So I've been having some serious computer issues for the last day or so. Yesterday it started temporarily freezing at semi-regular intervals and basic things like restarting didn't fix it. I slogged through it until I noticed that my CPU and RAM usage were way higher than they should be, and figured I must have some kind of virus. However, I ran MWB (most recent update, by the way) multiple times and it's picked up nothing. I'm still thinking "malware" is the most parsimonious explanation but that result is a bit strange. I also haven't experienced any negative effects other than the freezing and CPU/RAM usage.
Next I tried booting in safe mode; that solved the CPU nd memory issues, but the freezing is still happening (albeit less frequently). So now I'm looking for advice on two fronts:
1) Is it malware or just an accidental hardware/software problem?
2) In either case, what's the best way to fix it?
(Computer is a mid-range Dell laptop with the most recent version of Windows 7, if that helps)
EDIT: Updates
-Realizing that MWB isn't the end-all-be-all of malware detectors, I also ran adwcleaner and it also didn't detect anything. Still not a definitive no, but the fact that neither program detected anything suggests that if there is malware tucked away somewhere it's some combination of new, uncommon, or well-hidden.
-Still in safe mode right now; computer appears to work fine aside from some stuff (MS Office, audio drivers) not working for presumably safe mode-related reasons. I spoke too soon about it still freezing; that only happened once, for apparently unrelated reasons.