White Screen during operation

I'll see if I can make this as simple as possible, yet still include as many details as I can.
My laptop has recently been experiencing random problems -- like overheating and then shutting down, sluggish, and now over the last couple of days I get a white fuzzy screen and all I can do is a hard boot. All of which is somewhat erratic and inconsistant -- the white screen happened 3 times yesterday when I tried to defrag and run virus scan. Then again this morning when simply trying to check email. I rebooted in safe mode, ran virus scan (which only turned up the usual adware) and it has been fine all day, so I'm inclined to believe that it is a hardware issue, and not a virus.
Has anyone else had this problem, and what should I check first -- cpu, video, ram? I will graduate in the spring with CSS degree, but I'm still a little insecure about where to start with problems such as this.
thanks!
 
I see a lot of people are reading this post, but no one has replied.... perhaps this is one of those rare instances that leaves everyone scratching their heads.
I have now noticed that the only time the white screen happens is during 1. backups, 2. virus scans, and 3. defrag
Other than that, the computer runs somewhat normally. I say that because we installed Trend Micro Titanium recently, and it has seriously slowed down everything. I thought this was the source of the white screen problem, so I uninstalled Trend, attempted another disk defrag, and the same thing still happens.
I REALLY don't want to do a Windows reinstall, but I don't know what else to do. Something is corrupt somewhere. ANY ideas or theories are appreciated.
Thanks again.
 
Is it still overheating?

Taking the software out of the equation for a second...Would you say it does it when its getting really hot?

Might be worth considering ordering some decent thermal paste, and then removing your CPU cooler and cleaning it thoroughly, then using new thermal compound and re-fitting it if it is.
 
Leeky,
it overheats when running programs like online games or pictures in picasa, and occasionally when doing the virus scan. When this happens it powers down. It does not seem to be overheating during the times that the white screen appears. It seems to be running normally, then all of a sudden the screen starts to fade to white.
I think checking the thermal paste is a good idea for the overheating problem.
thanks
 
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