Ok, here is how the story goes- The day after I installed Itunes (for my ipod) on my computer, my computer wasn't operating right. Sometimes the screen would freeze. Other times I'd see these little dots all over the screen. Whenever either happened, the monitor would suddenly shut down about 10 to 30 seconds later. The thing is even though the monitor shut down, the computer lights were still on and the computer itself seemed to still be running. Now when I say monitor shuts down, I don't mean the power left the monitor. I mean the power light went from green to red, as if I had turn off the computer. But the computer was still on. Now after having these happen all day, I uninstalled Itunes and dusted the inside of my case. My computer started working same old same old then. Well a week or two later, when playing starcraft, dots once again began showing up on my screen. And soon the same thing was happening. My monitor wouldn't seem to work right and suddenly it would shut down as if the computer off. But every time this happened, the computer was still running. Things I tried to do to fix this- I used the system restore feature of Windows XP to attempt to restore the computer to a point befored I even installed Itunes. I also switched monitors with another one. But still had the same problem. I should probably note that the dots show up on my computer before Windows even begins. Back when I have black background with white text. If anyone can help me, please let me know. Btw its a Intel Pentium 4 Processor @ 3.4 GHz 800MHz. Let me know if there are any other computer specs you need.

Have you tried to reinstall the video card drivers yet, this solves a lot of problems. Is the monitor a LCD?, you may have dead pixels, hence the dots that appear before Windows boots... Quote: Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!

...dusted the inside of my case... What method was used ??

This is typical of a graphics card problem. Do you have onboard graphics or a plug-in card? If the screen-effects are evident during the BIOS part of bootup then it is clearly a hardware issue and not a graphics driver problem. If a plug-in card the first thing to check is whether it is properly seated. With all power disconnected, remove and re-insert the card several times to clean the contacts. See if that helps. Does the card have a cooling fan and if so is it still working properly? Many graphics cards require a separate connection to the powersupply. If your powersupply is faulty this can also manifest as graphics problems. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Excellent advice from Richard59!