Also what OS are you running? and have you ever run a disk clean up followed by a defrag?

Today's boot was trouble free. I am running Windows 7 Professional. I will try a disk cleanup and defrag. It has been a while.

Today's boot was also trouble free. It turns out my PC automatically does a defrag once a week. I did a disk clean up and removed about 5 gigs. My computer guy of several years was recently arrested for fraud in the courts due to a fake expert witness resume. I need to find someone else.

I really think I'd Run a Full System Scan with Malwarebytes and then a Full System Scan with a Good Reputable Anti-Virus Program. Finally I'd Run a Full System Online Scan with eSet Online Scanner. It may be running okay now, but maybe it won't be tomorrow. Just to be safe, run these Scans before you loose everything!

Malwarebytes updates and does a full scan when I boot up in the morning. I just ran Microsoft Security Essentials and it found nothing. The eSet Online Scanner found only one pup. I have not had a virus since installing Malwarebytes.

I have to go into Malwarebytes and set it to do a Full System Scan every single time. It doesn't automatically scan for me and if it did it would just be a Quick Scan, same goes for Norton's Anti-Virus (quick scan that is). I'm using the Free Version of Malwarebytes and don't have complete control.

In the Toolbar at the top of Malwarebytes, click on:

1. Scan Button
2. Custom Scan
3. Configure Scan
4. Select all Drives to Scan and put a Checkmark next to (Scan for Rootkit)
5. Click the Scan Now Button at the bottom and prepare to wait (takes a really long time)

shuffles-

I use Malwarebytes, too, but do you realize that it doesn't substitute for the need to have an actual antivirus program installed and running on your computer at all times? I can't tell from your posts if you have Microsoft Security Essentials running continuously or not, or if you just run it periodically.

bugspop1 what do you mean a long time? It took only the best part of eight hours. It didn't find anything. kudzu9, MSE is running all the time. I am really worried about a bad hard drive.

Then run chkdsk c:/r (The r in the command will attempt to fix errors on the drive.)

Click start, in the search box type cmd, now up towards the top right click on cmd and choose "Run as Administrator"
In the Command Prompt window type-> chkdsk c:/r <- and press Enter
Please Note the space between k c:/r The next dialog box will now show the following:

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? <Y/N>
type Y and reboot the computer.
Checkdisk will start once the computer reboots. It can take up to an hour or more to complete as it goes through the stages. Allow it to run uninterrupted till complete.

The check disk utility can repair problems such as:

• bad sectors
• lost clusters
• cross-linked files
• directory errors

checkdisc is often followed up by running System File checker (sfc /scannow) System file checker will check that all files are in order and may fix some issues. If there are no issues system file checker will say "No integrity violations found"

To run System file checker,

After checkdisc has completed, open a cmd prompt again and type this command

-> sfc /scannow <- then hit enter on keyboard.

May I interject a comment? Not disagreeing with all the good advice here...but...something to be considered at this time of the year. The internet is jammed full of shoppers et al. And the president elect habitually uses Twitter to communicate with the public and the news media. Even the best programs/websites are running a little slow right now. On top of that...some old "beasts" have returned...as in SQL attack...to bollix up the web. And...today an attack program aimed at Firefox/Tor browser was publicized. If you use Firefox and you don't have auto update as an option...be sure to check their website for the update that was offered in the last couple of hours...updating to 50.2. It may be a very festive time of the year for us...but it's even more so for every scammer out there. Be careful.

After many reboots this morning, I finally got a clean reboot. Opening apps was very slow at first but now this PC is working normally. I have to go to work now but will try checkdisk when I return. In case I need outside help, any comments on Best Buy's Geek Squad? (I think that is what they call it.)

I hope things are fixed, but one clean reboot may not be indicative that the problem is resolved. I had a problem with one of my computers for a number of weeks where it would freeze-up after using the browser a while (mainly Firefox), but it did not occur all the time. It mysteriously quit happening several weeks after I gave up trying to fix it, even though I had done no updates or reinstalls just prior to the problem going away.

As for the Geek Squad, some people have had good experiences, but there are a lot who haven't. Your experience will be based on the competence of the tech person, which varies. I'm not going to give you my opinion, but you may want to look through some of these reviews. Of course, bear in mind that people with unhappy experiences are more likely to post reviews than those who are happy:

Geek Squad reviews

zep516 In case my PC won't boot tomorrow morning, can I run checkdisk from Safe Mode? I am by no means convinced the problem has been fixed.

Make sure everything is disconnected from the PC during your boot troubles, printers, HDMI cables, usb drives, things like that.

When you boot to the advanced boot options menu instead of choosing just safe mode choose:

-->Safe Mode with Command Prompt.<-- The black window (Command Prompt) will pop up for you.

Then type or copy and paste this command into the command Prompt window chkdsk c:/r hit enter on the keyboard.

If you have important data, pictures etc save it now.

Also you don't need to be shutting the pc off, let it run once it's booted correctly

CMOS battery! Have you checked that? Can sometimes cause weird problems when this battery is on the edge. My desktop started acting weird; would sometimes boot, sometimes have to complete shutdown, etc. Checked the battery, voila! Replacing it stopped all boot problems.

Under normal circumstances...there would be a warning from your PC if the CMOS battery is dying. At the very least...the PC times/date would either be completely wrong...or waning. I've never seen otherwise...but I've not seen every piece of equipment on the market, either. :-)

I've replaced CMOS batteries on three computers in the past 15 years and never got a warning. I just deduced it from the fact that the computer time was wrong if there was a power outage, or if I unplugged the computer after shutting it down and then plugging it back in and powering up.

The CMOS battery has been dead for the past 3 years in my current computer, but I haven't replaced it since it's buried too deep inside the all-in-one chassis. Other than the annoyance of having to reset the clock if I shut it down completely, I'm unaware of any other problems caused by this battery.

I've worked on a few with bad CMOS Batteries that didn't loose the Time/Date until they were unplugged. Never gave any kind of warning to the owners. Normally I found the problem right away because the Computers was unplugged when they brought it to me (sometimes it was onsite so I didn't have that advantage). It has been a very long time since I replaced a CMOS Battery, they may warn you now?

bugspop-

You're right. Even if a CMOS battery is dead, a plugged in desktop or laptop gets a trickle charge that allows the computer to retain the correct date and time.

After reading your post, I edited mine, realizing that I had mistakenly said the clock on my computer was wrong after simply shutting down. I usually have my computer on 24/7 and remembered that it was only if I also unplugged my computer or it lost power that I had a clock problem.

Disparage all you want, but my booting problem was the CMOS battery. It didn't lose time when it did boot. No problems booting after replacement of CMOS battery, and it read 1.3 volts when I removed it.

I just ran chkdsk, which took seconds and didn't find any problems. System File Checker took about ten minutes and also found no problems. The next time I shut down I plan to unplug to see if this results in a clock problem. I think this machine is only about three years old - four at the most. Thanks to all for your input.

Does it always get stuck here

"This morning on booting it got stuck at the stage where the desktop icons are not filled in."

As posted by shuffles_gw
"I just ran chkdsk, which took seconds and didn't find any problems.
System File Checker took about ten minutes and also found no problems."

That doesn't sound right. Usually chkdsk and sfc takes anywhere from 1/2 hr to 45 mins or more to run.

It turns out I had run only a quick chkdsk, not the full chkdsk, which I just ran. It took about 2.5 hours. According to the event log, there were maybe a couple dozen errors found. I don't know if they have been fixed or what. Also this morning I unplugged the PC for 10 minutes. When I rebooted, the clock was ten minutes slow. I have a tech coming this afternoon. He refuses to believe there could be a CMOS battery problem without a warning. After looking on youtube, it looks easy. And plan to do it myself. My tech says the hard drive checked out as OK.

That's good news that the hard drive checked out ok. Did he ever find the initial cause of your problems? Please share... :)

shuffles_gw,

I don't think anyone mentioned it, but I've run into computers that froze when they Overheated. Is the CPU Fan on the computer running at the normal speed (is it running)? Not sure if your Acer Computer would have Case Fans or not, if it does, are they running? Still one more Fan (again your Acer may not have this fan), it's the Fan inside the Power Supply. If the PSU has a fan, is it running? One last thing to look at, is there a lot of Dust or Animal Hair inside the computer case clogging things up (stuck to fans, etc...)?

The case fan and the power supply fans seem to be running. I have plans to replace the battery later today and to blow out the dust while the case is open. I blow out the dust every spring. This PC is a bit over four years old. My tech says that is too old for a PC used in business. I replaced my last one after six years - and it was still going strong. The tech had no comment on the original problem. It did seem to boot well this morning. I will update after changing the battery.

shuffles_gw,

Have you ever had the Thermal Grease or Thermal Pad between the CPU and Heatsink Replaced? This should be done every so often, especially in a Business Computer (or a computer that's left on 24/7). The Grease is like the Oil in you Car and will Break Down over Prolonged Periods of Time at High Temperatures!

I have never even heard of such a Thermal Pad. I haven't had time to replace the battery yet. Today's boot was normal. Maybe chkdsk did the trick.

Sometimes a faltering power supply can cause "unexplained" problems like you are experiencing. Such problems can come & go unpredictably. My ~2008 HP Pavilion desktop had to get a new power supply a couple yrs ago.

Maybe I'be been lucky, but I've never had a problem related to the thermal pad or thermal grease in my various computers in 25 years. The only heat-related issue I've dealt with is overheating when a fan was starting to fail. There are free little programs you can download that tell you the internal fan speeds and CPU temps. Here are the ones I use:

Fan Speed and Temps 1

Fan Speed and Temps 2

shuffles_gw,

A Thermal Pad is a very thin little Square they put on top of the Processor (CPU), then put the Heatsink on top. It basically would Dissipate the CPU Heat into the Heatsink. These Thermal Pads IMO are a True PITA. They are not easy to Apply and they are very difficult to clean off the Processor and Heatsink after using one. IMO, Thermal Grease is a much better and easier option! Many Pre-manufactured computers used these Thermal Pads (not sure if they still do or not)? It was my understanding that AMD's Warranty required use of a Thermal Pad instead of Thermal Grease (not 100% sure that's true). I always used the Thermal Grease and never had a problem with an AMD Processor!