Avira, Chrome and VLC all went crazy on the same day

[PsychoSavager]

My computer was running fine until this morning. Firstly, Chrome's Shockwave Plugin isn't running on a lot of pages, making logins very difficult.

Next, VLC refuses to play any file: it just loads a still image of the first frame and won't play. Closing the window still leaves programme running and the only way to close it is through Task Manager.

Having two things fail on the same day seemed a bit odd, so I decided to run Avira to check for viruses. I then discovered that the Real-Time Protection had been disabled (which I definitely did not do) and couldn't be re-enabled, leading to the slow task of reinstalling it, which was harder than it should have been, as the Launcher refused to download and install the file at first.

A few other minor problems have occurred; the computer won't automatically restart when instructed, I have to hit the reset button. New programs don't always run.

EDIT: ALL media players are not working, including YouTube! Edge is also malfunctioning.

This seems like a virus to me; I can't think of something else causing so many problems simultaneously. Any suggestions?

EDIT: Is Shockwave doing all of this?

 

[Ketchup]

Virus is what I was thinking while reading this. Super Antispyware and malwarebytes are two of my favorites.

 

[Elixer]

Yeah, virus/malware or corrupted system files/registry.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I would try running system restore and go back to a prior point where everything was working. You can also launch a command prompt running it as an administrator and run sfc /scannow to repair any corrupt system files.

 

[quikah]

Could also be your disk is failing.