What's sneaking by:

[comettail]

I don't know if it's Avast 4 home/pro or who/what (ZoneAlarm,SpyBotResident,and SpywareBlaster), but something has got past one of my protection programs again and my OS (XP) is beginning to random restart once more. Yes I tried all the "fixes" before for a prior problem with restarts. But, finally, I had to do a "repair" of the OS using the CD. Any ideas?

[whocares]

Hi,

could be anything from malware to hardware-errors or Windows-problems

pretty impossible to diagnose now that you "repaired" the OS

if the reboots/errors occur again, check for faulty hardware first (RAM-Tests, harddisk-diagnosis etc..)

 

[DavidR]

You are going to have to be more specific. It is impossible to work with "something has got past one of my protection programs"

The only thing I can suggest is running HiJackThis. Visit Eddy's Website click the "HiJackThis Section" and also the "Malware removal instructions and applications" section (this should give you links for programs).

You can use Eddy's log file analyser tool and also for an on-line scan of your Hijackthis log file try here http://hijackthis.de/index.php

[techie101]

comettail,

Quote:
The random restarts you’re getting are also by design, as XP for some unknown reason is set to automatically restart after encountering some type of STOP error (or blue screen of death), which is a common result of driver instabilities.

If this is the case you’ll need to back up your data, then format your hard drive and install XP from scratch again.

If it isn’t the case, then we first suggest you switch off XP’s annoying habit of automatically restarting: press [Windows] + [Pause/Break] to open the System Properties Control Panel. Switch to the Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery. Untick the box marked Automatically Restart and click OK. Now when your system crashes you’ll get a STOP error – make a note of the error itself and any files it mentions. These will almost certainly be VXD or driver files, and armed with that information you’ll be able to search the Web for a solution.  Try Google.

Another remote possibility is an overheated motherboard.
Check to insure that the vent is not blocked or clogged and the fan is operating normally.

I doubt if Avast is the culprit here.