ll do the usual browser stuff but in a private window.

TM_Brave

4

Everything is stable after ~12 hours of using only brave’s private windows and hardware acceleration off. Now I’ll use it normally but keep hardware acceleration off.

5

Okay… It happened again. So I can rule out the data cache and hardware acceleration. Next I will use InPrivate with extensions.

6

Hi

How much RAM does your device have?

7

It has 16GB which is more than enough for everything I’ve done on this PC. Maybe I should monitor for a memory leak.

8

Windows 11 remains stable when InPrivate is active, with Hardware acceleration enabled, and all extensions active InPrivate. When not using InPrivate, the browser will eventually take down the OS. Yet all InPrivate does is stop internet activity being saved locally and I don’t know why Brave saving internet activity would severely interfere with Windows 11 as to make it unusable. I need normal browser functionality and this nasty bug gets in the way. I’ve ditched Brave for Vivaldi.