Windows shuts down my laptop

[Guest]

Windows is completely shutting down my laptop soon after startup. I keep
trying to restart, but it shuts down every time. It's not the power adapter,
I had that tested and it is at full capacity. There was a long error message
that ran for 20 seconds, but I did't even get finished reading it. The error
message only came up once on reboot, but when I restarted again the error
message did not appear again. Is this some sort of security issue in XP? How
do I fix it if I can't keep it fired up?

 

[Ron Hinds]

Windows is completely shutting down my laptop soon after startup. I keep
trying to restart, but it shuts down every time. It's not the power adapter,
I had that tested and it is at full capacity. There was a long error message
that ran for 20 seconds, but I did't even get finished reading it. The error
message only came up once on reboot, but when I restarted again the error
message did not appear again. Is this some sort of security issue in XP? How
do I fix it if I can't keep it fired up?

Sounds like a virus to me - there is a recent one (within the last year)
that does exactly what you are describing. You need to get anti-virus
software and restart in Safe Mode (press F8 as your computer is booting)
then virus scan your entire PC.

 

[Scott Thomas]

Yes, there is a virus that does this. It actually makes it look like a
Windows problem. It can either shut down your PC, or reboot over and over
again. That one is particularly nasty and is VERY easy to infect your PC.
It is one of the most amazing Viruses I have come across.