The Wednesday Morning Crash Bug

I have a problem with my computer that is stumping me. The first time I start it on Wednesday mornings, it runs about 8 minutes and then it locks up. Screen freezes, no input is capable from the mouse or keyboard. Once I restart the computer it will happily run for another 6 days and 23 hours, then it’s back to lockup.

Last month I started my bug chase in earnest. I scrubbed event logs and can’t really find a source. I get unhelpful responses like this when I look at event viewer:

My assumption is that some process is phoning home on a schedule, then attempting to do something and locking up at that time. My most likely villain is Window Microsoft Defender because I see WMI running around the same time and that seems to be part of how the home version manages it. I looked into changing the time for update checking, but that seems to be restricted to enterprise versions on the MS documentation I have read.

So, it’s at a place where I can live with it. I know it’s going to happen and when, so I can plan for it. It’s just annoying and seems like there should be a way to solve this. Some solutions I have ruled out:

  • I am not switching to Linux or another OS. I have things I need to access that will only run on Windows.
  • I am not switching anti-virus software. I can only imaging that will make it worse, not better.

If you have any thoughts on this, please send me a tweet to @N4BFR on Twitter and help with the conversation.