Something weird happened to my computer...

As i said, something weird happened! I started up my computer last night and everything was normal, and then in the morning i couldn't select windows 7 basic theme (it was grayed out), my PC didn't recognise any hardware (little speaker icon was grey and it had a red (X) icon), i couldn't scan my computer with AVG, when i opened up mozilla firefox i couldn't even open up google, but i could play games (not online) and so on and on... i dont see any other solution than reinstalling my OS. Any help would be nice, tnx!

Do you have any restore points?

I would try a restore point, before a complete re-install.

no, i don't have any. i always forget to make one...

Can you try reinstalling video drivers?

If you havn't customised the backup procedure, you should automatically have at least one restore point. have you looked in the folder? (Recovery)

You could uninstall AVG (using it's uninstaller, and not through the Add & Remove program option in the control panel). Use CCleaner to clean your registry afterwards, making sure that you back it up (it'll offer to do so). Comodo offers a free, full AV (& firewall) that offers outstanding protection, to be a free AV/IS solution. Each can be installed alone, or together for maximum protection. However, I recommend not to use Comodo's servers to reroute your connection to their servers, as it'll slow your download speeds.

Comodo AV can be found at:

http://antivirus.comodo.com/antivirus.php

There has been countess threads on not only this forum, but many others, in regard to AVG not being compatible with Windows 7 of any version. I don't know the specifics, but that there has been many issues tied to AVG, and once installed and scanned with the newly installed AV, things cleared up.

There are those who recommends MSE, while I did use it for over a year with no compatibly issues, the protection that it offered was less than adequate.

Cat

i think i solved the problem. apparently a virus has disabled all of my services so i selected normal startup from general tab in msconfig and all services are back to normal now, but i'll try a new antivirus and scan whole computer. tnx guys!

If it was a virus that caused the issues, then your AV failed you, you're doing the right thing in obtaining another. Just beware of (many of) the free ones.

Comodo is probably the best of the free AV's, as you'll see on it's site that it protects you while web browsing/surfing, checking emails, and shopping/making transactions. Throw in their firewall, you're protected even more. And it's very user friendly, the AV has auto scanning built in, and has a high protection level. Very easy to install, also.

However, I recommend that you install only the AV first, then after you see things are OK, then the firewall, if you want to add that extra layer of protection. At first, the firewall may seem to be a nuisance, but once you've allowed your trusted apps to run, you won't hardly notice it's there.

EDIT: I highly recommend that you run the ESET Online Scanner to purge your computer of any infections. It's probably the best app of it's kind. It can be found at:

http://www.eset.com/online-scanner

It's best ran from IE, as you have a couple of extra options you can select from.

Cat

i also have another question. is it smart to change to 64 bit version?

Lets just say I have been running Windows 7 64-bit over a year and will never look back.