Hit it real hard with a big freakin hammer.

(there ya go)

I was going to switch to Chrome, but (if I recall) it asked for my email address. It didn't seem like there was a way around it...or I just didn't try very hard (didn't seem worth it). It's like Google wants your email address so they can "personalize" your searches...i.e. send you crap that they feel you would be interested in.

I also thought about Firefox. Is it pretty simple to switch back/forth between IE and Firefox if necessary?

I d/l that speedfan program via cnet (much easier and no spam/add-ons). Now I'm not really sure what I'm looking at...I guess I don't have the expertise to decipher what it's saying. There's a "readings" tab that shows CPU usage and (I guess) temperature (33 - 35C). There's a SMART tab with more analysis. Many have "OK" next to them, others have nothing. The Value/Worst/Warn columns make no sense to me. Sometimes the "value" and "worst" have the same number (as high as 100) with a number in the "warn" column. 😕 Like the author of the software says, if I don't understand any of it, it's probably not something i should mess with.

So far...no shutdowns this a.m.

I'm a plus 1 for the MAC though. My office PC is still IBM comp. but bought a real nice Mac for home. Software works a little different and takes some getting use to but we don't have ANY of the problems that the IBM types do. We don't have to run any virus/spam/bot anti this and that software because the Mac software is just a lot more secure. Have had if for just over a year now with zero issues.

My .02 cents on this would be blow out all the dust and rats (if you find Dirty Rats, send them to me for disposal). Run the computer with the case open for maximum air circulation and see if that helps.

Try updating your graphics driver..

You don't need to provide any information to download and install Chrome. When you install it I believe the default screen that comes up on the first run is a login screen. Many Chrome users, myself included, use Google's cloud services to sync our browsers between multiple devices. If you don't want to use that feature just navigate elsewhere. The only thing to get used to with Chrome is that the URL bar and search bar are unified. If a valid URL is detected you will navigate directly there, if not it will perform a Google search on the string entered.

Firefox works more conventionally with separate sear and URL bars. Both allow importing of your IE bookmarks to make the switch seamless. You can switch back and forth as you please. Personally I run Chrome as my primary, and IE for sites that demand it (almost none). I also use IE for testing along with Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

I haven't used speedfan myself, but yes temperature is usually measured in Celsius on computers. What processor are you running? Regardless 35C shouldn't be an issue, that's only 95F. Processors start to have problems around 50C and above depending on how heat tolerant your model is. They do cool quickly though, and they don't get hot unless under high load. If you want to test it try doing something that makes your computer work hard and watch the temps.

I wouldn't worry about SMART that is a hard disk monitoring system. That is just your drives self-evaluation of health.

Good. Let's hope it was just a dust related problem.

...no shut downs since [knock-on-wood]

😂

Perhaps check that all your case fans are working, and not obstructed. If it's removable take the fan off your CPU cooler, and make sure the heatsink isn't packed with dust. If everything else looks good I'd watch those temps while trying to make it crash. If you see them get high then I'd re-do your thermal compound. This is a good how-to the walk you through that.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_install_cpu_and_apply_thermal_paste 

I've had something similar happen to my old PC and I had some bad sectors.

When it shuts down, it's not the blue screen. The screen and any open windows start 'blinking' and then I know chit gone get crazy in about 5 seconds. Then all the windows/programs in the taskbar close one by one, and it goes into it's normal "windows is now shutting down..." screen. And then off it goes. Maybe I should call a priest to exorcise it. 🤔

http://dealnews.com/c48/Computers/Desktops/ 

Buy a freakin Mac already!

Fixed it for ya. Macs still overheat by the way. They're no less susceptible than any other Intel x86 based PC.