Twice today Windows on my PC has shut down out of the blue and then re-startied again. Now I can't shut the computer off without it re-starting on its own.

Am also a bit freaked by this Feb 3 virus and tried to download a new anti-virus program but Windows shuts before download complete.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks!

Virus Theres a patch you can get to stop the RPC being called which shuts yer comp down.

Could be a virus

But it sounds more like the machine is overheating and then cutting out.... could this be the case?

Hold the power button down for at least 5 seconds to kill all power if unable to shutdown.

Could be a virus

But it sounds more like the machine is overheating and then cutting out.... could this be the case?

Hold the power button down for at least 5 seconds to kill all power if unable to shutdown.

Is possble it's overheating as am working on it around 12 hrs a day. So what if it's a virus? Where do I get the patch thingy?

It may be overheating, but we had a PC in our office do this, and after cleaning all the virus's off it stopped doing it, I suspect a virus

It may be overheating, but we had a PC in our office do this, and after cleaning all the virus's off it stopped doing it, I suspect a virus

Hmmmmm.... so if it's a virus (please excuse my computer unsavviness) ... how do I deal with it?

first things first - download yourself a copy of some anti-virus software - theres a sticky listing loads of em in the forum

i hear avg is very good.... grab a copy of zonealarm too - that takes care of your immediate firewall needs.

second - whilst youre downloading, grab ad-aware from www.lavasoft.com and spybot search and destroy... after installing this little lot you should be well on the road to being more secure.

If of course your PC continues to crash and reboot before you are able to download and install the above - you may need to try some other things such as booting in safe mode etc or at worst rebuilding your PC from scratch.

If this is the case - report back here and, either i, or someone else will advise.

all the best

666

Cheers.... thanks for the help all!!

u can do a free, very good virus scan at Trend

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/global/enterprise.htm

look for the free virus scan. I have found trend to be excellent - other programs always show viruses where there are none. Trend will delete or fix the virusses, or else you can click on the virus name for instructions for removing the really nasty ones.

however, I too think that your problem is not a virus ...

u can do a free, very good virus scan at Trend

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/global/enterprise.htm

look for the free virus scan. I have found trend to be excellent - other programs always show viruses where there are none. Trend will delete or fix the virusses, or else you can click on the virus name for instructions for removing the really nasty ones.

however, I too think that your problem is not a virus ...

Hey thanks for that tip Abandon I used Trend Housecall and it found Worms and Spys - lots of them!!!

However, I don't think they are the problem either. May have to call the doc tomorrow.

Isn't this the classic worm that was making the rounds and infected tons of computers some time back? The symptom is that windows will count down to a restart every so often, and you can't prevent the restart. The fix is to get the relevant windows patch. To prevent it happening again, get the windows patch. To prevent similar things happening, turn on your firewall (it's a worm, not spyware/virus).

Isn't this the classic worm that was making the rounds and infected tons of computers some time back? The symptom is that windows will count down to a restart every so often, and you can't prevent the restart. The fix is to get the relevant windows patch. To prevent it happening again, get the windows patch. To prevent similar things happening, turn on your firewall (it's a worm, not spyware/virus).

Great advice Firefoxx - so can you please tell me what is the windows patch and how do I get it?

And (again forgive me) but .... how do I turn on my firewall???

Great advice Firefoxx - so can you please tell me what is the windows patch and how do I get it?

And (again forgive me) but .... how do I turn on my firewall???

You simply turn on windows automatic update and it does it all for you. In the background.

If you haven't done that - start -> windows update and make sure you you install all the security updates.

Then go to lavasoft.com and download adaware and get rid of those spyware infections

Don't blame the firewall (which is on by default). It's your fault for clicking 'yes' to everything that pops up on the internet and installing all kinds of crap like free cursors and search bars.

As has been said, Get Adaware and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Set them to check for updates and download them automatically.

Run full system scans with both of them and remove everything they find.

Get AVG antivirus too and set it to run virus scans twice a week.

hi'

blaster worm!

to be sure uncheck the system alert, disable "restart upon system failure"

and see what happen then, connect be online, if a bsod arrive, that's it!

get the removal tool(can get one on symantec site), disable system restore and run the tool as an admin in safe mode, then reboot and re-activate system restore if you use it.

it might be wise after the cleaning to clean the hdd, drive C, properties and clean disc, in advanced clean all restore points except the last one, then create a new one, there you are

francois

or, if you are connected with ethernet cables it might be the controler ...

change card and it could be ok too ...

I say this because happened to me once ...

francois

Sounds like it's going thru the 60 second warning.

as quickly as you can, open a dos prompt and type "shutdown /a"

this will abort the countdown.

had it on my wifes computer - pain in the botty

You can also try the McAfee Stinger. It's free and easy to use. You can download it here:

Stinger