My PC was working normally until I left it running for about three days. During that time, I used an executor to modify Roblox and left it running overnight. By the fourth day, the system had become extremely slow and started freezing frequently. Boots can be laggy, inputs are heavily delayed, games sometimes launch with terrible FPS before working normally after a restart, the display occasionally fails to appear, and the PC sometimes reboots on its own. It also seems to get slower the longer it stays on. My hardware is an RTX 5070 OC, Intel i3-13100F, 32GB Corsair DDR4-3200, and a Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX DDR4 running Windows 11. I have already tried CHKDSK, SFC, a clean NVIDIA driver installation, changing XMP and other BIOS settings, reseating the RAM and GPU, replacing thermal paste, and clearing CMOS. I have also run an antivirus check, but the problem remains. Could this be malware from the executor, or is there another likely hardware or software cause?
3 Answers
The executor is the biggest warning sign here. A program being reported as safe or not detected by one scan does not prove it is trustworthy, especially when the symptoms began afterward. Disconnect the computer from the internet, back up only personal documents you know are clean, and perform a proper Windows reinstall by deleting the existing system partitions during setup. Afterward, change important passwords from a different trusted device and enable two-factor authentication. Do not reuse the old installation or run the executor again.
If the problems continue after a genuinely clean installation with no questionable software installed, then start testing hardware: check CPU and GPU temperatures, examine memory with MemTest86 or Windows Memory Diagnostic, check drive health, and test the system with default BIOS settings. Random reboots and missing video output could also point to a failing power supply, GPU, RAM, storage drive, or motherboard, but malware should be ruled out first.
Before wiping the system, you can run Microsoft Defender Offline Scan from Windows Security, since it scans outside the normal Windows session. However, with unexplained freezes, delayed input, crashes, and possible malware, a clean reinstall is usually the safer and faster option. Avoid logging into accounts or entering passwords on this computer until it has been cleaned.
I did run an antivirus scan and thought the executor was safe, but I understand that may not be reliable. I’ll treat the system as compromised and reinstall Windows properly.