Constant Not Responding messages

A Former User

I have used Opera for over a decade now, I think. It has long been my favourite, especially on my phones.
BUT....

In the last 4 or 5 weeks, every single time I ask it to anything at all - from change a tab, open a window or download a file or even just spellcheck, it freezes. It freezes the whole computer, not just the browser.

After 20 to 30 seconds a banner appears that reads "Opera (Not Responding)"

Another 20 to 30 seconds and the entire browser disappears (all tabs, all windows and even all Opera icons on my desktop and taskbar.) This leaves only a blank desktop and other icons

After another 10 to 20 seconds, open tabs reappear and start working, albeit slowly.

I tried un-installing and reinstalling several times, clearing any files or detritus left behind.

Sadly, this behaviour continues unabated.

I am using a Windows 7 laptop and several people suggested it was just too old to run the system. Plausible, sort of, except that Chrome runs fine (in the past Chrome when has struggled, Opera has proven much faster; Chrome has long been much more memory intensive from what I can tell, yet can run without fault - I double checked again just before writing this. Chrome fine. Internet Explorer fine. Opera, set as my default browser, just cannot seem to work.

Any ideas clever people... PLEASE?