jazzman111
IS-IT--Management
Recently my PC has developed some problems. I'm running Windows XP and use Foxfire 3.0 as my browser. I also use Vipre as my anti-virus program. A few weeks ago, I began to notice my performance when loading programs, and even features like mail in Foxfire, was slowing down considerably. It also takes seemingly forever for the computer to boot up. So I ran the "Remove Programs" program and deleted a number of those I didn't use any more. I also ran the defrag program. I checked the history on my Vipre program and found it was scanning daily, as I had scheduled it. It reported no viruses that it had not been able to eliminate.
Recently, I uncharacteristically left my PC on over night. (I usually religiously go through the prescribed shut-down process.) Since then, if the PC is idle for an hour or so, I find that a large, dark, rectangle shape appears in the middle of the screen--and the bottom tray that normally shows the "Start" icon on the left and other programs' icons on the right--is no longer visible.
Sorry for the long-winded description, but here's my question: does it sound like I have a virus problem here? A hardware problem? Both?
Recently, I uncharacteristically left my PC on over night. (I usually religiously go through the prescribed shut-down process.) Since then, if the PC is idle for an hour or so, I find that a large, dark, rectangle shape appears in the middle of the screen--and the bottom tray that normally shows the "Start" icon on the left and other programs' icons on the right--is no longer visible.
Sorry for the long-winded description, but here's my question: does it sound like I have a virus problem here? A hardware problem? Both?