Question Is it possible for internet issues to result from installing a monitor driver?

[The Worker]

I connected a used Dell 1908FP LCD screen to my PC. I got it used, to try out a new kind of monitor without spending a lot (I've been using CRTs for years and was not sure how my eyes would react to an LCD). It announced that it was installing its driver. Soon after this I noticed issues with the internet. I'm getting the DNS_PROBE_BAD_CONFIG message fairly often, especially when I go to Newegg, and I have to unplug and replug the ethernet cable to reset the connection. Other things have slowed down as well. The only thing that changed was the monitor. Is it possible that the driver installation caused problems with the internet settings? If so, how do I fix it? I actually like the monitor, so I don't want to uninstall the driver permanently. Thanks!

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"Other things have slowed down as well "

You can use Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to observe system performance.

Use all three tools but only one tool at a time.

The objective being to discover what resources are being used/consumed, to what extent (%), and what is using any given resource when things slow down.

Just leave the tool window open and dragged to one side or the other (or on a second monitor) so you can continually observe what is happening while you work on the computer doing things as you always do.

It could be a buggy or corrupted driver. Or perhaps something that came along with the driver that is running in the background.

Check Task Manager > Startup to see what all is being launched at start up. Any unexpected or unidentifiable apps/utilities can be researched to learn what they are and what they are doing or trying to do.

There is no rush: Objective being to first do some discovery and then go from there. The tools do allow some filtering and sorting that can help spot potential culprits.

= = = =

Process Explorer:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

 

[The Worker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did watch energy consumption. The CPU is often reaching max level peaks for no apparent reason. It reaches that kind of peak when I load a webpage. Avast is running all the time, the free version, and it updated around the time I started having the problem, around the same time I connected the used1908fp Dell monitor. Could Avast be the issue? I cannot find a way to temporarily disable it. I did locate the location of the monitor driver, it's from 2006, no way to update it from what I can see.