Computer does not allow me to do anything?

[that_guy]

Hey,My computer is acting all funky, first off, im skimming the internet when my computer turns off and restarts on its own. Then when its all finished loading and all is settled I notice every thing has changed, my Task bar is in a windows 98 or windows 2000 setting and I cant launch my internet and my sound card isnt working, windows say this is not working because an application is disabled so I try to fix this only for windows to say this feature (I think) is not available. So first I thought it was in safe mode, so I prompted windows to start normally, but still it is in normal mode and it still wont work, I dont know what to do.

I am extremely frustrated at the moment because I have a paper due in 6 days and I had all my progress saved on that computer

I have tried HP support but they said "Your warranty has expired, please pay 49.99$ (US) for us to assist you. Thank you for waiting30 minutes on the phone!"
Worst customer support EVER. Im not sure if all Computer companies are like this but I will never buy another HP product again.

So if you guys have any ideas PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post them here, I CANNOT let this paper be late.

Thanks
-That Guy

 

[mattM_-]

Hmm, do some virus/malware scans in safe mode to ensure that it's nothing malicious.
What are the specs of your computer? How old is it? Could be possible that your PSU might be going dead, but that wouldn't explain the odd behavior of windows. Unless the power effects the GPU, but I couldn't be too sure.

That's about the first thing I can recommend, before I give the ultimate "Back up files, and reformat and reinstall" resolution.

 

[a pet rock]

Priority is the paper. You say you can't get internet, sound, and your graphics are all wrong. Can you still write the paper, as in open Word and have access to all your files? If you still have that, I wouldn't mess with anything until your paper is finished. Just make sure you always back up your paper to a flash drive every save.

If you do not have reliable access to all your files, try your best just to get the paper off the computer as fast as possible and find a way to work at a campus library or computer lab. It sucks, but in my experience professors NEVER take the "computer problems" excuse/reason. They will always say "There's a library on campus that's open for 24 hours a day. Use it."

Until you are assured that your paper is safe, don't do anything. As for the actual problem, it sounds like it could be some malware. I really have no idea, it sounds absolutely terrible, and if a system restore doesn't fix it I'd try just defragging the whole sucker.

 

[Ric]

This sounds like one annoying ass virus.
Matt has the right idea.

 

[that_guy]

Priority is the paper. You say you can't get internet, sound, and your graphics are all wrong. Can you still write the paper, as in open Word and have access to all your files? If you still have that, I wouldn't mess with anything until your paper is finished. Just make sure you always back up your paper to a flash drive every save.

If you do not have reliable access to all your files, try your best just to get the paper off the computer as fast as possible and find a way to work at a campus library or computer lab. It sucks, but in my experience professors NEVER take the "computer problems" excuse/reason. They will always say "There's a library on campus that's open for 24 hours a day. Use it."

Until you are assured that your paper is safe, don't do anything. As for the actual problem, it sounds like it could be some malware. I really have no idea, it sounds absolutely terrible, and if a system restore doesn't fix it I'd try just defragging the whole sucker.

Took your advice and it worked, first I thought it would not let me do that either because I could not save to a flash drive, so I ended up copying it to a CD disk, saved me a ton of trouble.

As for the computer it was really just one really really bad virus. I got it fixed though.

 

[a pet rock]

Glad to hear it. After all that trouble, you better get a freakin A.