Unable to defragment harddisk despite inactivating Norton antivirus, internet security and all other programs in task manager except explorer.

Have you tried defragging in safe mode ? Give it a try , also have run scandisk right B/4 attempting to defrag ,may help ! Good Luck,Nick

Try some basic maintenance and cleanup the system: SpyBot will get rid of any spy/adware, just make sure you update it first. Get a free virus scan here: Panda ActiveScan-VirusCheck Download to and run from your desktop, CW-SHREDDER, see if it finds anything. If you get an error about a missing file MSVBVM60.DLL, install this first: MS-Patch Open up IE, from the drop down menu choose Tools, Internet Options, Delete Temporary Internet Files and cookies. (cookies optional) On the 'content tab' choose 'auto complete', clear passwords and forms (optional) Go to Start, Run, type temp , delete all the files in that folder Do the same for recent and applog Delete all the .tmp and .chk files you can find. To do so, click Start/Find and in the search box (field) type *.tmp and this will search for all your temporary files. Repeat for chk files by typing *.chk in the search field, make sure you are looking in 'C'. Replace 98 defrag with the much better and faster ME-DEFRAG (98 0nly-Do IT) An excellent alternative defrag program - DiskKeeperLite Empty Recycle Bin Disable your screensaver Disconnect from the internet Next use ctrl, alt, delete to close all programs down except explorer and systray Go to Start, Run, type scandisk , enter , run the standard test, choose fix errors Go to Start, Run, type defrag, then run defrag on the 'C' drive When done reboot, see how the system runs now

minimoop, had a thought here (gaspain?). If it has been a while since your system was defragged it may take quite a while to finish (hours). Do as advised and try doing the job in safe mode and allow it to run OVERNIGHT. See if that lets it complete. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Thanks to all, it worked in the safe mode.