Win98 and Cannot Defrag

[jwsmith51]

My Gateway Solo 2550 has recently begin to slow down. I normally defrag once every other month, run Spyware and deleted all tempinternet files.
I tried to run defrag last night and it would not run. I started it and one hour later it displayed 1% then back to 0%. No matter how long it runs the same thing happens. Any ideas?

[deddard]

Welcome aboard!

Do you have any other software for disk management installed? Things like Norton systemworks often take over, and prevent defrag working. The Norton recycle bin is a protected version of the bin, and if this is running, then windows will not defrag - it will normally say that something else has exclusive access to the disk. Any management software is likely to do similar things, so this is the first thing I'd check.

[PrntRhd]

I would suggest booting into SAFE mode for defragging, it turns off many programs that write to the drive which make it start again.

[jwsmith51]

Thanks I will check that out. I downloaded the Registry Mechanic and it identified 198 errors in the registry alone. Is this a possible solution to my slowness?

[PrntRhd]

I downloaded the Registry Mechanic and it identified 198 errors in the registry alone. Is this a possible solution to my slowness
Always be cautious messing with the Registry, always do a backup first and remember if you make a mistake Windows may not work any more. I would rather download HJT, extract it into it's own folder on the HDD and post the resulting log here so experts can tell you which items to remove.

Check out Shanmuga's links here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31610)

[John0904]

I would take PrntRhd suggestions very seriously.
If you start messing around with registry cleaners, you're asking for trouble.
I had to learn the hard way several times that way. Registry cleaners are the root of all evils for the computer.

I would just run defrag in safe mode. :)

[Quantax]

I honestly don't know how some of those Registry "cleaners"(perhaps including Registry Mechanic)can come up with so many "errors". Even after I've regularly used Norton System Works one button utility(which does a Registry scan and cleaning operation), on one occasion I later did the same with another of those Registry utilities and it came up with an incredibly high number of errors, this in spite of everything working fine. And I remember correctly, it probably said I had to then pay to download the program to get those "errors" fixed! :confused:

[david eaton]

and it came up with an incredibly high number of errors, this in spite of everything working fine. And I remember correctly, it probably said I had to then pay to download the program to get those "errors" fixed!

A not uncommon tactic to obtain sales! There are many spyware removers, and more general cleanup programs (so called) that detect false positives on order to frighten people into buying !

[deddard]

bear in mind that registry errors can often be quite benign - bits of reference files being left behind etc.
I've seen over 500 (I think the highest figure was something like 760!) errors reported by norton. I had it fix them all, and things worked fine.
It doesn't necessarily mean there are 700 things waiting to crash your hdd, but cleaning things up regularly can help.
Sometimes things do get serious in there. Backing up the registry, and then trying the fix is the best way to go; if it makes a mess of things, you can always restore the registry.