Computer restarts when I open certain folders -- how can I make it stop?

Question

A few days ago, something strange started happening on my computer.

Whenever I do anything beyond selecting certain folders on my desktop (if I right click, try to open them, or even just move them to a different spot on the desktop), my computer restarts. I don’t know how many folders, because I hardly want to try them all. There doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern, aside from the fact that it only happens with folders — two of the folders I’ve noticed trouble with contain music, and two others contain a number of .zip files. But I had no problems with another folder that contained a far larger number of zip files than the other combined.

I really need to get to some of the files — particularly the .zip files — and I’m tired of wondering every time I go to the desktop if my computer is going to suddenly shut down. What’s wrong, and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

First, run a disk check. Click on start, then run, then type chkdsk c: /f It will ask you to run check disk upon restart. Confirm and restart. Once it restarts, your computer should check your hard drive for errors. If it finds any errors, hopefully that will fix the problem. There are a number of possibilities so lets start at the top. About 70% chance what you have is a virus. What you want to do is get yourself a Linux disk (link below), reboot your computer with this disk in your CD drive, and this will take you into the Linux operating system. Once it has booted, look at those folders again. If it reboots at that time, you might have something amiss with your hard drive. In that case your computer needs a technician. If you can see all the files fine, then you have a virus to which Linux is immune. In this case you need to do some careful work with anti-virus software, or just format the drive. You will need the help of someone who knows viruses well. Please understand that formatting the drive will destroy the virus, but will also destroy all your other files; You'll need to reinstall windows (or Linux) and it's a true pain. You need to bribe a friend or pay a professional to remove your virus, if that's what you have.@

Answer 2

There are a number of possibilities so lets start at the top. About 70% chance what you have is a virus. What you want to do is get yourself a Linux disk (link below), reboot your computer with this disk in your CD drive, and this will take you into the Linux operating system. Once it has booted, look at those folders again. If it reboots at that time, you might have something amiss with your hard drive. In that case your computer needs a technician. If you can see all the files fine, then you have a virus to which Linux is immune. In this case you need to do some careful work with anti-virus software, or just format the drive. You will need the help of someone who knows viruses well. Please understand that formatting the drive will destroy the virus, but will also destroy all your other files; You'll need to reinstall windows (or Linux) and it's a true pain. You need to bribe a friend or pay a professional to remove your virus, if that's what you have.

Now below is a link to the Knoppix web site you should download the file and burn it to a CD. The burning process can be tricky, but hopefully you have a tech friend. If the web site isn't helpfull enough ask again and I'll explain burning Linux CDs

Answer 3

Next time you boot your Pc - press F8 a couple of times as it boots. Once you see a menu - Choose Safe Mode and try to open your files from there. Run a virus scan and spyware scan. Also click start - run - type msconfig choose startup. Disable all except for your antivirus.

Answer 4

Try this. First, run a disk check.

Click on start, then run, then type chkdsk c: /f

It will ask you to run check disk upon restart. Confirm and restart. Once it restarts, your computer should check your hard drive for errors.

If it finds any errors, hopefully that will fix the problem.

Answer 5

try doing a full update on the anti-virus then run it on the whole hard drive, let it finish. even over night.

Answer 6

Put a stop sign in the computer.

Answer 7

I would scan your computer and sepcially those files with a good antivirus.