I've been using the program HijackThis for the last few weeks, but I really don't know some of the items that the program is logging as possible threats. If anybody can help me figure out which things are needed and which aren't, I would be most grateful!

I'd be more then happy to try to interpet some things for you as best as I can. I'm no security guru but I like to think of my self as a advanced/ power user. I'll pm you my aim and e-mail adress and you could e-mail me or what not the log if you'd like and I'll look it over and let you know what I see. Or try to answer some questions you may have.

Ed

Thanks Ed! I'm not on AIM, but I can email you the logfile. I'm having an issue of my machine suddenly flashing a blue error screen and restarting while playing HalfLife 2. I thought it might be a virus or spyware, but I think it'* some kind of driver issue. I'll still send you the logfile, though!

Alright, I just realized my CPU is running WAAAAAYYYY too hot

Case temp is 35 degrees Celsius

CPU temp is 80 degrees Celsius!!!!

It'* an Athlon XP 2200+, and I was playing HL2 and the computer kept restarting on its own. I figured it was a virus, but I looked up the problem and decided to check my component temperatures. From what I've read, CPU temps for this processor should be in the 40-50 degree Celsius range. One website said the Athlon could "pop" (as in kill itself) past 80 degrees. My CPU temp is 80* C, verified by Motherboard Monitor and a quick check into my BIOS. I guess it'* time to clean the dust out of the heatsink, eh?

Dude if your CPU is at 80 degrees, You need to reapply heatsink paste, clean your heat sink and consider a bigger one NOW. Your PC should crash at anything above 55* celsius. You might have a throughbred A core which was among the hottest of the athlon xp series.

Oh and a good program to monitor cpu temps is

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

what motherboard are you running?

Try some Arctic Silver... uh... 5? 6? whatever version they're up to now. Last I knew that was the best heatsink compound around.

Thanks for the advice! I shouldn't even have it running right now, lol! Going to get thermal paste and a can of air IMMEDIATELY

Any chance this is some kind of malfunction with a fan/heatsink? For the record, I don't even know how a passive heatsink could malfunction.....lol.

I've had cooling fans go before, so check that....

In this case, overkill on the cooling is not a bad thing.

passive heatsink

What, witch one do you have???

Model Make? Pics?

Cuz i think i just found your problem