A friend of mine mentioned to me the other night that she just recently started having problems with her computer. Apparently it's running "slow" (not network-wise) and having other issues. I said I'd see if I could figure anything out. Now, keep in mind that I haven't actually seen the machine myself yet, I'm just going off what she said the problem is at the moment. Here's the email I got from her:

Started "running slow" last Friday- took longer to load pages or open a
program. By Saturday morning it was freezing up when I tried to open
things. I tried running virus check software (Trend Micro PC-Cillin) and it
kept freezing up. Tried different things all weekend- including downloading
Spy-bot- couldn't get it to run-kept freezing up. Overall my computer kept
getting worse- freezing up. Sometimes freezing up at the WindowsXP menu
(The one where you click on your name and it loads your preferences). At
one point- I think Sunday night or Monday morning- my Trend Micro PC-Cillin
indicated an "unknown computer logged on to my network" but it would freeze
when I clicked "don't trust" which if you click that it's supposed to kick
them off. So- I unplugged my router and effectively disconnected myself
from internet access. I got the Virus disk from the help desk Monday- ran clean
boot- it said my computer was clean! I then ran in safe mode and deleted a
bunch of stuff off my desktop and ran the clean boot again- again- said it
was clean. Ran spybot again- was able to at least scan- but couldn't "fix"
anything. It said there were firewall overrides, password overrides,
winfix2006, and a bunch of other issues- 29 problems in all. Eventually I
was able to persevere and get it to fix in safe mode- but it won't take off
wintangent- keeps freezing up. I then ran stinger off the help desk disk in
safe mode- caught a bunch, fixed them all. I tried to follow the help desk disk
instructions but I had to log onto the internet to run Windows updates- so I
was restarted in regular mode and realized that all the "fixes" hadn't fixed
anything. I thought maybe the Windows updates might help- but I can't get
them to load and then run- because of the freezing up problem. AND- if I
turn on my internet- I get the "unknown computer logged on" message- but
can't kick them off. I tried again last night to run windows updates and
was able to download a malicious program fixer but when it scanned it said
it didn't find anything on my computer. Then it just kept freezing up and
by 11:30 I was so tired I just couldn't keep it up.

Oh- and when it freezes- sometimes it freezes with "bits" of the screens
still up on my desktop- so eventually it freezes up with all these pieces of
programs I tried to close. Ummmm- let's see- I use the task manager a lot
to try and close programs that are "unresponsive" but that doesn't always
work either and eventually freezes up itself.

I have cable internet- and for some reason the "initializer" runs
and runs and runs until I try to shut it down- all the while I already have
internet access- but it usually freezes up too.

It isn't totally broken down- I can still sometimes use
Firefox to at least get on the internet briefly. I can usually open my
Start menu- at least early on when starting up. I can sometimes open other
things too.

Oh- one more thing- for some reason- I can't get to the menu (when I first
boot it up) to run in safe mode any more- it just seems to have gone away
for some reason...not sure what happened there either.

Frankly, I don't think it's a virus or spyware. If it's anything on the software side of things, it's probably a screwed up install that's causing a memory leak. I'm leaning toward the actual problem being hardware-related, either the video, RAM, or a bad fan causing overheating. It's a 3-month old Dell machine, so if it's the video the whole system board will need to be replaced.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?