I'm having trouble with Google. Sometimes I enter a search word or phrase and all I get is a blank page. It's frustrating as hell. I can sometimes close the browser, reopen to Google and it works fine. Any ideas?

LOL thanks Chaos. At least I know I'm not alone. I've been forced to use Bing which I can access from my MSN link

Maybe......hmmm.....nah, they wouldn't be that sneaky, would they?

I'm hoping jab will weigh in. I did a little search and the only thing I could find was that it may be malware, but I've done multiple scans. Nothing. Then it directed me to System32, blah, blah, blah...
typical geek speak.

Hit https://www.java.com/verify/
and see if your Java is up to date.
But watch out, if an update is required Java is sneaking a change of search engine for Yahoo in. You must unselect that option if you want to keep google as default
and look at the list of old java installs if you get that option. Uninstall old java versions

A few temporary workarounds have been suggested:

1. In Search Settings, select • Never show Instant results, scroll down and click Save.

2. Bookmark https://www.google.com/webhp?noj=1 for searching

3. Search from the browser address bar

4. Search from an incognito window

5. Sign out of your Google account

Thanks jab! The Java update didn't work, but I needed it anyway. The link you provided works great so I've also applied it as my homepage since I use Google for that.