could it be a virus???

Are you sure about that? Is the monitor shutting off (as in losing power) or is the screen going blank which is not the samething?

Do they run okay in safe mode?

I tend to doubt this is a malware problem? When screen resolution do you have set?

 

You still did not exactly answer my question! Is the power actually shutoff? Or is the screen just going blank. Avoid using the words "shut down" and directly answer my question. Is the power switch still on? If so, the monitor is not off!

If you are having malware problems, you need to run the below.

Please follow our standard cleaning procedures which are necessary for us to provide you support. Also there are steps included for installing, renaming, running, and posting HijackThis logs as attachments.

• Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support
• Make sure you check version numbers and get all updates.
• Very Important: Make sure you tell us the results from running the tutorial...was anything found? Were you unable to complete any of the scans?...Were you unable to download any of the tools?...Did you do the on-line scans as suggested? etc.

• After doing ALL of the above you still have a problem make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below link to properly use HijackThis and attach a log:

Downloading, Installing, and Running HijackThis​

Make sure you also rename HijackThis.exe as suggested in the procedures. Use analyse.exe for the new name. This is very important due to some new infections going around.​

• When you return to make your next post, make sure you attach the following logs and that you have run these scans in the following order too:
  • CounterSpy - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
  • AVG Antispyware log - ONLY IF NEEDED you were not able to run CounterSpy. - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
  • Bitdefender - from step 6
  • Panda Scan - from step 6
  • runkeys.txt - the log from GetRunKey.bat
  • newfiles.txt - the log from ShowNew.bat
  • HijackThis

NOTE: You can only attach 3 files in a single message so it will require that you use two messages to attach all of these logs!

 

You're welcome. Surf safely!