Gman, problems with so many different apps would tend to indicate a hardware, rather than software, problem. It's easy to think that something sinister has got into your system but if you've got decent antivirus protection that's unlikely. Are your system temps OK? Is the RAM seated correctly? Have you run a disk check on your drives? Gradual PSU problems can also cause random crashes and app failures.
That's the logical reasoning, and I check out all of those possibilities. The box is clean, all of the system components are up to date and show that they are running with no issues. Temps are fine...according to the resources I have to monitor.
When Ed posted his issue with the icon not booting, my red flags went up, so I did some experimenting this AM.
My most recent "loss" was MCX...which I upgrade almost daily as Arno releases his updated builds. Out of curiosity, I went to my backup archives and tried to open an earlier version of MCX, dating about six months ago. It opened fine, so the only version not booting is the most recent in my registry.
I know that my system is running within spec...at least as far as I can ascertain. So, I look for other possibilities.
I know that MS, Google, YouTube, Twitter and the other monopoly entities are working overtime, tweaking algorithms. That's hard data.
I know that crypto mining is breaking out on the exponential to the upside, to the point where "mining" will seek to utilize one hundred percent of the available power availability by 2020...according to multiple experts.
I know that the price of hardware is skyrocketing because of the demands of the crypto miners.
I come to the reasonable assumption that a certain percentage of the coders, hackers and other nefarious individuals...i.e. Steemit/Ponzi schemes will seek to gain advantage using any means available. That includes bots and AI if you read their boards.
I arrive at the reasonable logic that it is possible that the "dark web" has reached numbers significant to influence the web, in general and that the coincidental failure of my various tools coincides with MS updates that provide access...check the EULA...to just about anyone willing to pay for my data.
I come away with the realization that my OS is no longer my proprietary tool and that when things break I'll crunch all of the available possibilities and default to Occam's Razor.
I may be completely out in left field...but I've been right about a lot of things over the years, and I'm following my gut.
BTW...I sincerely appreciate the input in this, and my intent was to offer Ed a possible explanation as to why Firefox went AWOL.
