What could be causing these screen blackouts?

[Aaron9546]

I've been having a problem the last few days and I'm not sure what is causing it or if it is going to happen during me writing this out. Anyway randomly my computer screen will go black (the screen is still on, it is just showing a dark colour) with no error code and doesn't seem to go away until I turn off PC and put it back on. Seeing as I am friends with people who have been proscribed as terrorists by the UK government for thought crimes I have suspected that it is someone trying to monitor my online movements as my friends have also been suffering from the same problem with their PC but this may just be me being paranoid (I have nothing to hide anyway) but what I'm concerned with is if it is a problem with my pc and I can't be sure either way. It looks like when an administrator computer takes control of another pc and the screen goes black. Any suggestions here? It seems to be fine for hours on end and then randomly it starts hitting.

 

[thx1138v2]

If it were someone trying to monitor your movements they wouldn't want your screen to go black since that halts your usage. They would want to track what you are doing online which they can't do if you're not using it.

It could be hardware or software but since you've told us nothing about either we can't help you. Search for how to ask a question on Tom's Hardware.

 

[JoshRoss]

As a person before me mentioned, the last thing anyone who would want to monitor you will do is make you aware/suspicious of that fact. Before anything else, I would strongly recommend checking the cables and generally hardware for malfunctions, if the entire screen goes dark it could be a motherboard or a GPU issue.

Next, confirm that none of your drivers are out of date, your system is updated, and you do not have any random custom files or processes running for school projects and such.

After you are certain that there are no problems with your hardware or software on a basic level, you can attempt to locate potentially suspicious activity. You will need to restart your Windows in "safe mode with networking" for that.

Install RKill to kill any malicious processes. Open up your task manager and try to identify any suspicious apps or services running, kill them if found. Check your installed programs for unrecognized ones and remove them. Afterward, do a full scan with anti-virus software of your choice. Moreover, scan your PC with Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro, and AdwCleaner, multiple anti-malware solutions will confirm or deny the issue. Restart your PC and wait to see what is up.

Let me know if the issues persist.