DevilsRule.com

MSN has hit me 70,000 times with bots
Google 59,000 times
Inktomi (?) 43,000 times
Yahoo 10.000 times

MSN has been the nutball lately, they didnt even exist on the logs three months ago.

My numbers are a bit lower than that, but I don't let the bots into my forums (and a few other sections of my site)... MSN definitely kicked up big time, with the preparation & release of their updated search engine.. I'm thinking I should send Mr. Gates a bill for his bots bandwidth usage..

Bill

I take that back, MSN likes my site, google I'm no where to be found (yet listed first on the fan page directory).

Doesn't that drive you nuts? Google used to be good, but now somehow there are a TON of sites that are selling a devils item that somehow manage to get better search position than a number of useful fan sites.

Bill

Laptops don't really use that much power.  I'm pretty sure they use less than TVs and regular desktop computers.

Yes, laptops definitely use less power than TVs and regular desktop computers..

I believe computers on the whole are more sensitive to "bad" electricity due to cheaper components (I've seen several reports of motherboards dying prematurely due to cheap capacitors [like they saved less than 1 cent per capacitor on a cheap one vs a decent one]).  People on the whole expect their TVs to last much longer than their computers.. And, many people opt to buy *cheap* computers (What's Dell advertise on TV -- their cheap/crappy systems).

Laptops have issues, because they have to have smaller components and are crammed into a smaller space, with less ventilation.  Many laptops use slightly better components than desktops, because they have to handle more abuse.  Laptops also have additional circuitry to switch from AC to battery power & back...

All computers need to have the dust cleaned out of them occasionally -- some people do clean out their desktops, but with laptops, it's not so "easy"..

Bill

(Edited to include only parts I will comment on)

Then, around four months ago, it began simply turning off out of nowhere.  ...  Now, if I leave it on for twenty minutes, it just shuts off.  It seems to stay on if I am actually using it, but even then it eventually shuts off.  It also sounds like it's running twenty things at once.

The confusing thing is, when I was home, it didn't have the same problem. ... it didn't shut off out of nowhere.

A friend of mine suggested that it was either bad electricity or a bad motherboard.  ... since it seems like it only happens here, I am tempted to believe it is bad electricity.

When were you last home?  If it was 4+ months ago, the same thing may happen at home again now.. something could have "gone wrong" since you were last home.

If the majority of the time it's shutting off is only when it's idle, let's check the simplest thing first -- Do you have power-saving enabled?  (Control Panel / Power Options). (you should also check the BIOS).. Now onto the more realistic reasons for this problem...

It definitely sounds like a hardware issue.  With laptops, as others have said, overheating would be the most common cause of this problem.  Propping it up (make sure you don't cover any ventilation points) is an easy option.  There are utilities that will check the temperature sensors -- assuming your motherboard supports it.  If it is an overheating issue, there are devices you can buy specifically for this purpose.. they fit under your laptop & have several small fans.  Excess dust in the motherboard & fans will definitely cause additional heat.

Anything that you know of happen with you're idle?  Do you use a screen saver?  Anything that runs when you're idle could be the cause.  Could also be a hard drive issue.  XP has an option to "Optimize Hard Disk When Idle".  Try to scandisk your hard drive, then try to defrag it -- though if it is a hard disk issue, that could cause more problems, only do this once you've backed up everything that's important to you.

As for testing power, you could get a digital multimeter to see how your power is.  Another option that I recommend for all computers is to use a UPS.  A UPS will "condition" the power against spikes/surges/sags/etc..  It's widely believed that "bad power" causes a variety of mysterious computer problems.

Bill