It's been a while since I've actually used this computer because my poor baby (the computer) is broken. here are some promblems that I've encountered...please help if you have any idea as to what's wrong with it..:

1. there's a task bar, with 3 "tasks" open...I think it was Mozilla, Adobe Photoshop and my "My Documents" folder and then another task bar on top of it (so basically it's "hidden" underneath another one)
2. I have two sets of desktop icons. the 'bottom' layer is like...I can't explain it..you can't click on it, but you can click on the top one. I know there are two sets because I moved the top one and clicked on both of them but only one worked
3. it dies when it wants to

How did I know that there were 2 taskbars? when it suddenly decided to turn off one day, i noticed there was another task bar opened after the 'top' layer of task bar disappeared and there were 3 tasks open on it.

It all started when I was watching this one drama and some little pop up popped up (it was similar to those that you get when you have an error) and me thinking it was just something small and dumb, clicked "ok" and then my computer just died. I remember seeing something ".....virtual."....I know it said virtual. At first I thought it was a virus, so I did a virus scan. Nothing, but then again, the virus scanner was being weird and only took 43 seconds to do a FULL SYSTEM scan and I know there are more than 43 seconds worth of things to scan in my computer. Then my brother said to do some system checking thing..and that didn't work..and then my other brother said to defragment it but the computer randomly decided to shut off before finishing. It once lasted 4 hours befor randomly dying, but a few days ago, I turned it on and it died in 10 minutes.

So, can anyone help with this? Sorry if I didn't explain it very clearly. I'll try and see if I can take a screen cap of the double sets of desktop icons if it decides to work. So far, the computer has been on for about 25 minutes and doesn't seem to have much problem, but I'm on a NEW account that my brother created to see if it would work. But I don't know. Oh yeah, and it makes weird sounds now. Like, something's going to snap in two or something? I can't explain it. It's different from the normal sounds a computer should make, THAT I know. Also because it started only after the first time the computer died.

Help? Anyone?~

lol umm i think i know how to sovle number 1, but not 2 and 3

right click your taskbar and untick LOCK THE TASKBAR. you should see little dots that appear as a line on your taskbar now. drag these dots ALL THE WAY to the left of the taskbar, as close to the START button as possible (if you use quick launch, make sure you dont drag the second line of dots over the quicklaunch icons).
after all that, right click your taskbar and this time tick LOCK THE TASKBAR. you should always have the taskbar locked to prevent accidental changes to the taskbar's looks and settings.

after reading your problem with the 'virtual' thing, if this was my case, i would just format it with no regrets lol . your computer switches off randomly after certain time limits, theres no point defraging the HDD. just rememebr to backup your files before you format.

did u try opening you computer apart and cleaning it??? it might be really dusty and dirty inside and it might just need a little cleaning?? try it.

When was the last time you did a clean windows reinstall. Over time, Windows is notorious for being sluggish acting weird. You may have spywares/malwares...

You can with some help clean them out but if I was you, I would just backup the important documents/photos and just wipe it out clean.
Then I would

1)Reinstall Windows
2)Update all your drivers
3)Get a good firewall (I would suggst Comodo Pro)
4)Get a good antivirus program (nod32)
5)Install spware search&destroy, adware, and superspwareblaster
6)Use Firefox


Most importantly, be smart in regards to the things you download and the sites you visit.