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When I use windows defragmenter it says it has completed the the task.By using the computer it still runs very slowly.I have checked my computer with PC World and it says myhard drive neds defragmenting.I am also using Pwer Defrag.It gets only to 17%
James J
I suspect there is something running in the background (screen saver or some program).
For this first time round go into Safe Mode and run it. There will then be very little to interrupt it.
If it continues to do this in normal Windows it would be worth finding out what is holding it back. Ctrl-Alt-Del might give a clue, also type msconfig in the Run box and look in the Startup tab.
Windows ME defrag works far better on W98 (much faster and no problems at all). I'll email the file using Winzip.
Derek.W
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Ensure that 15% of the drive which you are defragging is free space. If not, then do some cleanups of TEMP files, cookies, TIF, etc to attain the 15% free.
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win 98 defrag does not work well, i recomend using nortans sytem works...this workd well for me when i had win 98
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Derek;
How do I defragment in safe mode. I think maybe this is the way to go.
Thanks for your reply.James J
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Start the machine in Safe mode;
As the machine is booting, when it says 'Starting Windows 98.......', start tapping the F8 or Ctrl key. This should get you the MS Start Up Menu. Choose Safe Mode. Or you can; Start/Run/Msconfig. Click Advanced (near the bottom right on the General tab. Place a check mark in the Enable Startup Menu box. When you next boot, you'll have the menu. To remove the menu, remove the check mark.
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I have already defragged in safe mode and still it gets only to 17%.I noticed when I pressed Ctrl Alt Delete Systray is missing. Could this be part of the problem?About 40% of my drive is free space.
I appreciate any help.James J
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Are you using the WinME defrag sugggested by Derek (also available form mesich.com)?
You might also consider disabling (the largely useless) taskmon.exe from starting - use msconfig
Systray should be running, although it's not, strictly speaking, essential. I have heard of some cases where it doesn't appear in CTRL-ALT-DEL but I don't know of any problem associated with that.
Defragging is beneficial, but often overrated - folks seem to expect it to ward off... what? All sorts of things apparently. I have one machine that I use every day - 100Mb free space, hasn't been defragged in over a year. It runs.. fine - hasn't sprouted horns OR exploded
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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Just to add that the presence or otherwise of SystemTray won't affect defrag. I'm not advocating its removal but in fact it's absence could only help defrag, not make it take longer.
By the way, if you untick TaskMonitor then you can delete the contents of c:\windows\applog (not that I can see why the latter would help defrag)
It is a bit disturbing that safe mode didn't get this off the ground. I suppose it may need more time but it still seems more likely that something keeps getting in the way. Have you run anti-malware programs such as Ad-Aware and your virus checker?
Derek.W
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That's a good point - while some legitimate software can be problematic and interfere with defrag or disk scanning, so can malware.
Always a good idea to scan for pests and to give the startups a once over
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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Hey, and jboy made another good point (even if he didn't realise it LOL). Have you run scandisk? This should always be tried if defrag plays up.
Derek.W
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Derek, when defrag runs into a problem with the drive, it usually halts with a message about "scandisk must be run on this drive". At least on my 98SE anyway.
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I finally got the computer to defrag.I had run my virus scan,Ad-Aware and I always run scandisk before I try to defrag.What the problem was I am still not certain.I have learned quite a bit from the posts though.Thanks to everybody who has helped me with this problem.James J
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Dan
Yes, agreed, same here. Just insurance against some vague possibility of defrag missing it - probably unlikely.jjames
Glad to hear you made it. It is usually possible to do this from Windows, so if it plays up again you would be well advised to try and find the culprit - there's nearly always a way of dealing with defrag stoppers.Derek.W
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ok for dos based sustems everthing ahs to be closed to run defrag go inot safe mode then press ctl = alf = del and close ALL services apart form explore and systemtray then run it again should work fine then
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i thort it was essental for running windows maby i was wrong but as i rember running with systemtray and explorere works a charm for me on my old box
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Fine joya, it's presence or otherwise is unlikely to affect defrag much anyway.
You can in fact boot to Windows fine without systemtray and it only has quite limited use (things like volume control). For some reason this unnecessary concern is found on many websites too.
If you are unticking in msconfig (I realise that isn't what we were talking about) the only one that really matters is ScanRegistry. Without this if something goes wonky with the registry then Windows will not be able to help you.
Derek.W
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