what the HELL is wrong with this computer

I seem to have a virus or something that I can't find. On the computer in the other room, the CDRW drive will open up as soon as you boot up the computer, and will stay open unless you push it in and hold it shut until it stops trying to come out. The more annoying thing, however, is that every now and again, the computer will randomly (and I mean randomly, sometimes it takes minutes to do it, sometimes days) stop responding to any input whatsoever. Even if there are no programs running and it is just sitting idle. It will freeze up, the image stays on the screen and it looks totally normal, but the keyboard, mouse, and any other input have no effect whatsoever. I have tried to run virus scans, but they come up with no results. IN fact, sometimes it freezes up while they are running.

What is wrong with this computer?@!??

Spyware maybe, or a rootkit. Run: Ad Aware, MS AntiSpyware Beta, Rootkit Revealer.

Theres a bunch of free spyware programs. I have a bunch at home(at school now) if you want the name, post here and i'll post 'em up. They were all free, and there really good.

I have most of them... spybot S&D, adaware, blah blah... still nothing. What gives?!?

Try rootkit revealer like I suggested, just in case.

My guess is that something has lost an interrupt (response) and it is waiting for some program to respond. When hung, try hitting CTRL/ALT/DELETE at the same time. A window should pop up - and if you are lucky, identify a program that is waiting.

Next, I would check the startup programs (go to START/RUN and type MSCONFIG). Click the STARTUP tab and look at the list of programs that are starting when the system boots. Be careful not to unclick system programs - but you can safely stop many other programs so that they don't automatically load when the system boots. They will still work...it just takes longer to load when you initiate them because they haven't been started already.


Wireless connections will also hang frequently while rechecking the connection. They can lose a response and just "wait".

Hope this helps