My computer keeps shutting off? Help, please!

Question

Well my computer keeps shutting off, and I'm not sure if it's a virus or maybe it's over-heating. Because first I did think it was a virus, but eveytime I scanned it with Mcafee or AVG it shut off. So, I tried to scan it in Safe mode and I used 'Stinger.' It just restarted.

Secondly I'm sure I have Spyware because there are numerous sites that appear in my history from about 4 a.m. in the morning. So clearly it's coming from another source.

Thirdly, it also shuts off when I do TOO much. Lets say I watch a video on Youtube, or open more than one window. (Sad I know.) And it goes EXTREMELY slow. I have to wait about 30 seconds per page.

And finally, it has gotten worse over the last few months. At first it wasn't slow, and only shut off occasionally. Now it's extremely slow and shuts off on me at least 7 times a day.

What should I do? I'm going to go into Best Buy in the next couple days, but for now what do you recommend?

Answer 1

I'm thinking it could be an overheating problem or a failing power supply.

Usually, it's the failing power supply.

Answer 2

Can you use a "go back" program, or restore to a prior date when it was working better?  It may be worth it to see how far back you can go.  In XP it's found by "Start" "Programs" "Accessories" "System Tools" "System Restore."   I'd also try another virus program - such as Ad-Aware to see if that detects a virus.

Answer 3

Try booting into safe mode and checking your event logs by clicking start the run and typing eventvwr.msc press enter. You should be able to determine if you are having hardware or software errors. Also is you are quick enough, when you know it is going to shutdown -a at the run prompt and it may stop the pc from shutting down.  

Answer 4

if you have a second computer , you can take your hard drive and put it into the working computer, and then run a full drive scan,

try going to microsoft and getting thier test tool to see if you have a blaster worm or some division of the fore mentioned worm.

you may aso try removing the heatsink and fan, and cleaning the artic silver from the processor, reappying fresh artic silver, and replacing the heat sink, and fan.  

you can also add an extra fan inside the case to try to keep the air flowing , to keep the system cooler,  

you can also check the power supplyto make sure it is not loaded with dust,   it can also get hot and cause the same problems.   also if the computer has been in a strom or had a power surge ,,, the computer would still work,   but begin to have issues, and if this is the case, it could short out your mother board .    

how much ram do you have in the computer?     and have you set any extra virtual memory to see if you are running to many processes,  

if your ram is limited to less then 512mb and  you have your opperating system plus a couple of extra programs running , it could explain the problem.

try clicking the shift + alt +del    keys once, it will bring up the task manager, click on the tab for the running processes,  

If these suggestions dont work, try best buy can run further testing , and correct the issues !