I've been having lots of problems with my laptop recently. Last week I booted up and after typing in my user password, the "Loading Personal Settings" box stayed up an extarordinarily long time. After it disappeared, I was left with nothing but my background and cursor. No icons, toolbars, etc. ever loaded.
I called Dell about this and they helped me run Chkdsk from my Windows XP pro cd. Chkdsk found no problems. Then I ran a repair on Windows (It reinstalled everything without deleting my old files) and everything seemed normal.
I then began to notice that the fan on the laptop would turn on and after looking at my task manager I discovered that my CPU usage was at 100%, even when no applications are open. If I reboot my CPU usage goes back to normal, but within 5 to 10 minutes of being on it goes back up to 100%, regardless of what I am doing.
I ran McAfee Virus scanner, RAV, SpyBot S&D, and a few other online virus checkers and they all came up empty. I KNOW this must be a virus. I tried to run Windows Update and download 44 updates that my system needed. The installation program works but when I run Windows Update again, it usually says I still need the same patches I just installed.
I also noticed that soon after this, I could no longer open McAfee. When I boot up, it automatically starts, but then disappears on my toolbar. When I try to open it from my desktop or Program Files, it opens for about one second before mysteriously disappearing.
Sometimes while attempting to figure out the source of this program, a small box pops up telling me that my computer must reboot. It says something about NT SYSTEM/ACCESS or maybe its NT ACCESS/SYSTEM and that the Recovery Console Unit has unexpectedly been terminated.
Can anybody else me? I've tried everything, and now I cannot even run my virus checker anymore. Is this a virus or is something just very wrong with my computer? Thank you so much!

It's NT AUTHORITY/ SYSTEM on the box that pops up. It usually only pops up when I'm almost done with any type of virus scan. I've also noticed the McAfee Virus Scan icon on my desktop has disappeared.

I have the same problem with my computer. It is practically brand new, always ask for a norton scan... and then I get that message. There are other times I get online and 15 minutes later it's counting me down to reboot. It also says something about a remote. It is my job's laptop but it is not connected to the network. HELP ME TOO

My computer just keeps getting worse and worse. Now when I open Internet Explorer and type in a URL, nothing happens. the only way I can get to a website is if I search for it in Yahoo (my home page).
Also, when I click on My Computer, the little "searching" flashlight shows up and nothing else ever shows up.
What is going on? Is this virus slowly going to take over my whole computer?