Possible Virus?

[dankup]

Hello.

I've got big problems with my computer recently and can't figure out what it is. A few times in a day it will restart on its own while I'm browsing the web, nothing heavy. One time during the restart it showed the blue screen of death but didn't say the regular "A problem has been detected, etc" It went away in a few seconds and all I could make of it that it was counting down something, stopped at the number 40 and proceeded to boot. After this all my notepad files now have the extension ".txt" on them, all my music files have the extention ".mp3" on them and all my Word files have the extension ".doc". Same with my avi files, etc. I can delete the extension in the file name but then the Word logo or windows media player logo disappears and I can't open the file. When I try and open the file without erasing the extension I get a "server execution failed" message. I've used BitDefender to try and scan for a virus - found a trojan and deleted it but the problem persists. I recently installed a few updates for my Windows 7 machine which might be the problem but haven't tried system restore yet (and don't really want to, tbh). Any idea what this could be? Has my HD gone dead?

[will888]

I would format and reinstall the OS if there was a virus found and removal did not fix the problem. System restore is useless for situations like this.

[arm2000]

I am not convinced that it's a virus or a HDD problem, sounds more like a driver/system file problem after update. I would do a system restore before trying something more drastic like re-formatting. Also, txt, mp3, doc and other extensions are normal for those files, you didn't see them before because your system was configured to not show them but somehow that setting was reverted now. If you delete the extension the system will not know what kind of files are they and what to use to open them (but usually you can still open if you specify what program to use: Open With ...) Check the file associations settings, maybe there are also some settings changed there that cause havoc.

[lostintransit]

1) make sure you have a backup of all essential files, because its possible that your hdd is failing, although not likely

reboot into windows safe mode and leave it, does it reboot by itself?

check the windows event viewer logs for system/application just before it restarts, any errors?

could be anything at this stage
my first test would be against the powersupply, if you have either a powersupply tester or a spare powersupply to swap


Hello.

I've got big problems with my computer recently and can't figure out what it is. A few times in a day it will restart on its own while I'm browsing the web, nothing heavy. One time during the restart it showed the blue screen of death but didn't say the regular "A problem has been detected, etc" It went away in a few seconds and all I could make of it that it was counting down something, stopped at the number 40 and proceeded to boot. After this all my notepad files now have the extension ".txt" on them, all my music files have the extention ".mp3" on them and all my Word files have the extension ".doc". Same with my avi files, etc. I can delete the extension in the file name but then the Word logo or windows media player logo disappears and I can't open the file. When I try and open the file without erasing the extension I get a "server execution failed" message. I've used BitDefender to try and scan for a virus - found a trojan and deleted it but the problem persists. I recently installed a few updates for my Windows 7 machine which might be the problem but haven't tried system restore yet (and don't really want to, tbh). Any idea what this could be? Has my HD gone dead?

[Handyzman]

Sounds like faulty memory. Try isolating hardware and test.

[ah802]

It's that time of the year overheating becomes the number one issue, rebooting in the middle of a web browse is a symptom. Software corruption is possible.

Put a couple of temp monitors on your desktop.

[insync44]

Hello.

I've got big problems with my computer recently and can't figure out what it is. A few times in a day it will restart on its own while I'm browsing the web, nothing heavy. One time during the restart it showed the blue screen of death but didn't say the regular "A problem has been detected, etc" It went away in a few seconds and all I could make of it that it was counting down something, stopped at the number 40 and proceeded to boot. After this all my notepad files now have the extension ".txt" on them, all my music files have the extention ".mp3" on them and all my Word files have the extension ".doc". Same with my avi files, etc. I can delete the extension in the file name but then the Word logo or windows media player logo disappears and I can't open the file. When I try and open the file without erasing the extension I get a "server execution failed" message. I've used BitDefender to try and scan for a virus - found a trojan and deleted it but the problem persists. I recently installed a few updates for my Windows 7 machine which might be the problem but haven't tried system restore yet (and don't really want to, tbh). Any idea what this could be? Has my HD gone dead?

Are you using a Nvidia card? Are you browsing with FireFox?

Some Nvidia (560ti, in my case) does this occasionally. Nothing you can really do in this case.
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=207666&st=0

If it happens in FF go to TOOLS< OPTIONS> ADVANCED and untick "use hardware acceleration".

[townie22]

it could be anyone of several problems. i would start by downloading MalwareBytes (free version), update it, then run it in Safe Mode. if that shows clean, test your hard drive http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm, then. as mentioned, check operating temps, and RAM.

[dankup]

I am not convinced that it's a virus or a HDD problem, sounds more like a driver/system file problem after update. I would do a system restore before trying something more drastic like re-formatting. Also, txt, mp3, doc and other extensions are normal for those files, you didn't see them before because your system was configured to not show them but somehow that setting was reverted now. If you delete the extension the system will not know what kind of files are they and what to use to open them (but usually you can still open if you specify what program to use: Open With ...) Check the file associations settings, maybe there are also some settings changed there that cause havoc.

They don't open in the first place. None of my .mp3 files open. When I click it, WMP doesn't pop up. It gives me a "server execution failed" error.

[dankup]

1) make sure you have a backup of all essential files, because its possible that your hdd is failing, although not likely

reboot into windows safe mode and leave it, does it reboot by itself?

check the windows event viewer logs for system/application just before it restarts, any errors?

could be anything at this stage
my first test would be against the powersupply, if you have either a powersupply tester or a spare powersupply to swap

PSU is fine. It would restart only once or twice a day it's not an ongoing problem. However, I know there is something.

[wilsonlam97]

I had the same problem and my computer became sluggish. So I got pissed and I just reformatted and reinstall. Now I'm a lot happier.

[xXxTehxXx]

Hello.

I've got big problems with my computer recently and can't figure out what it is. A few times in a day it will restart on its own while I'm browsing the web, nothing heavy. One time during the restart it showed the blue screen of death but didn't say the regular "A problem has been detected, etc" It went away in a few seconds and all I could make of it that it was counting down something, stopped at the number 40 and proceeded to boot. After this all my notepad files now have the extension ".txt" on them, all my music files have the extention ".mp3" on them and all my Word files have the extension ".doc". Same with my avi files, etc. I can delete the extension in the file name but then the Word logo or windows media player logo disappears and I can't open the file. When I try and open the file without erasing the extension I get a "server execution failed" message. I've used BitDefender to try and scan for a virus - found a trojan and deleted it but the problem persists. I recently installed a few updates for my Windows 7 machine which might be the problem but haven't tried system restore yet (and don't really want to, tbh). Any idea what this could be? Has my HD gone dead?

So wait, the problem is you're seeing the file extension of each file? Open up Computer, hit ALT, click Tools, folder options, view, "hide extensions for known file types". I'm on XP right now so the steps might be a little different, but the setting is definitely there

[lostintransit]

PSU is fine. It would restart only once or twice a day it's not an ongoing problem. However, I know there is something.

ok, i am talking about the powersupply in the computer, not the power (supply) from the wall, and seeing if it is a hardware or software problem.
its possible a virus broke some of the file associations , but more likely you installed or uninstalled something which did.

Its pointless troubleshooting something like this over a forum, either take it to comp store /your tech friend or backup ,format and reinstall

[dankup]

ok, i am talking about the powersupply in the computer, not the power (supply) from the wall, and seeing if it is a hardware or software problem.
its possible a virus broke some of the file associations , but more likely you installed or uninstalled something which did.

Its pointless troubleshooting something like this over a forum, either take it to comp store /your tech friend or backup ,format and reinstall

Obviously.. I was talking about the computer PSU too. Anyways, I am the "techie friend". I'm good with computers but just don't know what happened.. I'm thinking of reinstalling my OS if a few other options fail (MalwareBytes, etc).

[dankup]

it could be anyone of several problems. i would start by downloading MalwareBytes (free version), update it, then run it in Safe Mode. if that shows clean, test your hard drive http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm, then. as mentioned, check operating temps, and RAM.

How would I check operating temps and RAM? Through BIOS?

[townie22]

you could try one of these freebies to monitor temps http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-disk-health-monitoring-utility.htm
and one of these for RAM test (i recommend Memtest86, used it myself) http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/memorytest.htm