[Update] Computer Freezing, Firefox Hangs

[homeonets]

I've just experienced the biggest problem I've had in years.
Heres the whole story:

My computer has been inconsistently reaching a page when it tells me to launch "Startup Repair" when I start the computer, or start windows normally.
I had exams, so I didn't bother with that and tried "Start windows normally", and then sometimes it reaches the Windows Logo page where it is all black and has the Windows 7 logo, and from there, the computer will just restart automatically.

As the days have gone by, the more times it restarts like that before it will load onto the desktop has increased - although the page telling me to launch "Startup Repair" appears inconsistently, from zero restarts to up to five. Although through the course of this month, I have only encountered this problem 3-4 times, and about 2 times last month when it started.

Just today, my whole computer froze while casually browsing gamespot after turning it back on from hybrid hibernation mode. This has never happened before, but the entire system froze - mouse and everything. It took about 30 seconds for the mouse to move again, but it was still jittery and stopped every now and then. I waited for about 5 minutes but none of my programs would respond and Task Manger would not open. So I pressed the manual restart button on my computer.

Then I started seeing the "Startup Repair" page again, I tried to start windows normally, and after 3 tries, it logged me into a "Temporary User". I tried to do some research and deleted some of the .bak settings and renaming that I found on some guide, but that still didn't work. After numerous times of my computer booting into temporary user mode, I decided to system restore to my checkpoint on 25th November.

All is fine now, but I have a feeling this problem will occur again, and it will be even worse.
Can anybody help me with this?
I have tried using startup repair on my laptop on an unrelated matter, and it took about a hour to finish if I remember correctly, and the repair just said no problems were found, which is why I have been reluctant to use it this time around, as well as considering my tight schedule with exams, but thats all over and done with now.

I don't have many programs installed, but ones to take note of may be Tuneup Utilities 2011, CCleaner and AVG Free Edition 2011, in case they may have affected the system in some way.

 

[soundguruman]

First of all don't use free security programs downloaded from the internet. Anything that claims it will "clean" your computer, fix it , speed it up, etc...is junk, and very frequently will cause the kind of problems that you are experiencing.
So back up all your personal files onto a thumb drive or DVD...reformat the drive, and reinstall your operating system. you will need the 7 DVD from microsoft.
In the future, use only ONE all in one professional security program, and avoid any free downloads, if you need your computer to be reliable.
There is no magic "fix it" program that will make computers run correctly. The only safe software is on the microsoft disk.

 

[homeonets]

I hate having to reformat computer every year whenever something comes up though.
I wanna deal with the problem without reformatting this time.

My whole computer just froze on me just now - first time happening.
I believe it may be PSU related, as my old computer would freeze due to some problem with the PSU cables.

On a side note, Firefox seems to hang when loading a page, and hangs until it is fully loaded, and this has only started happening since yesterday. And it is limited to Firefox, the rest of the computer runs fine while this is happening.

Aside from these problems though, there really is nothing else wrong with my computer. And regarding the programs, cnet reviews gave them all good ratings, and all of them are licensed software, so I don't think they would be solely responsible for these problems I'm having now, if they are at all.

 

[homeonets]

Seems the firefox hanging issue is somewhat inconsistent, because it has not been happening since I started my computer up again this afternoon.