Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 7/1/2006

Question
Dear R.,
So here's my problem, which began to happen all of a sudden about a month ago: every time I use software like DVD Shrink, or Nero, to compress video, to transfer a video between video formats, or even when I run a virus scan (offline or online) worrying it might be some kind of virus affecting the system, somehow at the middle of the process my whole computer goes off automatically, it just stops and turns itself off, which didn't happen to me ever before, and I had done that many times in the past. I'd appreciate your help.
Thanks in advance!

Chelo  

Answer
It probably doesn't have anything to do with a virus. Especially with the newer versions of Windows like XP the system can become unstable for many reasons, mostly due to bugs in the operating system or the software you have installed. It could even be caused by a hardware problem. One way to fix your computer is to get Norton System Works. It automatically repairs thousands of things that can go wrong with your computer, and also has options for recovering lost files and for backing up your system.

If this doesn't work and you take your computer to a repair shop, be sure to back it up first because what repair shops usually do is simply reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. They call it "nuking." Or you can save money by doing this yourself, it's an option on your Windows installation disk. Some computers come with a set of system restore disks that also automatically install some of your applications.