Laptop freezes; must unplug to unfreeze

[supermom120]

Hi! I am hoping someone can help me.
I've encountered a strange problem this week with my laptop. if i leave it idle for a few minutes the whole thing freezes. i can't close anything i am doing...browser, docs, etc. i cant even restart the laptop. the only way i managed to get out of this, is by unplugging the machine. i know i must not do this. CNTRL, ALT, Delete doesnt work either. I am worried it is a virus. I ran the program eset but the scan took so long that the laptop froze in the middle too. Had to unplug it again.

Any ideas?
thanks in advance!
supermom

[jholland1964]

Can we have more info on the computer itself? Operating system, how many programs do you have running when this happens? What is your anti-virus program? Have you done a general clean up...emptied temp files, etc.? Have you tried running your anti-virus program in safe mode? Are you online when this happens? How much RAM is installed?

[supermom120]

Can we have more info on the computer itself? Operating system, how many programs do you have running when this happens? What is your anti-virus program? Have you done a general clean up...emptied temp files, etc.? Have you tried running your anti-virus program in safe mode? Are you online when this happens? How much RAM is installed?

Thanks for the information. This is a Toshiba Laptop L305, vista is the operating system, and i have 3.00 RAM.
i use these programs for anti-virus: Avira, Spybot, Spyware and Malware. I run these usually weekly. never tried running the anitvirus in safe mode. will try next. I never tried to empty my temp files, but when i went to check, there was nothing there.
As for whether this happens offline or not, I cant be sure. i mostly am on the net when my laptop is open, while i may pull up docs from Word or Excel, etc at the same time. Will pay attention though.
Problem has occurred when there are few or many programs running at the same time.
What else does a 'general clean up' consist of??
Thanks again for your help.
Supermom

[jholland1964]

General clean up would be emptying temp files, internet temp files, recycle bin, anti-virus and anti-malware scans. Sounds as if you have done all of the above however on a regular basis.
Download DDS by sUBs and save it to your Desktop.
Be sure follow the instructions below carefully!

• If your AV has a script blocker, please disable it
• DoubleClick on dds.scr to run the tool

* A command box will open, displaying added information for your reading pleasure while DDS completes its scan.
* Upon completion, a Dialog Box should open instructing you to save and post the TWO resulting logs (DDS.txt & Attach.txt).

• Copy&Paste the DDS.txt into your post for assistance.
• Please post Attach.txt as an attachment to your post - there is no need to Zip it. If you don’t know how to post an attachment, please Copy&Paste it along with the DDS.txt scanlog.

[angel6969]

you should also consider performing a disk cleanup and defragmenting as part of your system maintenance.... also have you made any recent changes to your system ... hardware or software upgrades.. if so what ones a=have you changed or modified