[Solved]Browser installations blocked?

andrewm

andrewm

Used Opera in W10 for years and have it as a secondary browser on my W10 PC, regularly updating (W10 and Opera) etc. Today Opera fails to open. Uninstalling and reinstalling fails at 99% or thereabouts, repeatedly. Reboots, scans, malware searches etc all ineffective.

The same experience, sinisterly, with Firefox, at the same time and in the same ways.

Anything coincidental about this, esp with W10 or MS? Would very much appreciate any general knowledge that may be in the air on this score, just before starting to go through all the suggestions and fixes that I can (still) ggogle on Chrome or Edge. Thanks in advance, and forgive me if I have missed an exo=isting thread anywhere
A

sgunhouse

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer

New firewall or other internet security product? Or if you use Windows firewall (instead of another brand), was there a recent update?

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

Maybe you're running into https://www.reddit.com/r/operabrowser/comments/j5fstq/opera_opera_gx_not_opening_or_opening_and_closing/ and need to allow Firefox and Opera to run again.

andrewm

andrewm @sgunhouse

@sgunhouse thanks for your suggestion - I had worked my way through a few of these (there was a W10 update on 21/11) before I found the very very odd answer. I found today that I couldn't get Word to open either - I subscribe to Microsoft's Office 365 ripoff out of long habit. I checked my MS account, and found that they were trying to use an expired credit card for the monthly sub renewal. I changed the card, updated the payment, logged out, restarted, and one by one Word, Firefox - and Opera all started working again. This can hardly be a coincidence, but it's bizarre either way. I shall buy a tinfoil hat and start believing in conspiracy theories about the Deep State of Tech......
Thanks again,

Andrew