Dell inspiron laptop, vista home basic, celeron, 2Gig. I can get to the point where I have to put in my password for vista. After that its going to shut off on its on. It doesn't happen in the same place all the time. Sometimes I can get all the way to my home page on msn before it just shuts off. Help please.

Sounds like an overheating problem. Too much dust could be the culprit. Turn it on, and hop into the bios, then monitor the CPU temp, and post about what it is running at.

You are exactly right. Big dust bunny holding the fan back.

You can get that Air in a can stuff to try and blow it out, or you can have it professionally cleaned. If you are adventurous you can take it apart and do a fine scrub (Not Recommended).