laptop went in for a new mother board but gaming started acting up along with pop ups from Norton

howdy, I bought this Acer Nitro on 3-31-2025. On 6-27-2025 it went dark. Would not turn on. Nothing. Into the shop it went. Needed a new mother board they said. On 7-27-2025 it came back. Everything working fine. In August my gaming started acting up along with pop ups from Norton I could not close. I deleted Norton. My gaming, Runescape was a glistening marvel of a game. I was surprised by the detail on this new Nitro. I loved it. Then on 8-12-2025, the game went black at sign in. Took 45 seconds for the game to load, then heavy lag. I went from ultra graphics down to low graphics to get it to work almost normally. Turned off many of the graphic options so I can now move smoothly almost. This is a high-end gaming laptop. I've been to check on GPU and BIOS. I am a computer noob at 70 years old. I can't even locate the Jagex cache that Co-Pilot mentions. Any thoughts? Is this something that can be fixed?

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

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Puraw

Hi @jbonbelair You can’t fully uninstall Norton, McAfee, or similar pre‑installed security programs using only Windows’ built‑in uninstaller. They require proprietary uninstall tools, which you can download from each vendor’s website.

If you’ve already removed the program via Windows’ uninstaller, you may need to reinstall it first — this ensures the vendor’s removal tool can detect it and complete a proper uninstall.

Axxo

It's frustrating when your laptop starts acting up, especially after a repair, and disruptive pop-ups make it even worse. Let's break down the possible causes and solutions:-

Gaming performance issues after motherboard replacement
Driver issues: After a motherboard replacement, the system often requires new drivers for components to function optimally. Incompatible or outdated drivers, especially for the chipset, power management, and graphics, can cause performance problems.
Power settings: Your laptop might be stuck in a power-saving mode, which limits performance, particularly when unplugged. Ensure it's set to "High Performance" in the Power Options of the Control Panel.
BIOS/UEFI settings: It's possible that the motherboard replacement led to certain BIOS settings being changed or not reset correctly. You may need to reset the BIOS to default settings for optimal performance.

System file corruption: The motherboard replacement could have caused issues with system files. Running a System File Checker (sfc) scan can help repair corrupted files.Norton pop-ups during gaming
Norton notifications: Norton, like other antivirus software, might be configured to display alerts, updates, or promotional messages, which can interrupt your gaming experience.
Silent Mode: Norton offers a Silent Mode feature that can suppress non-critical notifications when enabled.
In-game settings: Some games might have settings related to notifications or fullscreen modes that conflict with Norton's alerts, causing interruptions.
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