Intro

Hello. I am having a major problem which I have not been able to solve. I am not sure whether this is a software or hardware issue, however it is vital that it be fixed. I come here to desperately seek assistance.

Problem

For the past month or so, my computer has been freezing. When it freezes, and after I have to (manually) power off the computer and restart it, the same freezing occurs later on. From what I can see, whenever it freezes, it duplicates one instance of a program and disallows any more openings of programs, and attempting ending the duplicated program fails. For a better visualization, I took a picture from my phone so you can see. Since the computer was frozen, I couldn?t take a screenshot?


edited by ddp

Sorry about the quality, but the two main things to acknowledge in that picture is the fact that it displays two of the exact same tasks being open in processes (despite only one window being open) and their statuses are Not Responding. Also take note that this happens to almost all of my applications, not just Firefox.

Attempted Solutions

I was so fed up with being in the middle of something and then the computer rebooting. I scanned everywhere with Avast Home Edition and it picked up no viruses whatsoever. I also used Spybot S&D and Spyware Terminator. After seeing that there were no viruses being picked up, I decided it was time to reformat my HDD? So, I did indeed perform a quick-format it and reinstalled Windows XP. I had made a backup disc (two, actually, adding to over 9GB) so I installed all the plugins, put my pictures and music files back in their folders, and then I started to install things? Everything worked fine, until I began installing Nero 9. It froze at 16% and I had to reboot (Same duplication problem). I didn?t know what to say or do, so I just tried again. Same thing happened? OK, so I move on to install other programs. They work, but when I go on Firefox, it freezes and duplicates yet again.

Potential Reasons

Right now, I am thinking of three possibilities, ordered from greatest possible to least possible, in my opinion. These are all hypothetical, of course.

1. A very sneaky virus, undetectable by the latest protection, infected all my installation/plugins/etc. files thus causing some sort of glitch making programs spawn another instance of itself and freeze.

2. I have a corrupt version of Windows. I had originally owned an HP with a retail-version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed. However, when I tried reformatting that HDD and then using the license on this PC, it failed, and Microsoft wasn?t too helpful in letting me transfer that software I spent over $100 for to the new computer. This new installed XP I have is downloaded, I admit, however I feel it is very legitimate given the fact that I had already purchased and still own the original disc itself. When I try using that disc, however, it claims ?another user is registered with this license? or something along those lines. I have used this downloaded version for a while though, and before this problem I have had other problems, but nothing similar to this.

3. Something is wrong with my hardware, and for whatever reason, every time I use certain programs at a random time they will freeze.

My Computer Specifications

Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 2.40 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
1GB RAM
150GB HDD
450W Power Supply

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to read this far. If you have any ideas, hints, suggestions, etc., please do not hesitate to mention anything you think will help.

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. January 2009 @ 22:32

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. January 2009 @ 11:57

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. January 2009 @ 19:09

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9. January 2009 @ 22:33