HI – I actually had your second problem before I ever installed TABBLES – and this intermittently occurs still. When I reboot, it stays away for a while – the price of running a complex Windows installation (;
I did, at that time, have SQL Server installed, so I would highly discount a connection there, as I have installed SQL Server on many machines, both Win7 and Win8.
Since it sounds like you are an advanced user, I suppose you have already done a sfc /scannow . . . . (look it up, if you haven’t) And uninstalled TABBLES . . . ?

If so, i’d venture a guess at video driver corruption.

cheers