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Thank you for the advice.
I tried the Ctrl-ALT-DEL method closing all programs except explorer, and it didn't work. I will try again, leaving those other two open along with explorer.
When I run defrag, I get a message that it won't run defrag because there are problems and I need to run a Thorough ScanDisk first, and, of course, therein lies the problem. Not running on a network, so that's not a problem.
The computer works OK most of the time, it just can't do these maintenance tasks. I have a lot of stuff backed up, but there is always something, and so I hate to reformat.
Thanks again, both of you for your time and help. 
posted by
Witchflower
on October 27, 2004 at 8:55 PM
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I know the feeling.
I htink L.E. Grant has the fix for you. Or it will be something close to that. If it works I guess we will all know where to go for our computer problems!
posted by
sarooster
on October 27, 2004 at 5:38 AM
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Witchflower...
Step 1: Ctrl-ALT-DEL to get the task manager.
Step 2: end as many of the tasks as you can - except explorer, lsvr, systray. It's all of these "TSR" programs that are causing the problem, especially the virus checker and firewall ones.
Step 3: run defrag
You don't have to run scandisk unless you have some real problems with your computer and the harddisk
And make sure the computer is disconnected fron your network (if you have one).
It will still stop a few times, but that's normal.
Mind you, I'm not too happy with M$'s defrag or scandisk: they are rather clumsy in their approach.
posted by
L.E.Gant
on October 26, 2004 at 10:02 PM
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Thanks for the advice, Nightman, but
it didn't work. Or only partially worked. I have been able to do the Standard ScanDisk with no problems. It finds no problems. When I went to Safe Mode and ran the Thorough ScanDisk, it locked up less than a quarter of the way through the clusters. That happened twice, although the second time, the progress was deeper into the disk.
The third time, I again received the message about restarting 10 times, etc. Plus, the first two times took about 15 hours apiece. I had thought I would keep running ScanDisk in Safe Mode and maybe it would get through the problems, but it doesn't look that way now.
Any other suggestions?
posted by
Witchflower
on October 24, 2004 at 11:17 PM
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Angel--wish I could help. You could buy one of the programs, or maybe try
and find a free scan disc type of program at www. PCWrold.com I am not too knowledgeable myself. love scriber
posted by
scriber
on October 22, 2004 at 1:56 PM
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Thank you very much.
I'll try this as soon as I get home tonight. I had been trying to run the "thorough" ScanDisk, so changed it to the shorter one (but stil with "Fix Errors" checked). It said it found no errors, and DeFrag ran up to 29%, then quit because it said there were errors. I did that a second time before I left for work this morning.
I really appreciate the help. The poor thing has to be so overloaded. 
posted by
Witchflower
on October 18, 2004 at 8:50 AM
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Try this...
Programs that are running in the background don't always show up on the Ctrl-Alt-Delete task manager (usually spyware), so give this a try and you should be able to scandisk and defrag that maniacal hard drive. This process will start your puter up in Safe Mode and should prevent any pesky programs from interfering. These steps come straight from the help feature included with windows.
To start the computer in safe mode
- You should print these instructions before continuing. They will not be available after you shut your computer down in step 2.
- Click Start, click Shut Down, and then, in the drop-down list, click Shut down.
- In the Shut Down Windows dialog box, click Restart, and then click OK.
- When you see the message Please select the operating system to start, press F8.
- Use the arrow keys to highlight the appropriate safe mode option, and then press ENTER.
- If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need to access using the arrow keys, and then press ENTER.
When you are finished restart the computer and it will fire up just like normal.
Nightman
posted by
Diversion4u
on October 18, 2004 at 12:27 AM
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