Hi I'm running a Lenovo W530, Intel i7-3740QM, 2.7 GHz, 8.00 GB ram, and 64-bit operating system.
A couple of days ago I downloaded some software claiming to be able to save YouTube videos to one's PC, which resulted in a red flag by my anti-virus software, namely Avast (Free).
Yesterday, I restarted my computer in order to finalize the installation of the Media Transfer Protocol Porting Kit so that I could transfer files from my phone. My laptop took an unusually long time on the shut-down screen (about 2 mins, when it usually is instantaneous.) After starting up, the Blue Screen of Death appeared for a split-second before moving onto the log in screen, so I was not able to catch what the issue was. Upon starting up, my desktop was black for about 1/2 min (once again odd because usually start-up is instantaneous), before the desktop appeared and the initial applications started up. Curious to read the BSOD message, I restarted the computer again (once again took long to shut down), but once again the message only appeared for quick moment. After 1/2 of black screen, once again the desktop appeared, and curious dialogue box entitled "Windows Explorer" (not the internet browser) read that I needed to restart my system w/ a "yes" or "no" option. I thought it was weird to be receiving this message considering that I had just restarted the computer twice, but I thought I might as well specifically click on it anyway. This time, the computer shut down normally, and the BSOD did not appear at all. However the screen was black for 1/2 again before the initial apps could start up and mid-way through loading said apps, my laptop froze for the first time that I've had it (about 5 months.) I manually shut down the computer (holding down the power button) and boot into safe mode w/out networking. I tried scanning the computer using Malwarebytes but there were no hits.
This morning after starting up the computer, everything seems to magically be back to normal, though that obviously can't be the case, unless the problem magically fixed itself. I researched into System Restore options and realized that all my system restore points aside a single most recent one (which I believe to be insignificant and not when the Malware entered my PC) were missing. Also, I'm not sure if this helps, but in the task manager I did notice that there were several .exe files running without file location properties including a couple rundll32.exe's.
Thank you very very much in advance for any assistance whatsoever!