Windows 7 freeze and boot problems

[Nusaik]

Hi,

I have my laptop for almost a year now and I'm starting to get more and more problems.

As soon as I upgraded my OS from Vista to Windows 7, it started freezing sometimes. These freezes appeared too be totally random: about once a week, sometimes with only one application running, sometimes with alot, sometimes 10 minutes after startup, sometimes 4 hours after startup etc... It is just running smoothly before these crashes and it does again after.

But since about a month it started getting worse. It freezes almost every day now (sometimes with a weird bluescreen) and sometimes it can't boot (also when it was shut down normally). When this happens it first looks normal with the animated windows 7 logo and then suddenly I get a bluescreen for a fraction of a second and it reboots. Then I'm given two options: to use startup repair or to boot normally. When I choose to boot normally, it fails again. When I choose to use startup repair, it says it can't repair after a while, but when I press cancel after that my laptop can boot again normally (for a few times at least).

I have a lot of restore points but Windows can't seem to use any of them .

Some things that might be related:
I had some problems with viruses lately, which caused some random changes like messing up my Google Chrome settings and deleting my 'open on startup' applications.
I once spillt some tea on my laptop which caused it to crash, but it worked again after leaving it to dry for a few days.

I have no idea what is going on, it appears to be random problems. PLEASE tell me if anyone else has this weird combination of problems or if you have ANY idea how to fix it.

Also I'm new to this forum so please tell me if you need more information.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dinesh]

Now that you've upgraded windows 7 from Vista, that could be a major reason of all these problems. Doing a clean install can keep you happy.

 

[mitchell65]

HI and welcome to the Forum.
I think you have answered your own question here when you say:

I had some problems with viruses lately, which caused some random changes like messing up my Google Chrome settings and deleting my 'open on startup' applications

What AV are you running and have you done a full scan lately? There are highly recommended free AV's mentioned on this Forum which you might like to try.

 

[Nusaik]

Now that you've upgraded windows 7 from Vista, that could be a major reason of all these problems. Doing a clean install can keep you happy.

You might be right but I hope this won't be nessessary, it's my last resort.

What AV are you running and have you done a full scan lately? There are highly recommended free AV's mentioned on this Forum which you might like to try.

I'm using AVG free antivirus 9.0. Most people say this is the best free antivirus program you can get but it wouldn't notice some viruses so I also use the Defense+ system from my COMODO firewall and I scan for viruses once a day with Malwarebytes' Anti-malware. I really don't understand how these viruses get through, although I download Torrents sometimes, I only download trusted ones and I always scan downloaded files for viruses.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.

 

[CarlTR6]

Nusaik, I have run AVG on my system and I found that Microsoft Security Essentials is better and has zero false positives. I, too, use Comode firewall. Are you certain that you have cleaned/remove all of the virus? I will echo Mitchell's question; have you done a deep scan with Malwarebytes? Also, I suggest you do a couple of online scans from reputable sites such as Trend Micro.

 

[Nusaik]

Nusaik, I have run AVG on my system and I found that Microsoft Security Essentials is better and has zero false positives. I, too, use Comode firewall. Are you certain that you have cleaned/remove all of the virus? I will echo Mitchell's question; have you done a deep scan with Malwarebytes? Also, I suggest you do a couple of online scans from reputable sites such as Trend Micro.

Thanks,

At your advice I looked up some comparisons between AVG and MSE and found that MSE finds more viruses than AVG, so I downloaded and installed it. I hope it will be better.

I'm not sure that the virus is gone, I have run alot of scans at the highest (and slowest) possible settings but everytime I do a complete scan they find about 5 to 10 new viruses. So I delete them and do another scan and they find like 0-4 viruses. But the next day they find more again .

I'll also try the online scans.

 

[Tews]

I really don't understand how these viruses get through, although I download Torrents sometimes, I only download trusted ones and I always scan downloaded files for viruses.

This is your problem in a nutshell... There is no such thing as a trusted torrent... You just dont know what kind of "gifts" have been included in the file that you get... Hopefully, you will be able to take care of these viruses, but IMO, the best solution is a format/reinstall of the OS... Once infected, you just cant trust your data security anymore...

Good Luck..

 

[Nusaik]

With everyone talking about viruses now, I'd like to point out that I already had problems before I downloaded anything. The freezes started as soon as I upgraded from Vista to 7.

Starting to look more and more like I have to do a clean reinstall though.

 

[Tews]

With everyone talking about viruses now, I'd like to point out that I already had problems before I downloaded anything. The freezes started as soon as I upgraded from Vista to 7.

Starting to look more and more like I have to do a clean reinstall though.

Which is why most experienced users ALWAYS prefer a clean install over an in-place upgrade... Another good idea is to image your system disc as a part of your backup policy ... its a lot easier to restore a system image than it is to have to reinstall the OS/programs etc...

This will show you how to create a system image (clone) backup of the entire hard drive or partition that Windows 7 is on, and any other selected drive or partition, to be able to restore the hard drive or partition at boot up back to the way it was at the time the backup image was created.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html?ltr=B

 

[1Bowtie]

With everyone talking about viruses now, I'd like to point out that I already had problems before I downloaded anything. The freezes started as soon as I upgraded from Vista to 7.

Starting to look more and more like I have to do a clean reinstall though.

Which is why most experienced users ALWAYS prefer a clean install over an in-place upgrade... Another good idea is to image your system disc as a part of your backup policy ... its a lot easier to restore a system image than it is to have to reinstall the OS/programs etc...

This will show you how to create a system image (clone) backup of the entire hard drive or partition that Windows 7 is on, and any other selected drive or partition, to be able to restore the hard drive or partition at boot up back to the way it was at the time the backup image was created.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html?ltr=B

Just to follow up on what Tews said, with all the prob's and virus's you've had they can be hidden in your data as well so i second a clean install and be careful of the data you save

 

[CarlTR6]

I really don't understand how these viruses get through, although I download Torrents sometimes, I only download trusted ones and I always scan downloaded files for viruses.

This is your problem in a nutshell... There is no such thing as a trusted torrent... You just dont know what kind of "gifts" have been included in the file that you get... Hopefully, you will be able to take care of these viruses, but IMO, the best solution is a format/reinstall of the OS... Once infected, you just cant trust your data security anymore...

Good Luck..

With everyone talking about viruses now, I'd like to point out that I already had problems before I downloaded anything. The freezes started as soon as I upgraded from Vista to 7.

Starting to look more and more like I have to do a clean reinstall though.

Which is why most experienced users ALWAYS prefer a clean install over an in-place upgrade... Another good idea is to image your system disc as a part of your backup policy ... its a lot easier to restore a system image than it is to have to reinstall the OS/programs etc...

This will show you how to create a system image (clone) backup of the entire hard drive or partition that Windows 7 is on, and any other selected drive or partition, to be able to restore the hard drive or partition at boot up back to the way it was at the time the backup image was created.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html?ltr=B

I definitely endorse what Tews has suggested - both the clean install and the image back up. Upgrade installs seem to cause a lot of problems. With your upgrade install and your virus problem, I don't see any choice. Do a clean install.

 

[karlsnooks]

Follow the excellent and consistent advice given to you. Be sure to use Microsoft Security Essentials as your anti-virus software.

 

[Nusaik]

Ok thanks everyone for helping me so quickly!

I'll do a clean reinstall with a new Windows 7 disk (since the other one was upgrade-only). I'll just copy my important files to a hard-drive since I can easily install my other programs. And I'll use Microsoft Security Essentials, COMODO Firewall and Malwarebytes' Anti Malware.

I learned alot from this and I'll be more carefull with my next OS.

 

[1Bowtie]

Ok thanks everyone for helping me so quickly!

I'll do a clean reinstall with a new Windows 7 disk (since the other one was upgrade-only). I'll just copy my important files to a hard-drive since I can easily install my other programs. And I'll use Microsoft Security Essentials, COMODO Firewall and Malwarebytes' Anti Malware.

I learned alot from this and I'll be more carefull with my next OS.

Hope everything works out for you, be sure and let us know and if you need more help the lites are always on here

 

[CarlTR6]

Ok thanks everyone for helping me so quickly!

I'll do a clean reinstall with a new Windows 7 disk (since the other one was upgrade-only). I'll just copy my important files to a hard-drive since I can easily install my other programs. And I'll use Microsoft Security Essentials, COMODO Firewall and Malwarebytes' Anti Malware.

I learned alot from this and I'll be more carefull with my next OS.

I wish you success. Please post back and let us know how your install goes.