I am using Windows 10 22H2, OS Build 19045.6466, dual 4K monitors, Brave browser.

I had two windows with three tabs on each and a window with five apps grouped.
I ran the latest Groupy 2, and this is the worst I have ever seen it.
The first version was predictable: using Groupy for 5-6 hours would cause it to crash.
I simply opened the windows again and went about my business.

Groupy 2 has been quite different; I have had issues after startup and hours later.
There are a few different issues.

- The YouTube video will freeze, then the screens will turn black for about 5 seconds; all mouse input is gone.
  Then it goes back to normal.

- I have two Brave browser windows, one for each screen. The browsers turn black, and the mouse pointer turns
  into a cross with arrows or a vertical-type tool line, and it switches between the left and the right browser turning black.
  This becomes worse, where I am not even able to move the mouse across to the other monitor and can only force restart.

- Another variation where the screens turn black and stay black with audio still working; I can only force restart.

- My Bluetooth was acting up, continually disconnecting my keyboard and mouse.

I have tested running the system without any Explorer window, and everything works fine.
While typing this message, there have been zero issues since restarting about an hour ago.

Groupy is a great tool I have used for years, but today alone I have had to restart around 7 times.

Also, the Groupy menu is not ideal, having to navigate down, across, down, across to click on your saved file.
I think there are too many features I simply don't need, such as the close window left/right; just click on the window X.
When I click on the window Groupy icon, I should have my saved profiles right below.

I have uninstalled it, and I am trialling Tidy Tabs. I will wait until you fix this issue. I will gladly provide any data and test it if you would like. 

Best regards.

If your screen goes black it sounds like your video drivers or the DWM is crashing out.

Hello Neil, sadly, no. I used CPU-Z with Driver Cloud to install the latest drivers.

The graphics card RTX 5060Ti is a few months old, and it happens only in the browsers turning black, or the entire screens go black, then go back to normal after about 5 seconds or stays black, forcing me to restart.

Since I uninstalled Stardock, I have not seen any of these issues thus far.

I did give feedback when I noticed the crash in the first version, which I believe was never addressed and continued into Groupy 2.
Only now, due to the new features, I believe the issue has been compounded.

I am now giving Windows Tabs a try, and it is very similar to Groupy 2; being able to drag files from one tab to another is a major feature I like. There is a website and a Github page.

So far, so good.

I am also using Acronis to protect from viruses and trojans, as well as a new Windows 10 reinstall and all final updates a few weeks ago.

Thank you again.

Those symptoms strongly point to crash of the DWM or drivers.

If you look in windows event log there is probably an event logging exactly what is happening.  If you are able to look (scroll back to about when it happened) then we can see if the info gives us a clue as to what is going on.

Unfortunately I don't recall anyone else reporting anything similar with Groupy ever which makes this a tricky one to fix.  As to why it would show with Groupy 2, it works differently to some other products and these issues are often exposed by different behaviour.  These things can be so timing sensitive too.

Are there any other apps running on the machine as well as it could be an interaction between a combination of apps.

Ok I figured out the black browser issue, perhaps even the black screen issue.

This has to do with the browser GPU assistance being turned on. I fixed this so long ago, so when I reinstalled Windows, I didn't do this.
Here is the fix.

This is a known upstream Chromium issue that causes tabs to appear black or blank when switching between them, particularly after being in the background for a few minutes.  The browser remains functional (you can still click links or pause videos), but the visual content fails to render. 

To resolve this, you can try the following workarounds:

• Disable GPU Acceleration: Launch Brave with the --disable-gpu flag by adding it to the end of the Target path in the Brave shortcut properties. This is a temporary fix that allows the browser to be used while the upstream issue is addressed. 

• Adjust Graphics Backend: Navigate to brave://flags/#use-angle and ensure the Choose ANGLE graphics backend setting is set to Default (not OpenGL or D3D9).  Changing this to Default has resolved the issue for many users without needing to disable GPU acceleration.

• Minimize and Restore: A temporary fix involves minimizing the Brave app and immediately restoring it, which forces the tabs to reload their visual content. 

• Rotate Screen: Some users have found that rotating the screen orientation (e.g., to landscape and back) forces the display to refresh and show the tab content.

Brave Support has confirmed this is a Chromium bug (tracked as issue #394893115) and is aware of the problem.  If you cannot access the browser settings due to the black screen, use the --disable-gpu flag in the shortcut properties to launch the browser and adjust the flags as described above