Unexpected Shutdowns

[Guest]

I am running Windows XP Pro & it has been shutting down or freezing
unexpectedly. I have cleaned several problems off with a combination of Ad
Ware Removal, Norton Internet, and Microsoft AntiSpyware- but one problem
persist. If I attempt a virus scan with Norton my computer shuts down at the
same file everytime. If I even attempt to look into this folder it will shut
down. If I attempt to delete this folder (Program Files/Microsoft
Office/Office 11/Migration) it will shut down, & it will do so in SAFE MODE
as well. I have been on Symantec Tech Support for hours. I was able to
eliminate the first file that Norton stopped at, but not this one. Is this a
virus, or a driver conflict? Should I give in and reformat??

 

[William Ducklow]

Try running scandisk on that drive first. Maybe it is pointing somewhere
unavailable and causing issues.
Thats an obvoius check and you have probably already done it but you might
want to check for bad sectors. This takes a long time but just try it. It
has saved me a few times.

You might also do a defrag and see if that clears it up. This has also
worked for me in the past.

You should have significant free space on your HD before you try either of
these. Also make sure you turn off Norton AV and any other unneeded
applications/services.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Try running scandisk on that drive first.

He can't run scandisk because there is no scandisk in Windows XP.
The XP equivalent is called chkdsk, and I agree that it's a good
idea to run it.

 

[Guest]

I should have mentioned that I did use Check disk and selected 'Scan for &
attempt recovery of bad sectors' - but it would freeze my pointer at stage 4
every time. I think I have wasted a lot of time pursuing the 'virus' angle- I
don't believe that's the problem. Also, I did defragment the disk and the
point at which a virus scan would shut down the computer, moved- I guess that
should have told me something. I will go back and attempt Check Disk again.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Guest]

I will try again, but it appears to 'lock up' - the pointer freezes.