BleepingComputer.com: Freeze, Random downloads, Blue Screen of Death

Well where do i begin...
My computer lately and somewhat for a while has been freezing/ slowing down. sometimes my internet wont work ether. If the lagg/ freeze is to long it will pull up the blue screen of death. Only for the past 2 days my laptop has been starting to download some sort of file but i have no idea what it is. Also when i play Diablo 2 (a old PC game, very fun) when i press the TAB button some little window will close the game and show me my running files, and that ruins the entire game... every time i scan for viruses they never show up. Only now that i took off a lot of programs from my start up it is working a little faster but the tab button thing and the random download is still happening. if anyone can help plz tell me. also respond if you have had the same problems.

This post has been edited by hamluis: 17 January 2012 - 10:36 AM
Reason for edit: Moved from Vista to Am I Infected.

Hello mikelion123,

There could be any number of causes for your laptop's "slowness": Overheating, RAM issues, Hard drive, Software, or Malware. My preference is to rule out the latter first and then deal with the other issues.

I know you have scanned for viruses and found none, but there may be deeper, more insidious malware at work; this mysterious downloading in the background for example. Could be a Microsoft update or could be something unwanted.

My recommendation would be to post in the Bleeping Computer's Am I Infected Forum?

If they determine that you are malware free then you can return to this forum where your mindump files, hardware components, and software can be examined further. The decision is yours.