My computer keeps restarting itself.

[Corals]

A while back my computer kept cutting out and restarting all by itself, plus the mouse was freezing up on me. I took the computer to the computer engineer and he said that I had a lot of spyware on my computer that needed to be removed. That he did. He also installed a new anti-spyware and anti-virus.

When I got the computer back it was working fine, but now, for the past two week or so, it has gone back to the same old thing. I could be typing a message like this and it would suddenly restart itself.

I ran the anti-virus to check if there was a virus but it comes it negative. What should I do? Should I take it back to the computer engineer or is there some problem that I am unaware of.

[jamesfrmphilly]

sounds buggy to me.

do you have a router?
do you have a firewall?
if not, you are having unprotected internet and we all know where that leads.
can you afford to reformat your drive?
do you have a lot of stuff?

if you do not have a firewall you want to put one up, like NOW!
once you are secure behind a firewall you want to clean your box.
the easy thing to do is reformat.
if you don't want to do that then run scans until you get it cleaned.
microsoft has a free antispyware tool.
zone alarm makes the best anti spyware and software fire wall today.
i use norton internet security which is also good.

if you go here: http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/
there is a remote scan that is good.

you need to keep your stuff protected and clean, sweetie.

[MadameX]

Hmmm. You may have Spyware or Adware on your computer. You may want to install Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware on your computer and run those programs.

[Corals]

I don't have a router.
I have microsoft Antispyware
I have a firewall
I have Norton AntiVirus

The computer engineer reformatted the hard drive about six weeks ago when I took it to him.

Could he have planted something in my computer? :whistling

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by Corals

Could he have planted something in my computer? :whistling

Maybe. But for starters, Try the programs that I suggested in my first post.

[Corals]

Originally Posted by MadameX

Maybe. But for starters, Try the programs that I suggested in my first post.

I think I might just do that. Thanks, and thank you James as well.

[jamesfrmphilly]

if it was OK after you got reformatted and now it's not it seems like something got on your machine after you restarted it.
if you have a legit copy of windows you can make a service call to microsoft.
do you have something scanning your email?
try the remote scan i sent you.
it's free.
if all else fails take it back to the person.

[apondonet]

Sounds more like bad hardware to me or a combination of software and hardware problems.

What was the last thing you did just before this started happening....did you add any hardware to your PC?

Your PC may be overheating. Open up your case and check the cooling fans. A bad processor fan is a more likely culprit. Make sure that your fans are not clogged with dirt. If they are, buy compressed air and blow away the dirt.

Last but not least, your power supply may be failing or not supplying enough power if you recently added some hardware.

There are lots of other reasons why you would be getting these problems. The only way to solve them is by trial and error.

[Corals]

Thanks everyone for your help. I think it could be anything. I ran spy&destroy and I thought the problem had been solved because it didn't restart for a week or soon. Then it started again, so it could be as Ankhesenamun said, that I may have downloaded files and cookies which is causing the problem.

What is interesting is what apondonet said regarding the power supply. When I think about it, just before I went on holiday back in July, the house was rewired, and it was only from that time that I started to have problems. Also what has been happening is that when the computer is on and I switch the wall plug on in the bedroom to switch the tv on, whenever I go back to the computer, the internet connect is usually disconnected. I found that reaaly strange. That shouldn't happen should it. It has never happened before.

I've taken the computer back to the engineer who was miserable and was not too happy about me bringing it back.

[apondonet]

If it's something to do with the re-wiring, the Tech will definitely tell you there is nothing wrong with your system or worse, come up with a misleading story to get rid of you!

How about running your system at a Friend's House for a couple of days to eliminate the possibility that it's due to bad wiring in your house? If the problem persists, then your wiring should be OK. The next logical step should be installing a new POWER SUPPLY or simply swapping the present one with another one known to be good - Your Tech should be able to do this free of charge....I am sure he has several Power Supply units lying around for testing. The swap is a simple five minute procedure.....then take it back home and test run it. If you have to buy a PS and you live in the United States, here is a place where you can get Power Supplies for as little as $20.00.

If this fails too, then it may be a bigger problem ....hope it's not the Motherboard.

Trial and error until you pin-point the problem.