Windows 7 suddenly acting "weird"

Today, 7/26, I tried starting up my laptop with an installation of Windows 7 RC1 64-bit. Upon reaching the log-in screen, I entered my password, and I got the "welcome" and the spinning blue wheel. I noticed that it took a surprisingly long time (almost 1 minute) to get past this stage, as opposed to the usual 25-30 seconds.

The blue log-in screen faded to black, and my pointer/arrow appeared, along with the bottom-right text that said "Windows 7, Evaluation Copy. Build 7100." The background was completely black, and the taskbar was nowhere to be seen. My only option was to bring up the Task Manager, which looked unusually bare (in the Processes tab). explorer.exe was in fact running, but I decided to end it and start it up again as a new task. Sure enough, the taskbar along with my wallpaper came up, as if I had just turned on my computer.

I restarted a few times, even removing my password in an attempt to eliminate that factor from my consideration of what was wrong. I then proceeded to restore my system to yesterday, right before I installed my most recent program (the MyNetflix add-on for Windows Media Center). I also want to mention that yesterday, even after installing MyNetflix, I did not have any problems starting up my computer. Anywho, a restore to yesterday did not eliminate the problem.

Then, even after restoring it a full week back, I still had the exact same problem. I will note that my anti-virus icon for AVG Free, was no longer visible in my taskbar notification area, even though I did not change any options and it was always there before. However, AVG was running and up to date.

To add to the list of odd events, just as I started writing this thread, my C and V keys stopped working (in both my browser and the search function of my Start menu). However, Notepad seemed to give me no problems. Upon restarting just my browser (Google Chrome 3), the keys once again worked.

I know this is a lot more than most of you want to read, but it's the only way I could explain what's been happening without being too vague. Do you have any ideas what might be happening? I would hate to have to reinstall Windows 7, and I certainly don't want to have to manually end the process explorer.exe and start it up again every time I turn on my computer.

I should also mention that shutdown times have also been about 50% longer since this problem arose. And just to make it clear, I did turn this computer on and off several times since installing the last program, so I don't know why things are suddenly going awry.

Thanks for any input you might have to offer.

Your using an old version of 7 and AVG is probably made for the RTM.

Virus scanners interface with windows at the highest levels, using an antivirus not designed for your version of windows can definitely cause problems.

3r1c said:

Your using an old version of 7 and AVG is probably made for the RTM.

Virus scanners interface with windows at the highest levels, using an antivirus not designed for your version of windows can definitely cause problems.

I've been using AVG for months, for both the beta and the RC with no trouble. Microsoft themselves have AVG as one of the recommended anti-virus programs for Windows 7, including the RC (as far as I know). Plus, is there that big a difference between the RC and the version that is released to manufacturers?

Have you consider to change your AV? I say this because AVG free (I supose is this version you're using) does not have rootkit protection, and rootkits nowadays are one of the most common threats.

You can always do a scan with other free programs like Superantispyware or Malwarebytes-Anti malware to see if they detect something.

In case you're having an infection by rootkits then I suggest that you change your AV to Avira free (my choice) ou Avast free.

3r1c said:

...Virus scanners interface with windows at the highest levels...

At the lowest levels.

I had an issue comparable to that described when I first tried using Windows 7. The user profile had gotten corrupt somehow and I did end up reinstalling from scratch, and it never came back.

Attributed it to (1) Upgrading from Vista rather than fresh installing, and (2) The antivirus I was using at the time (Norton) which wasn't 100% compatible. Since went to ESET and all is fine (except for the ticking Norton subscription that's now virtually worthless to me).

If you can, check your system's event log for any messages.

People still use Norton and AVG free version? AVG is not what it used to be. But still runs good.
You probably got a pop-up and something fishy installed by itself. Turned off the unit and surprise surprise, a malware infected your computer.
black screen, no wallpaper and the signs you're posting are commonly attributed to a virus.
I'm using the latest build though, but never had a problem with the RC except a few GUI glitches