Windows Crashing

[chase_the_paper]

Monday, while watching tv...my computer hit the dredded blue wall. The message appeared "Windows had to shut down in order to protect your computer" and some other mumbo jumbo, crashed, restarted...and begun to run slow. When I would open a program, I would get the blue screen again. I could run AOL instant messanger fine for about a half hour, then the blue screen would happen again. About the third time, I got a new message that said something along the lines of "Trojan Hunter Guard could not load file XXXXXX, file XXXXX needed to start Trojan Hunter" then it crashed. I went into safe mode, deleted that program, ran disk clean up, anti spyware, anti everything...and it crashed in safe mode. I restarted it again, and, although running slow, the crashing seemd to subside. Then...it happened again. But this time I got a blank black screen with the message "Smart Drive detected a fatal error press F1 to skip". I waited and waited, nothing happened, so I hit F1. It started like normal, once Windows started, I would get the same message.

Any ideas? I am currently a poor college student and had to get a deadline for a paper extended TWICE because of this. I am not computer savy, and, as far as my knowledge of computers goes, I have tried what I could. Help would be appriciated.

Thanks in advance,

Kyle

[humbll]

Well it sounds as though your computer was infected with something or hacked. Try booting into safe mode and see if it will come up. I assume you are on a campus network?

What operating system are you running exactly?

Do you use a firewall?

If so which one?

Do you have the installation disks for your operating system (setup disks, or recovery disks)?

What kind of computer is it? Compaq? HP? Dell? What model?

What, if any, antivirus software is installed?

Besides Trojan Hunter, are there any other antispyware or anti-malware software installed?

I will try to help you with this but I need as much info as you can provide about your system.

[hughv]

"I would get the same message."
Which message?
Run chkdsk /r
Might as well defrag as well.
Look in Event Viewer for red events under System and Application.

[chase_the_paper]

i ran defrag and while defraging it would crash.

running XP home

zone alarm is the firewall

i have AVG, trojan hunter, adaware, spybot, hijackthis

computer is HP pavillion zt3000 (little over 4 years old)

[bobbyjcardona]

Back-up your info now, while you can.

[chase_the_paper]

allready did...i know....whew!

[decimus785]

What you just had is called the "BLue Screen Of Death"
Bluescreens can be caused by poorly written device drivers, faulty memory, a corrupt registry, an incompatible Dynamic-link library (DLL), or the computer overheating.

If you had this blue screen for the first time,probably it's because of overheating.
If you keep getting the bleuscreen every now and then,than it could be poorly written device drivers, faulty memory etc..

If you have all your info back-uped,you can format your computer and reinstall windows.

OR better yet, you can restore your sytem to a previous state where it worked well. It will undo harmful changes and restore its settings and performance.

accessories>system tools>system restore
REstore your computer to an earlier time before the blue screen error appeared.
In your case the blue screen appeared on monday.
Restore it to an earlier time before monday.Good luck

[bobbyraw]

cleaning the system will take some time, considerably longer than doing a format and clean install ( but i am going to assume you don;t have the Xp cd to do a clean install) in the mean time download and run combofix, and vondufix then run an online virus scanner like panda or kapersky

[humbll]

Check the fan on the power supply, also the CPU fans and make sure there isn't alot of dust inside.

If there isn't a failed fan causing an overheat situation the next thing I would do is do backup any personal files and reinstall windows and all drivers...

[chase_the_paper]

I have all the backup CDs, just not here...a long while ago my computer crashed due to over heating, so that could be it. i plan on just doing a clean install. thanks for all the help