Random PC Shutdown - Win XP

[sensayisme]

I recently bought a second hand pc (i know but im poor ok!?) Did the neccessary clean ups and have had a perfectly working system for about 2 months now. Within the last week my computer has started turning itself off with no warning. It goes in this order: Closure of all open programs with no option to save what i'm doing, Disabling of the zlclient.exe process, Standard system shutdown. I recently had somewhat of a virus and malware infestation but that has been dealt with (i think cos zone alarm no longer reports any threats). There is no pattern to the shutdowns, they happen completely randomly and under completely differing environments. The longest i have yet been able to go without shutdown is 6 hours approx. Any help anyone has would be great cos this is very very annoying!

System Specs (Bear in mind i am not a computer whizz ok?)

512 pci 100 ddr ram
2.6 ghz p4
80gb seagate HDD
nvidia 5200 FX Graphics
k -world dtvr 100 free view/tv tuner card
Trust 5.1 sound card (yes that all the box says)
Hawking Hi Gain USB Wireless-G Adapter (I use this to access my local FREE access hot spot so is legal)
Motherboard (not too sure, if someone wants to tell me how to find this out I'll fill in the gaps.)
Zone Alarm Internet Security

If you need more info please just ask and I'll find it out.


Thanks in anticipation of your help,
Sensay

P.S Hears hoping i might actually be able to watch a film tonight.....

 

[sensayisme]

Forgot to say.....

Have also had some problems with the OS itself such as an almost mandatory need to have the taskman running else windows just locks up. And one time it took 5 reboots for windows to detect either of my keyboards (wireless and wired) although they were detected during boot up. Not sure if this is related....?

 

[sensayisme]

lol really just one more thing

After reading some other posts i can satisfactorily tell you that it is not a temperature or mobo transistor problem. As for the PSU i'm currently checking.

 

[gbhall]

It is just as likely to be a virus, etc. A firewall is not going to stop that. Check out this site for doing a complete anti-virus, anti-root kit, spyware etc etc clean.

 

[sensayisme]

OK. Shall have a look see on here then. But surely, ZA comes with anti virus/spyware powered by kaspersky. should that not be enough protection? And if not can u recommend any additional software? i kinda wanna ditch ZA now but i paid for it! Thanks for your advice.

Sensay

 

[gbhall]

ZA being ZoneAlarm? There is a perfectly good free version of a firewall from them which I use. There is no track record for their anti-virus and spyware pack, and I personally would not put my faith in that. Some pople are even suggesting ZoneAlarm is losing it's bite.

For anti-virus most people stick to a product with a known track record of capability. Personally I am happy with AVG free anti-virus, and also use Spybot search&destroy although that is not for the inexperienced.

I think possibly the fact that you say you have had an infection speaks for itself. Maybe that was before you had any protection. Be aware that once through......not many packages can REALLY clean up completely, and a multiple sweep with several packages is often required, sometimes running way down at Dos level....sorry it is not easy. An armful of protection is better than a handful of clearing up. For example, wireless networking is often wide open as delivered, and needs to be very, very carefully secured.

For an example of what you will end up doing, see https://www.techspot.com/community/...lware-removal-preliminary-instructions.58138/ and try some of it for yourself but DO NOT post anything without express invitation of Julio, who may well help you if you ask nicely and are certain you have a stubborn infection.

 

[sensayisme]

Thanks

OK thanks friend your advice seems absolutely right. I have tried many different removal techniques and still unsuccessfully have at least one virus left that i cant seem to clean and it is affecting my registry, causing all kinds of random occurrences. Am going to go through Julio's Tips now hopefully that does it. If i still have a problem do i just ask this guy for help, yes?

Once again thank you for your patience and advice

Sensay