Hello,
I'm running a Windows XP Professional OS (has SP3) on a computer I had built a little over a year ago. It has worked fine, until recently.
Something has happened to my computer over the last weekend, and I can't seem to figure out what. Here's what's happening:
*Boot up and shut down times have increased to a ridiculous level.
*After loading more or less normally, after a few minutes, XP window themes and colors go to a grey appearance you normally get while running things in Safe Mode.
*Around this time, I usually get an error message that reads... "Generic Host Process for Win32 has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
*My Avast! anti-virus starts telling me in rapid succession that it's blocking malicious viruses, URLs, trojans, and so on.
*Sound eventually disappears on most videos and Flash programs, even though some system sounds will register. Checking the volume in the task tray reveals that speakers are not being detected and recognized by Windows.
*Browser searches and links are occasionally hijacked to Tazinga.
I or others have tried the following:
*Updating virus definitions on Avast and running several different scans. A few things found and deleted, but no real effect.
*Installing Malwarebytes and doing several scans with it. Again, one or two things found and deleted, but no real effect.
*Updating Flash drivers (maybe it was a factor in the error messages? I dunno). No real effect.
*Starting XP in Safe Mode, and eventually attempting a System Restore. The few times I've been able to access this command (and they're in the minority of attempts), my computer's restarted, slowly but more or less normally, with a message that System Restore did not restore back to the point I specified, and that no change has been made to my settings.
At this point, I'm feeling pretty tapped out. Can anyone shed any light, make any suggestions, to help me thwart this thing? I'd really appreciate any help!
Best,
Tony
************ADDENDUM************
Err, okay another complication... I can't attach the log file, nor can I paste it to this post. Whenever I try to attach it, I get an error message claiming this website isn't available. The same message comes up whenever I try to append it by pasting. Thoughts?

Edited by tonywgoodwyn, 20 November 2010 - 02:34 AM.