comp is very unstable -

[Pyromidion]

for the past year ive tried my hardest to keep my computer stable. recently ive noticed that it takes 4 mins for it to boot to a desktop (5 mins if i let scandisk run)(im running win 98se), and once there, it may lock up totally, or let me operate a few mins before freezing and making me hardware restart. something ive noticed in that small time when i can operate the comp, if i ctrl-alt-del to the close app box, there is a random file (zpok023.exe, hpl218.exe, and any others that have random letters then some numbers) , being different each time. i find the actual file in the c:\program files\ folder. if i ctrl-alt-del to kill the program, the file is killed. if i start to a dos prompt (thru the startup menu with f8), or thru safemode in windows, the file is not produced, and it seems happy. i dont know where its coming from, or how it gets there....(and all of the random files are 10kb in size) ive uninstalled all recent apps, including shockwave 8, and a few others DLed in the past week or two. i have a new 13gb HDD coming from someone on the forum, and plan on reinstalling then (already backed up my HDD on CDs).

could it be a virii? or just something i DLed? help please!

 

[NzAnE2K]

I would say wait for the new drive to come, format the new drive, instal WIN98 and copy your backup files into the new drive, so everything is new.

 

[cholley]

sure, it could be a virus
it could also be heat so make sure all of your fans are good.

when you get that drive in, load win98 but don't use any of your backups just yet, just do a fresh load, get your system up and check your stability, just because you don't want to restore a virus infected file

 

[Pyromidion]

i did actually think of that, and dusted out the case, and my fans, and also applied some new arctic silver II to my CPU, the cpu peaks at about 102f. by any chance, viri dont come in jpg, avi, or mp3s, or any other common media format? cuz thats whats mostly backed up.

[EDIT]
ive had a look at my bootlog.txt file and i noticed a few things failed
im not sure, but i think this one may be important...

[001324E8] Loading Device = C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS
[001324F5] LoadFailed = C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS

[00132760] Loading Vxd = ndis2sup.vxd
[00132772] LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd

there are a few others, but im wondering maybe this has something to do with it also
[END OF EDIT]