About three weeks ago, my Windows 11 Pro machine started acting up with a weird, intermittent freezing problem. I’ve been using PCs since Windows 95, so I’d like to think I know my way around troubleshooting, but this one drove me up the wall, so I figured I’d share the saga in detail for anyone who might be tearing their hair out right now.
Symptoms:
Every once in a while, my mouse cursor would freeze for a split second (like half a second) and then catch up. Sometimes, everything would freeze up entirely for up to 30 seconds-including keyboard and audio-but then resume as if nothing happened. There was no blue screen, no error messages, and nothing unusual in the Event Viewer except the usual “The previous system shutdown at xx:xx:xx on xx/xx/xxxx was unexpected” if I got frustrated and did a hard reset. It happened both when I was using resource-heavy apps (Adobe suite and a browser with a dozen tabs) and when I was just on the desktop.
What I Tried, Based on Online Advice:
- Checked for malware (three different scanners, all clean)
- Updated all drivers, especially GPU and chipset via both Windows Update and manufacturer sites
- Unplugged all non-essential USB devices
- Ran SFC /scannow and DISM tools (no integrity violations)
- Checked SMART health of all drives
- Tried clean boot (no difference)
- Disconnected second monitor (still happened)
- Updated BIOS and rolled back after no effect
- Disabled Windows Fast Startup
- Disabled all non-Microsoft shell extensions with Autoruns
The Unexpected Solution:
Found a Reddit post buried in a year-old thread where someone mentioned that Logitech’s G Hub software caused system hangs, even when not in active use. I don’t use G Hub, but it made me think: the only new thing since the freezes started was a Bluetooth Logitech mouse I bought (MX Master 3S). I’d installed the Logitech Options+ software for customizing buttons.
Just for kicks, I uninstalled Logitech Options+, rebooted, and switched to a generic Bluetooth mouse driver. Instantly-no more micro-freezes, not even a hint.
After a couple of days, I tried reinstalling Logitech Options+, but with every feature disabled except button reassignment, and only let it load after login instead of at startup. The micro-freezes came back. Clearly, the background service or startup process of Options+ was conflicting with something in my system-my guess is either some HID event handling or Bluetooth stack weirdness specific to Windows 11.
Tips/Insights for Others:
- Don’t rule out peripherals or their drivers/software-even if Windows reports that they’re working and even if you’re not using any “exotic” device.
- Try running without vendor software for a day or two when facing odd system hangs; Windows is surprisingly adept at handling basic mouse/keyboard functionality on its own.
- If uninstalling the vendor utility solves it, try using it only when you absolutely need to tweak a setting, then disable its startup services. Sometimes, the extra features come at too much of a reliability cost.
- Document exactly when the problem started, and look for any hardware/software additions made right around that time-even “harmless” ones.
Hope this spares someone the headache. If you’re having freezes and nothing seems to help, don’t underestimate the impact of peripheral software. Would love to hear if anyone else has had similar issues, maybe with other brands!
