The "verifier" that you mentioned is probably the "driver verifier". It's used to troubleshoot driver issues, not problems with the hard drive(s).
Most likely, the PC is infected...either a virus, trojan, hijacker, or spyware. The fact that "computer works just fine in "safe mode"" pretty much confirms that whatever the problem is, it's loading at startup. It's not a hardware problem...it's a software problem.
Start by checking the processes in Task Manager as was suggested by Pariah. Run MSCONFIG from Start > Run, then click the Startup tab to see if anything suspicious is listed there.
http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig...
Do a full antivirus scan, scan for spyware. Download/install CCleaner & use it regularly.
http://www.filehippo.com/