This is strange. My laptop gives me a message that says I cannot restart. No. It's all fucked. I hit CTR ALT DET, And I get an application error. Help please. Just happened.
It could be a dozen reasons. Seeing as you are up and concerned about it, I would suggest doing google forum research and typing in the precise words/messages that come up. For example: http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread111079.html http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-9082-explorer-exe-corrupted-or-infected comes up with potential solutions. Not to overstate the obvious, but I assume you powered down (it must power down with no power, aside from maybe BIOS memory) and restarted? Does it restart? If so, boot into safe mode. Run some scans and if you suspect malware, beyond the usual tools (maleware bytes, etc) look into combofix as a powerful last resort. Could be faulty drive on its way out.
Yes. I wish I had taken a picture, or typed it into google on my trading box. If it happens again, I'll share it. But I guess I knew it was malicious right away and just prayed that powering down would help. So that was the first thing I tried. After about the fifth attempt, it seems to have started normally, and seems to be running fine. But it wasn't a message which was from my system. The message itself was part of the incoming problem. It reminded me of the Southwest commercial from years ago. Although it wasn't quite as in my face. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Ht_docdUY It was like a very bad attempt at trying to make it look like my own system generated the error message. A virus scan picks up nothing, which is why I'm going to try your suggestions. Thank you. Yes 2012 is coming, but so will 2013, 2014, and so on, and so on.... Mods, I'm not sure why I put this in the trading forum. Probably a result of my whiskey induced panic attack during the crisis. Feel free to move, please.
It sounds like you got an infection of some kind. I would suggest you read this link and then run Rkill (malicious processes) and Dr. Web CureIt (viruses). Good luck. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic308364.html
Just happened again while I was in the middle of a scan, but this time it went straight to the blue screen of death without showing that stupid cheesy message I saw last night. It powered right back up by itself, and I finished the scan using a spyware doctor subscription I forgot I had from an old computer, and deleted 563 "low risk" infections. So much for windows defender and mcafee I'm not much of a techie, but I'm not convinced SD is going to catch everything, so I'll follow up with the other suggestions above. Thanks again.
BSOD usually occurs from incompatible drivers, so try to remove any recent installation and see if that works. If it's indeed caused by a virus, I will tell you that whoever wrote the damn thing is an idiot. Virus, by definition, is supposed to remain hidden while wreaking havoc.
Thanks Oil guy. Good info. I ran 3 scans: Spyware doctor, malwarebytes, and AVG per a friend's recommendation. But now I get this every time a new web page loads. It started after the malware scan. I need to take an advanced computer class or something.
Uninstalled Malware: No change Uninstalled AVG: Fixed the above problem Still running SpyDoc Probably not an AVG problem. Maybe just a conflict between it and SpyDoc. Should have foreseen that, but didn't. For now - closing laptop, crossing fingers for tomorrow, having a drink while watching some Flying Wild Alaska, and going to bed. At least it's not the trading box. Thanks all.
Might be a good idea to do a system restore to a date at least 2 weeks before this problem first started.