Game keeps freezing my Computer when loading in

I mean... look at this. This is literally all PoE. Forced reboot every time because it completely locks up my computer. I let it sit for 10 minutes to see if it would eventually resolve itself for once, but nope.

I completely refreshed my entire PC back in November, fresh Windows install and all, and this just keeps happening with PoE 1 and PoE 2. This is NOT an issue with Windows 11 24H2, it's a combination of both. Yes, it has been reported for a few other games, but none of the other CPU-heavy games I play, Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 being two examples, show this problem. And it happens willy-nilly. Yet it's CONSISTENT across BOTH PoE games.

I'm tired, boss. 🤬🙄

I find that it happens way more with PoE 2 than 1. I guess we need NASA-level CPUs to even stand a chance :(

BTW, this is a "technical issue" and not a bug....but GGG do not offer Technical support....

So, here's the thing. I think I found a workaround of sorts. I play the game in Windowed Fullscreen mode. When I tab out out of the game and to my browser, so that the game is NOT in focus when it's loading, it stops freezing on me. Whenever I have the game in focus while it's loading, it's a pretty much guaranteed freeze.

I'm also getting this - particuarly when loading in Kingsmarch - though it does happen elsehwhere. Removing a couple of CPUs via affinity, saves windows but the game still crashes