MS makes and takes lives
I've had a few support roles and like others, forced to use Windows...and found you could get stabiilty in Windows with 3.11(windows for workgroups), NT, and XP more easily than other Windows products.
Just as background/prelude: Windows OS used to become slower, buggier, and "tangled" in its millions of lines of code. It has been a while and I don't have Windows now, but in the past, if I had problems like this, I would 1) remove software and format the drive using Windows OS of my choice and run without loading any applications, making sure I had the latest fix(Service Pack) but keeping away from SP3 for Windows XP. Additionally, I'd partition into 2 or 3 and have two versions of Windows OS and Linux. If something stopped working, I had another OS to use.

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I'm not sure you would like to try a reformat and reload of the OS, with the strategy of reloading it CLEAN, minus any of the extraneous applications. The point here is, sometimes manufacturers(Lenova, Dell, etc) applications caused problems with simple Windows operations, even if you didn't run them. It's not common, I know, but the idea of reloading your laptop with a clean copy of Windows 8 and then manually adding the other apps of your liking, one by one - testing the operation of the laptop as you add each one and are satisfied it's working as expected, is a way to test and see if your browser works with the given hardware and software.
I know the challenge in this suggestion is getting Windows OS 8 and your current applications on two different DVD's. If you find a solution in the threads relating to your problem, go for it. My way is not painless, but I often did this where Windows OS became slower or buggier. Windows is ok - it keeps alot of people working, doesn't it?
