My computer freezes about every 5 minutes for 5-10 seconds. It suddenly started doing this few days ago, though for no apparent reason. No matter what I am doing, it will still freeze for that duration, i.e. scrolling on the internet, typing, listening to music, watching a DVD (pauses the DVD for a few seconds, then stutters for a few more while it picks back up). It's maddenly annoying, given how often I am on. Could this be a result of this virus, or could I be having hardware troubles of some sort? I have no more idea what to do

Sounds like an infection...virus or malware. Run a scan from safe mode. "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

Anything's possible. How many programs are you running at the time? How much free space is there on the OS partition? When was the last time you cleaned out Temp files and defragged the drive? "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

First thing first. You should always make sure that your system is clean from malware/spyware/viruses before trying to look for other options. Google for these and run them on your system all are free and safe to use. ATFcleaner....small program that cleans all the temp files and prefetch files on your computer Ccleaner...a temp cleaner and registry cleaner spywareblaster..a program that stops over 10,000 bad things from ever being downloaded to your computer...runs in background and yet is not a resource hog Spybot Search and destroy (lite version)...one of the best spyware/malware utilities around. WinPatrol...(free version)this program locates what is in your start-up folders and allows the removal of unnecessary items that run in the background of your computer. Avira antivirus program (free version)http://www.avira.com/en/download/index.html Or you can choose whatever programs you wish.I use those listed and trust them on all my computers and my customers as well. Download them....install them...update them...run them. each one and allow it to clean your system. If the issue continues then repost and restate the problem and mention that you have cleaned your system. This will allow us to look at other issues knowing that your computer is clean. Obama's Spread the Wealth I gave my waitress' tip to a homeless person. She has a better understanding!

if in all instances it occured you were listenning to music then i'd say it could be a bad sound driver , if not then its FAR more likely a hardware issue , have you added or replaced any hardware recently? get into the bios and check the cpu temp and psu voltages (incase you dont know how,restart the pc and hit the del/delete key non-stop til youll be in the bios,the bios key can also be F2 or ESC it really depends on the manufacturer/motherboard model) , when youll be in it get into the pc health status/hardware monitoring section (note: navigate with the arrows and enter/esc keys) report back with the temp/voltages so ill see if the cpu is overheating or the psu is faulty, also open the case and check the motherboard for bad/leaking capacitors if you dont know what capacitors are then have a look at this article http://www.pcstats.com/articleview....

I'm inclined to agree with daz288. What I would do is boot the computer in Safe Mode and see if it does it there. If so, remove all USB and PCI devices and then use the computer for awhile to see if it happens again. If not, reconnect each device again one by one, trying things out after reconnecting each device. Once it starts freezing again, remove the last device you reconnected. It *could* be an underpowered power supply, or a faulty USB/PCI device or driver. A similar occurence would happen to me when I would install a Netgear WG311v2 wireless card in a computer. Changing the driver to another wireless card of a different brand but same chipset solved the problem. WinSimple Software

I wouldn't give you 15 cents for that advice, let alone $15...lol "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction