My computer is having a problem. When ever I start my computer, the screen of my monitor is very dark than usual but able to see. I cannot load into safe mode by hitting F8 before Windows load. When ever windows load, and before it goes to the desktop screen, there are circles that are blue and purple at the left corner of my screen. I've used Spybot to scan and Adaware as well. I used symantec corp. edition 2005 to scan for any virus and nothing showed up. I don't know if this is a Virus/Spyware threat or is it just hardware malfunction. There was some lighning in my area a few days ago. What should I do. thank you

Before the lighning was the PC working satisfactorily? i_XpUser

Hi Victor, The problem you are describing can be caused by many things. It could be caused by a virus but it could also be caused by a hardware problem. You should scan your PC for software and hardware problems. You can find a good PC software and hardware scanner at http://www.mypccenter.com/full_test.asp Press the full PC scan button on that page and let the tests run. It will take a couple of minutes and when its done you will receive a list of things that might be wrong with your PC. I hope this helps… Ben Archibald

Ben Archibald That link is pretty funny, doing a full scan, everything that was scanned had a warning and I know I have NO problems on my PC. It looks like a site to promote alot of PC software and to me, it's like junk! Just another scam online. False positives. It would be better to do a housecall scan, ewido scan and possibly a Kaspersky scan, at least they are reputable...the only one I wouldn't do again is Panda, as they have a virus in their free scan and told me to take a hike because I wasn't a paid member (instead of fixing the problem...go figure!) Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks

Yes before the lighting, the comp was working fine. thank you

Hi XpUser4Real :), Its true that mypccenter.com has many suggestions and recommendations but you can choose to ignore the ones you are confident you don't need. I like it that they have many pointers and suggestions that can help novice users. You wouldn’t believe how many people I know that have their PC completely unsecured or have no idea what’s in their PC. Another thing I like is the hardware and software information that can be very helpful in diagnosing problems like Victor has…

you are right about people being unsecure. Thanks to the salesman that says "just take this home, plug it in and get online...that's all there is to it" BUT what I'm saying is, my PC runs great on ALL freebies, I really don't see any sense in spending money on excess software that supposedly makes your PC safer. That link you gave was a spam site loaded with false negatives. Victor would be better off going to PCPITSOP.com and doing a full test there. They don't promote anyone else and suggest ways to tune up your PC...enough said. Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks