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#1
Possible Virus? Strange Slowdowns & Sudden Shutdowns - Windows 7
I've had Windows 7 for probably 2 or so years now. I've experienced some weird slowdowns and sudden shutdowns on my computer. For reference, I use Avast, Microsoft Essentials and Norton Antivirus to detect any malware or Trojans on my computer... but when I search for something I find nothing.
My computer has these strange slowdowns... at least I think that's the best way to describe them. They're quick and seem to come in intervals. It affects video and audio; I can't watch or listen to anything without this phenomenon happening. It never lasts more than a second but it makes video freeze and it makes audio glitch -- I have to deal with sharp, loud pauses of the audio while listening or watching anything. It seems like they're set in either 5 minute or 10 minute intervals.
Another problem is a sudden shutdown. For whatever reason, some websites seem to have trouble loading properly. Sometimes they load quickly, other times they only load partially and end up giving me a 404 error. I have to refresh the page sometimes 3 or 4 times to try and load things properly. I haven't picked up any pattern in the websites that cause this odd problem. From what I can tell, after a certain amount of refreshes on these websites, my computer suddenly shuts down -- as in, the screen goes black, I get a quick glimpse of a blue screen and then the computer boots up as if I restarted it. Sometimes, the computer takes forever to boot up after one of these incidents and I have to manually shut the computer down and try to restart it.
I have no idea what's wrong with my computer. I assume it's something like deeply embedded malware or maybe even a virus... Before I got this new computer with Windows 7, I had a computer with Windows XP for about 10 years; my hard drive's memory and files were eaten away by some stubborn virus which had embedded itself into my System32 folder. I have no idea if anyone else has ever experienced these problems and if it's even a case of malware or a virus.