Computer Randomly Goes To Sleep While Using
BACKSTORY OF ODD COMPUTER BEHAVIOR...
I have had unusual computer behavior for the past ten months. The windows log files showed some kind of snap-in console module initiating last July, and then there was a series of registry editing actions and intermittent changes to my system were happening. The computer often randomly would go to sleep while I was using it; and I would hear the Windows tone of when a new flash drive or wire is plugged into the computer... except I did not plug anything in. There was also weird stuff with "snap-on console" and "Win Login" entries as well. There was also an Enterprise server connected to my computer which I never set up or activated. I set my McAfee firewall up so that I'd have to approve each outgoing program, and random programs would try accessing the Internet even though I would keep blocking it. When I saw all of these log files, I decided to restore the system to factory conditions using the Bios. The HP came with a disk partition to self-install Windows I did that during this past April. I saved my files onto an external drive, before it did the planned factory reset. (SIDE NOTE: If my laptop is still infected at this moment, I don't know if I have to worry about plugging in the external drive and moving files off of it? I have plugged the external drive into my computer after the reset was done).
IT'S STILL HAPPENING AFTER FACTORY RESET...
I thought a factory reset wipes the system clean and back to the way it was when fresh out of the box. That was not the case here, because my old user data was still stored there with old logs and data instead of being totally removed, and some software carried over after this reset. Since then, I have tried to be far more vigilant and actively tried to tighten up security since noticing all of that console snap-in activity going back many months without my knowledge. Now, running Spybot, I see this tracker under a different user name (long sequence of numbers and letters) which keeps showing up in my registry; SpyBot deletes it, but then it shows up again as soon as I restart. There are also some weird autorun programs which are in Chinese letters under my registry list. I tried translating those in Google Translate, and one of the named autorun files means "Peep" in Chinese. I wonder if that's just a coincidence, or could it be spying on me? The computer still randomly goes to sleep when I am in the middle of typing a letter in Word or an email or browsing the Internet. Trackers also keep showing up almost instantly after they are deleted. I downloaded some tools suggested here on Bleeping Computer such as Farbar, but I do not know how to interpret the log files or know for sure if they show suspicious activities. One thing that showed up is: "DeviceHarddiskVolume3WindowsSystem32svchost.exe" which one BP forum suggested was a virus. Yet I don't know if the log means that it's still in my system, if it was a virus, or if that's just a past record of old news.
The truth is that I've tried doing lots of research on my own but don't really know what actual threats exist or know how to fix them. Guidance from anyone is deeply appreciated so I can hopefully solve this once and for all. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Gloss