ok, so to start, this computer is rarely used by me until the last few days. it sits in my living room and is usually just used to play videos on a TV. however within the last few days, i have installed itunes, a program called music rescue to copy data from an ipod to my itunes library, postgresql & a database program that uses it, and uninstalled daemon tools & alcohol120%.

i first noticed this issue with azureus vuze. i had loaded up a bunch of torrents and then it suddenly slowed vuze to a crawl. i tried to kill the process in task manager but it wouldn't go away. eventually nothing really worked and i had to reboot. the same type of issue arose while browsing the web and playing music in itunes. i was building playlists in itunes, then the computer started to slow way down and itunes pretty much crawled along like vuze. i was able to close itunes but again nothing seemed to be working right and i had to reboot (all of these reboots being manual).

i read that alcohol & daemon tools mess around with vuze and can cause some issues w/ the virtual drives they install. i was also having a problem with my third SATA drive (the G drive) just disappearing in my computer on occasion. if i did a manual reset when the taskbar was disappearing (which occurs after itunes/vuze crashes) the G drive would not be present when windows booted up. windows also wouldn't boot on occasion, hanging at the bootup screen.

however, if i turned the machine off completely instead of just reseting, the G drive would show up in my computer when i got back into windows.

i then decided to leave this computer idle for a while, ran some errands, and came back to the screensaver. when i woke the computer up by moving the mouse, the taskbar again was gone (the screensaver had left a trail of what the last still image was before it went away in place of the taskbar). i had to again reboot the machine manually to get it going.

so to sum it all up...

1. vuze/itunes hangs
2. sometimes i close the program that hangs in task manager but nothing works thereafter and the computer is pretty much unresponsive
3. i manually reset, and the G drive is gone. i do a hard power off & boot up and G drive is there

i have uninstalled vuze, cleared it's queue, and it no longer has issues. itunes i haven't messed with today. however, the fact that these issues are persistent even when i am not using the computer, as evidence when it hung up after just running the screensaver, suggests to me it's not those programs that are causing the issue.

i ran ad aware twice and after clearing up a few things that didn't appear too harmful, i ran it again and nothing was found. here is my hijack this log:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 3:30:29 PM, on 8/6/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16674)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logishrd\Bluetooth\LBTServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\CTAudSvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\Shared Files\RichVideo.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\Module Loader\DLLML.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\Sound Blaster X-Fi\DVDAudio\CTDVDDET.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTHELPER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTXFIHLP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CTXFISPI.EXE
C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\LBTWiz.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\Sound Blaster X-Fi\Entertainment Center\EAXLoadr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\SetPoint.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logishrd\KHAL2\KHALMNPR.EXE
C:\Program Files\Creative\ShareDLL\CADI\NotiMan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RCSystem] "C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\Module Loader\DLLML.exe" RCSystem * -Startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AudioDrvEmulator] "C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\Module Loader\DLLML.exe" -1 AudioDrvEmulator "C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\Module Loader\Audio Emulator\AudDrvEm.dll"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AsusStartupHelp] C:\Program Files\ASUS\AASP\1.00.15\AsRunHelp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTDVDDET] "C:\Program Files\Creative\Sound Blaster X-Fi\DVDAudio\CTDVDDET.EXE"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTHelper] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTxfiHlp] CTXFIHLP.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Kernel and Hardware Abstraction Layer] KHALMNPR.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Bluetooth Connection Assistant] LBTWIZ.EXE -silent
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Logitech SetPoint.lnk = C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\SetPoint.exe
O9 - Extra button: PokerStars - {3AD14F0C-ED16-4e43-B6D8-661B03F6A1EF} - C:\Program Files\PokerStars\PokerStarsUpdate.exe
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://www.update.microsoft.com/wind...?1188521978171
O16 - DPF: {F6ACF75C-C32C-447B-9BEF-46B766368D29} (Creative Software AutoUpdate Support Package) - http://www.creative.com/su2/CTL_V020...5030/CTPID.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: dimsntfy - %SystemRoot%\System32\dimsntfy.dll (file missing)
O20 - Winlogon Notify: LBTWlgn - c:\program files\common files\logishrd\bluetooth\LBTWlgn.dll
O21 - SSODL: WPDShServiceObj - {AAA288BA-9A4C-45B0-95D7-94D524869DB5} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\WPDShServiceObj.dll
O23 - Service: Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Audio Service (CTAudSvcService) - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\Program Files\Creative\Shared Files\CTAudSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Logitech Bluetooth Service (LBTServ) - Logitech, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logishrd\Bluetooth\LBTServ.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: PostgreSQL Database Server 8.3 (pgsql-8.3) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe" runservice -w -N "pgsql-8.3" -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\data\ (file missing)
O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
O23 - Service: Cyberlink RichVideo Service(CRVS) (RichVideo) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\CyberLink\Shared Files\RichVideo.exe

help me please!!! this is driving me crazy! thanks in advance.