Step One:
Get into safe mode. (Turn on computer, hit F8 numerous times until the window offering the Safe Mode option appears. Use your up and down arrows to highlight Safe mode, then click on it.)
From the Safe Mode desktop:
1. Right click "My Computer" then select "Properties": My Computer->Properties. This opens up the "System Properties" dialog.
2. Select the "Advanced" Tab.
3. Under "Startup and Recovery", click the "Settings" button.
4. At the bottom, in the "System failure" section, see which boxes are checked. Windows XP checks them all by default.
5. Uncheck "Automactically restart". This is likely your cause if you are getting automactic shutdowns. AS an alternative toward optimizing this method further you can, at your own discretion, also do the following:
i. Uncheck "Write an event to the system log"
ii. Check "Send an administrative alert" (which should do more than display the sudden error rather than shutdown).
iii. Uncheck "Automactically restart"
iv. In the "Write Debugging information" section's combo box, select "(none)". Note that this will disable the rest under "Write Debuggin information".
6. Your finished and click "Ok" to close the sub dialog and then "Ok" again in the "System Properites" dialog.
That should do it. Some of the suggestions of upgrading are propally best, but I think these only handle security issues regarding other areas though they are worth the 2-5 hour downloads in 56k modems for the added security. However, I find that some of the updates are not even for my type of setup (due to unused configuration detection?) or I do not use the services.
For more information on Tweaking, I suggest looking at "http://www.tweakxp.com" if you are a Windows XP user.
Good luck.
Step 2:
Also in Safe mode.
Some of these steps were found at the microsoft support website. However, the following is a bit different and should result in success. It did for me.
1) Get into the System Configuration Utility. You can do this from Safe Mode by right clicking on Start, choosing Search, then typing in msconfig and searching in C:drive. When the search is complete, click on any of the msconfig icons. This will bring up the System Configuration Utility.
2) Click on the General Tab. Choose Selective Startup.
3) Click to clear the Process SYSTEM.INI file.
4) Click to clear the Process WIN.INI file.
5) Click to clear Load Startup Items. Verify that Load Systems Services and Use Original BOOT.INI are checked.
6) Click the Services tab.
7) Click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box.
8) Click Disable All, then click OK.
9) Restart the computer.
Step 3: Log into Windows.
1) When you receive the following message, click to select, Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts check box, then click ok.
If this resolves the problem, move onto Step 4. If it does not, then you will need support from a Professional.
Step 4: Finding the culprit.
1) Get into System Configuration Utility (SCU for future reference.)
2) Click on the Startup tab. (NOTE: If you find "audm", within the list of start up items, this is most likely the culprit. It was for me. If it is, go to If not, go onto 3).
3) From the top of the list in the start up menu, check-mark ONE item, then restart the computer. Make a note of each item that started up without failure.
Repeat this step until you get the "Shut down NT Authority..." window. This will reveal which start up item is causing the problem. Once found, go onto 4).
4) Get back into safe mode / SCU / Startup / Uncheck the culprit.
5) Restart Windows. If this resolves the problem, you're almost finished. If not, you will require the services of a Professional.
Step 5: Deleting the culprit and re-enabling processes.
1) Go to Start / Search / and search for the item that caused the problem. (When I did a search for audm - 2 files appeared.)
2) Delete all files with the name of the culprit, and empty your trash bin.
3) Get into System Configuration - (Start/Run/msconfig).
4) In the General Tab, re-enable Process SYSTEM.ini, Process WIN.ini, and Load startup items.
5) Restart the computer. The problem should be solved.
Basic suggestions:
1) ALWAYS keep a firewall on - and choose option "Open at Startup". (This is how I think my problem may have occured - by not having the firewall open at start up.)
2) Perform a Scan for virus's DAILY.
3) Keep all windows programs and drivers UPDATED - DAILY.
4) Keep all virus and firewall programs UPDATED - DAILY.