Windows 8.1 freezes once a day shortly after starting

[#1]

I'm setting up a new PC, the spec is:
i5 4670K, 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon R7 260X 2048MB Graphics Card, Samsung SSD,
running windows 8.1
The PC freezes almost every day shortly after it is first started. After restarting it runs okay for the rest of the day. If I start the PC in safe mode with network it doesn't freeze and after running it for a while in safe mode I can restart normally and it'll run for the rest day without freezing. It doesn't seem to make any difference what apps I have running, in fact sometimes it will freeze before I have started any.
I have tried comparing the services running using selective Startup but found that there are 12 Microsoft services which I cannot stop if I disable them using msconfig them they are reselected automatically, and in services.msc if I right click and select properties then the option to change Startup type is greyed out.
When I run with just these 12 services enabled the PC freezes as described above. Of these 12 services 4 are running when I run the PC in safe mode so I don't suppose they are causing the problem. The other eight services are:
AppX deployment service(AppXsvc)
group policy client
Windows installer
task Scheduler
time broker
Windows defender network inspection service
Windows defender service
Windows store service(WSService)
the four services which were running in safe mode as well are;
background tasks infrastructure service
local session manager
RPC endpoint mapper
system events broker
I have looked at the event viewer logs but the bits which are an English rather than computer code that I can understand seem just to tell me that PC has crashed.
Is there any way to get a log of what has caused the computer to freeze?
Is the problem likely to be caused by one of the Microsoft services listed above? And if so how do I go about finding which one?
I hope somebody can help.

[#2]

sounds like its caused by one of several possibilities, the cpu needs checking for correct seating and proper thermal paste application, run a memory diagnostic just to be safe, but my bet would be on the cpu overheating as the cooling system isn't operating properly, often a problem caused by incorrect thermal paste application (often the problem is the surface of the chip and the heat sink aren't perfectly flat so an air gap is formed ...)

[#3]

The PC freezes usually shortly after booting, the actual time until it freezes varies but  it can be as short as freezing the instance it has booted.
After this initial freeze the PC will run happily for the rest of the day, so I can't see that it's an overheating problem.

[#4]

ok to get the crash log file open msconfig.exe then on the boot tab check the box marked boot log and there should be a boot log file created that you can look through to see what process or service is causing the issue, I personally suspect its a hardware fault though because it boots normally when you do a warm restart and if your certain its not a cpu issue then it could be a problem with one of the capacitors on the mobo, you don't mention which brand it is but use a bright torch and check to see if any of them are bulging or if there is any discoloration around any of them that would indicate the gel has leaked, if that is the case you need ot stop using the machine though and get the mobo RMA'd sharpish before it damages other parts /

[#5]

My PC will start up and run quite happily in safe mode (with network) and what is more having done this for a while I can then reboot into normal mode and the PC will run with no problems.
For example last Sunday and last Tuesday I started my PC at around 8 AM in safe mode and ran it in safe mode with no problems until lunchtime,
I then rebooted into normal mode and the PC ran for the rest day, again with no problems freezing or anything.
If there were a hardware issue surely that would also show up when I was running as described above.
Last Monday I started with a normal boot at 7:45 AM the computer froze at 1104. I restarted it at midday again with the normal boot and it Iran happily for the rest of the day.
Today I started with a normal boot at 10:38 and the computer froze at 11:23.
I had a look at the ntbtlog.txt. boot log but I don't think I have a boot problem or booting problem has PC freezes sometime after start-up.
Is there anyway of logging what happens when it freezes?

[#6]

how old is your usb mouse ?
this sounds like a driver conflict when your trying to do something I had similar totally random problems a few years ago a faulty mouse was causing the graphics driver to crash and that was making the pc freeze seemingly randomly, sometimes it would happen within moments of starting a graphics intensive process and others it either wouldn't happen or wouldn't happen for hours then bam it would happen, I narrowed it down eventually to the mouse movement triggering the problem,
the RMA investigation showed that it turned out to be the optical sensor getting messed up by because of ptfe glide feet on the mouse leaving a debris trail on the surface, apparently it doesn't happen with laser mice so I got a free upgrade when it was replaced

[#7]

My mouse is new, well about a month old it is an USB laser mouse. I had the same problems with the PC with the last mouse which was an USB optical mouse.
Because of the problems with this new PC I am still using my old PC so all I really do on the new one is browse the Internet some of the time, a lot of the time I just leave it running,
so it is perhaps surprising that the PC has froze a number of times when I was actually using it. Having said that PC can also freeze when it is running unattended,
for example as I said last Monday I started with the normal boot at 7:45 AM and the computer froze at 11:04 AM,
I discovered this at midday when I came back to the computer, I knew it had froze at 11:04 AM because that was the time displayed on the screen.

[#8]

is your mouse the sort that has polling rate or response rate adjusters ?
if your using a pci-e gfx card its possible setting the frequency of the mouse to 125 will fix the issue, sounds stupid but since USB and PCI/PIC-E use the same buss on the mobo then your mouse movements can saturate the buss and crash the pc ....
I'm using a g500s and until I had installed the Logitech gaming software and set it to 125 hz my pc would get messed up by it, possibly its down to the mobo as the ROG series boards don't seem to have this problem ....

[#9]

Is reinstalling Windows 8.1 likely to cure this problem, or will I just end up back at his same point with the same problem of one freeze a day?
Does anybody have any opinions on this.

[#10]

what OS was the pc running before and did it have problem to start with or did it come with w8 ?

[#11]

Jumping in to add my little bit of knowledge (also known as a dangerous thing)
I noted in your first post that when not running in safe mode one of the processes is Windows Defender
I believe that this programme runs the update once per day http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-change-the-windows-defender-update-frequency/ by default
So if the updater causes the crash this would explain the symptoms you are seeing

[#12]

nanotom
I had the PC built by a company called chill blast but ordered it without an operating system, they installed windows 7 on the standard hard drive in order to test the PC.
When I received the PC I fitted the Samsung SSD and installed Windows 8.1 on the SSD.
I never tried the PC on windows 7 and now it has expired or its period when you could use it before registering has expired.

[#13]

“So if the updater causes the crash this would explain the symptoms you are seeing”
It would indeed. I had a look at Windows defender using the control panel and found out that Windows defender last updated its definition at 05 30 5 AM this morning.
I should say that last night rather than turn the PC off which is what I usually do I decided to leave it running to see if it made a difference in other words to see whether it froze not today. It's now got to 1603 and the PC has not froze.
Thanks for the link to the task Scheduler utility, I will use that to set the Windows defender to a monthly update frequency and see if the PC still freezes.
I had a look at the active task list in that utility, Windows defender was not mentioned.
There are 14 active tasks listed with a next run time so I will make a copy them and see if the time of the next freeze coincides
What would happen if for any given task the next runtime was 06:00 and the PC is not turned on them, would this task be performed as soon as the PC started.

[#14]

I did have Norton AntiVirus installed and running on the PC, but because I knew it did things in the background I downloaded the Norton removal tool and uninstalled Norton.
This did not make any difference to the problem of my PC freezing.
But now I notice in the active task list in the computer management utility there is an entry
“Norton error processor next runtime06/10/2014 08:44:03 and the trigger is at could and 00:00 everyday – trigger expires at 01/01/2100”
The location of this is \Norton Internet Security. I have had a look in the file Explorer, there is no Norton folder, or at least not a main folder the could be one inside a another folder, does file Explorer have a search function I couldn't find one.

[#15]

That may well be the problem - Bits left over from the Norton uninstall
Try running this
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/uk/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us