Why is my system doing this?

[ZeroCool]

Hi. Whenever I run scandisk or defrag, I always close all progs except for Explorer and SysTray. The reason why I do this is because whenever I try to defrag or run scandisk, it never finishes (!) because it keeps having to start over claiming that the HDD files have been changed! So it never finishes! I ran Norton Anti-Virus 2001 (downloaded the latest virus updates), it came up with no viruses. Although, I did have a virus a couple months ago that I supposedly got rid of. I think I might have an incognito virus/trojan/worm slowing down my computer (I also have game slowdowns) or rewriting some stuff on my HDD. I do not want to have to reformat my HDD... Please help.

[danleff]

Hi;

This is not unusual with defrag. Any programs running in the background will interrupt defrag (like Norton Utilities). Also, any screensavers will do this. That's why you do a three finger salute to get rid of any programs running in the background by way of the close programs/task dialog box. I would also check to see if there are any updates to Norton's on the web that may help in identifying any newer viruses on your system. Too many programs running in the background also may chew up your ram and slow down games.

Do you have a lot of icons on the bottom right of the desk-top? These are memory resident programs that will/can cause slowdowns.

[nimnorf2]

Hey Zerocool,
Indeed you may just need to defrag and scan your hardrive. That'll slow down most apps if that data gets scattered real widely. That's what defrag is all about.
Anyway, someone else posted the same question you have back in April I think and got a whole bunch of advice on how to shut down everything before doing a scan disk. If you search this forum (click on the small search under TRACK TOPIC at the top of this page) and enter the words dos and defrag (I just did it to check for you) the last entry has a whole bunch of goodies for ya. Hope they're helpful. I've found that it takes all of my computers an hour plus to defrag the hardrives and plenty of time for scan disk too. I defragged this unit last night and I think it took 3 and a half hours. weird huh? Seems like these two jobs use to go much faster. I can't remember now.

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A man persuaded against his will, is of his old opinion still.

[ZeroCool]

yeah guys I also close all programs on the task bar to free up some RAM. I used the live update on norton anti virus, i'm sure that's all I need to use. Although, it is a beta version if that makes any difference as far as being able to download the latest virus signatures. But does anyone else know something that could possibly be causing this problem??

P.S. Where do I go to change my password?

[Jumby]

Use defrag from Windows ME. Also, run defrag while in safe mode. I had the same trouble you are having and downloaded Defrag from ME and it works fine. I'll be glad to e-mail Windows ME defrag.

[ZeroCool]

Why would I use Windows ME defrag when I have SE? And yes, I'll try using defrag during safe mode, but safe mode only restricts certain DLLs when opening windows now the progs that run, right?

[mjc]

Safe mode stops many devices from functioning, (temporairily disables them by preventing the drivers from loading), doesn't load or run background programs, and disables most of the "special effects" features of Win98. As to why use Me's defrag, well basically Me is just an updated version of 98, with some real annoying things thrown in, but certain utilies are actually improved and defrag is one of them...I don't use it myself, but I did test it out and it is considerably faster, and works without a glitch.


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

[sea69]

Originally posted by ZeroCool:
Why would I use Windows ME defrag when I have SE?

I use it on my machine (win98se) and also install it on every machine that I work on.

the only thing about ME that I find an actual improvement.

300% faster, and you don't need to close everything else down to run it.

you will be amazed.

and it can be had here (http://surecool.com/download.htm)

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif



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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)


;)~

[nimnorf2]

Holy speed demon Batman! Hey, I just downloaded Sea's find it here, windows me defrag utility. Use to take me about an hour to defrag just did it in less than ten minutes. Cool! Of course now when I go through Windows Explorer and click on the tools tab, it says defrag isn't installed. I have to open up Winzip and use the new defrag.exe from Sea's site. How do I get it to Windows Explorer? I suppose I could just leave it on my desktop.
peace,

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A man persuaded against his will, is of his old opinion still.

[sea69]

LoL- nobody would believe this unless they personally witnessed it!

that's about right, mine takes less then 10 minutes (30 GIg HDD) now everytime...

read the "Read Me", (came with one right ??)

hehe

open the install part (it only needs to be done one time)

you will briefly see a little DOS window.. it's installed.

installed to the same place it always was.. just renamed.


http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)




[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 08-15-2001).]

[PostCode]

Running defrag in Safe Mode does one thing that will never get done if you run defrag in Normal Mode Windows. Defrag the swap file. You would be suprised how much this can improve system performance. I highly recommend running defrag in Safe Mode at least once a month depending on the usage of the computer.

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BiosCentral (http://www.bioscentral.com)
BiosCentral Forums (http://www.bioscentral.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi)

[ZeroCool]

Hey Guys. I appreciate the replies, but I'm having troubles. I download ME defrag and I tried to install it and the first command executes but when it tries to xcopy defrag.exe in C:\Windows, it says it's not there, (File not found, could not be copied bla bla bla), when, in fact, it IS there. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/mad.gif Sigh, computers these days...

[sea69]

zerocool, it's there:

When you double click on the Me_defrag_install.bat file the following will occur. The Me Defrag batch file will rename the original defrag.exe utility (W98 version # 4.70.1998) to defrag old and install the Me defrag utilityto the C:\Windows folder.(Me version # 4.90.3000)

When the installation has completed & you have tested the utility to your satisfaction you may store or delete the MeDefrag folder & files.

you guys should read the "READ FIRST".

it's in the folder that you unzip...

LoL

(you don't really need to know where it is, or why it works, just be happy that it does)

you are still using the same [windows] defragg that you had before (and in the same manner)- but it has been modified- to work better. It isn't a seperate program.

hhehe

and I haisten to add.. good one to PostCode, (above post, reagrding safe mode)- very true that.


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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 08-15-2001).]

[buck52]

Howdy

When I Click on the "install.bat" file I get the little dos window that appears to be correct and the defrag will run from the .exe file but... When I go to start/programs/accessories/System tools and click on disk defrag.... Explorer opens http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/confused.gif

buck

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just hav'n fun

[buck52]

Howdy

When I Click on the "install.bat" file I get the little dos window that appears to be correct and the defrag will run from the .exe file but... When I go to start/programs/accessories/System tools and click on disk defrag.... Explorer opens http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/confused.gif

It is in C:\windows\system... and will run from there also

edit: Thought I stopped the first one
buck

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just hav'n fun

[This message has been edited by buck52 (edited 08-15-2001).]

[sea69]

don't know, never seen that before.

works just fine on every machine I have installed it on, from a i486dx-33, to my Athlon t-bird...

if you can't get it to work as it should do a scanreg /restore to yesterdays registry.

I would try to install it again, it's well worth it, will save you countless hours. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif


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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)



[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 08-15-2001).]

[buck52]

Thanks

To be honest I'm not sure if start/programs/accessories/ sys tools /defrag ever worked. This machine is not very old and I don't do much with it so I have never defraged...just thought I'd give it a try.
I have sent the zip file to the trash bin and the defrag works OK and fast..just not with the above method.

I may do the scanreg /restore just for practice..never done it.
I do that from a dos prompt correct?

This is a machine for fun and practice so I'm not to concerned http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

buck

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just hav'n fun

[This message has been edited by buck52 (edited 08-15-2001).]

[ZeroCool]

Hey sea, I did read the "read first" and the defrag.exe file IS in the C:\Windows folder but it still says that it's not there. I dont know what else to tell ya; I have the file in the correct folder yet the install utility fails to find it. sigh

[sea69]

you don't understand.

it's already installed; you don't have to do anything.. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

you can now delete the folder.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif


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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)



[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 08-16-2001).]

[sea69]

Originally posted by buck52:
I may do the scanreg /restore just for practice..never done it.
I do that from a dos prompt correct?

This is a machine for fun and practice so I'm not to concerned http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

buck



no.

you do it from real DOS mode.

reboot pressing the F8 key in order to get to the start menue.

choose command prompt only .

at the dos prompt type: scanreg_/restore (the underscore representing a _space)

follow screen instructions.

you are supposed to have (5) backed up registies, but I wouldn't try going any further back than you really need to.

if you want to have a bit of fun with a system (experiment)- go get Test Run by BB (http://sites.netscape.net/berniebuilt/)

I use it on my main system as well.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif



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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)


;)~

[ZeroCool]

Incredible! I just defraged my 20 gig HDD in about 5 minutes! But I have one more question: Whenever I try to do a "thorough" scan with scandisk, it never finishes because it restarts so many times. Is there a ME scandisk? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif hehe

[buck52]

Thanks sea
I've seen you recommend that before... I guess I'll try it.

The defrag runs fine from the run box as well.
Also if I right click on defrag under systools and click properties the shortcut target is C:\windows\explorer.exe not defrag.exe...I think I'll change it and see what happens

EDIT: I changed the shortcut to point to defrag and it now works with all methods. curious why that shortcut pointed to explorer in the first place...one of thoughs MS mysteries http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Also in my other computer defrag is in C:\Windows
this computer it's in C:\Windows\system

buck

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just hav'n fun

[This message has been edited by buck52 (edited 08-16-2001).]