......Okay, as in the title my Windoews98SE machine is driving me a little insane. ScanDisk is taking about 12 hours to do. It was 6 hours a year ago and DeFrag takes about 7 hours.


I'm doing everything I can think of to try to bring these times down.
I deleted all my Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, History Log, and all the Temp Files (actually, move them all {.TMP files only} to a different folder i made incase it screws something up). ....I went into "msconfig" and shut down everything I could especially things like "Task Scheduler (which for some strange reason keeps coming back on after I turn it off). I turn off all the controls in "Power Mamagement". And shut off "Screen Saver".

.....And to top it off (at the suggestion of a friend) I boot up in "SafeMode", and shut it completely down...I do this 3 times! The fourth time I run the ScanDisk.

On a side note I do all the "deleting" and "turning off" even though I run in Safe Mode because it still sometimes restarts the program 10 times and ask me if I want to continue because other programs may be running in the backround. But "CTRL-ALT-DEL" shows that only "explorer" is running.

....I can't think of anything else to do. Is there something I'm missing?
Thanx, Cancer Norm

ScanDisk: Running a full surface scan (checking for bad blocks) will take a long long time. There's no way around that.

DeFrag: If it's been a long time since your last defrag and you've got a lot of data on a big disk, it's going to also take a long long time. There's nothing you can do to speed it up.

If you're running both in SafeMode, that's as good as it's going to get.

Ask yourself, "Do I really need to do this?" Are you having some problems that you are hoping doing this will fix? If so, there's a very very good chance that ScanDisk and DeFrag will not fix your problems. So the next question is, "Would it just be faster to backup my files, reformat the drive, and do a clean install?"

A corrupted registry can cause many problems that do not go away from running scandisk and defrag. The easiest and cleanest way to fix them is to do a clean install.

...Thanx Bill....good information there.

Can you answer me this? If running Scandisk in Safemode why does it keep restarting itself when the only thing running at the time is "explorer"?

Can you answer me this? If running Scandisk in Safemode why does it keep restarting itself when the only thing running at the time is "explorer"?
Hmm... I don't know. I had the exact same problem recently too. I was experiencing problems with Win98SE and tried the ScanDisk/DeFrag route. I tried running a surface scan in SafeMode too and it kept restarting. I decided to just give up on it and run a quick scan then DeFrag. DeFrag went well, but took several hours.

The problems didn't go away. I didn't get any new problems, but the computer was still having issues. I did come across an error saying the registry was corrupted and that Windows was going to repair it. Even after the "repair" the computer was still very unstable. I decided to just do a clean install, but while I was at it, upgrade to XP instead of reinstalling 98SE. And after some discussion here (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=37416) also replaced the 5 year old HD that was most likely starting to show signs of failing. So, I'm guessing that the ScanDisk restarts might be due to HD failure or the beginnings of failure. Is yours an older HD too?

My take on it is that in some cases, a machine running Win98 or even W2K can really benefit from an annual reload. (I have not used XP yet.) I know that the annual reload thing may sound rather extreme but after about 9 months of abuse (And I mean ABUSE!) things start to slow down. It seems to be the nature of the beast.

Is it a pain? Sure is. But I am on the 18th month of my current 2K install and it has needed a reload since December. I can bet money that once I get it reinstaled, it will run like a new machine.

YMMV.

My scan discs and all that never take that long. If it keeps trying to start over there is some program running in the background that is causing it grief. I would go into the configuration again and see if you can shut off anything else. I just checked mine before I reformatted my computer and I found that I had some ad-aware running in there that Norton kept trying to delete but it stayed there because it got worked into my .dll registry files. I am hoping that the 2005 Norton Internet Security will prevent this.

My computer and hard drive are 5 years old and still working great. I always clean out the inside of my computer (dust, etc) and on average I reformat the computer every 6 months. Annoys my hubby to no end when he has music on there and I wipe it right off...he lets me mess with the computer to keep it going...he just uses it, LOL :p

Sounds to me that you should try reformatting the computer...if that does not work, then I agree with Bill that you may be starting to lose your hard drive.

Like I said in my other thread, I really think the only thing that has kept my system running like it has is that I have reformatted it so many times over the past 5 years. My machine seriously runs like a brand new machine! I have yet to check my burner because we were having issues with that before I reformatted but everything else is running perfect!

Little things can happen to your windows files to corrupt them that will reak havoc on components...I lost my sound once. Hubby thought the speakers were blown and gone, turned out once I reformatted everything worked great again. So I am hoping that is the case for the burner. If not, they are fairly inexpensive to replace nowadays.

By the way I still run Windows 98. I have XP Home at work and I like it too but I prefer 98...it just seems easier to "fix".

This is just my .02. The indexing service has a tendancy to fight with scan disk. I do not know if indexing runs during safe mode, but you can turn off indexing for a hard drive and see if helps.

Open My Computer
Right Click on the drive you are scan disking
Select Properties
Uncheck "Allow indexing service to index this drive."

Apply it and for good measure, reboot the computer, then try running scan disk.

Hopefully it helps. I'm pretty sure those are the steps to follow, it's been a very long time since I've used 98!!!

My take on it is that in some cases, a machine running Win98 or even W2K can really benefit from an annual reload.

I second this - especially with win98.

I decided to just do a clean install, but while I was at it, upgrade to XP instead of reinstalling 98SE. And after some discussion here also replaced the 5 year old HD that was most likely starting to show signs of failing. So, I'm guessing that the ScanDisk restarts might be due to HD failure or the beginnings of failure. Is yours an older HD too?

Your news is very distrubing. ...I am running 98 on this machine because I'mhave some CAD programs that run on 98 and I can't get updates. So XP on this machine is not possible. My HD is about 5 years old so now, by your description I will need a new HD. This is not good news!

Are there any other "signs" that my HD is failing?

I am running 98 on this machine because I'mhave some CAD programs that run on 98 and I can't get updates. So XP on this machine is not possible.

I don't know if this might help you or what it's worth, but Windows XP has a "Compatibility" tab under each program's "Properties" window, for running older programs that might not run correctly under XP. It allows you to select from the following previous Windows versions, from the pull-down menu:

- Windows 95
- Windows 98 / Windows ME
- Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5)
- Windows 2000

I've never had to use it myself, so I can't say how reliable it might be. Here's a screenshot of the menu:

http://members.aol.com/opus1guy/wincompatscreen.jpg

Are there any other "signs" that my HD is failing?
It was just a guess that maybe my problems with ScanDisk could have been caused by a failing HD. I was experiencing many problems with my computer, some of which could have been due to the HD. My problems involved intermittent and unrepeatable crashing, especially during periods of high HD activity such as downloading large files or even during start up.

Your problems with ScanDisk could be due to something else. I would try Dexter's suggestion before jumping to conclusions about your HD.

What problems have you been experiencing lately that have prompted you to try this recent tune-up? If these problems are symptoms of your HD starting to go out, it's really not that big of a deal. HDs are cheap these days, so if that's the problem it's a cheap and easy fix.

I don't know if this might help you or what it's worth, but Windows XP has a "Compatibility" tab under each program's "Properties" window, for running older programs that might not run correctly under XP. It allows you to select from the following previous Windows versions, from the pull-down menu:

I think what that does is make it so that if the program requests the version of Windows that's running on the machine through an API call, the OS replies back with whatever you tell it to. Much like the old DOSVER to make programs think the correct version of DOS was running when they were version specific.

it may or may not work. XP is a lot different under the hood than 98 is, so if the program only checks the OS version, it might be okay, but otherwise, it might fail somehow.

Just upgrade to Windows Longhorn Edition when it comes out this summer. Windows 98 is just asking for trouble. It hasn't had a update for god knows how long and is very vulnerable to attacks and problems. You could potentially be giving out person information because your windows version is not up to date.

Just upgrade to Windows Longhorn Edition when it comes out this summer. Windows 98 is just asking for trouble. It hasn't had a update for god knows how long and is very vulnerable to attacks and problems. You could potentially be giving out person information because your windows version is not up to date.

Longhorn is not going to be released until some time in 2006, at the earliest. There might be Beta versions later this year, but those are apt to be pretty high risk.

-Jeff

Longhorn is not going to be released until some time in 2006, at the earliest. There might be Beta versions later this year, but those are apt to be pretty high risk.

-Jeff

Well I heard this summer. If that is the case then get windows xp.

Just upgrade to Windows Longhorn Edition when it comes out this summer. Windows 98 is just asking for trouble. It hasn't had a update for god knows how long and is very vulnerable to attacks and problems. You could potentially be giving out person information because your windows version is not up to date.


...According to articles on the Microsoft Website, Longhorn is coming out sometime in 2006.

On a side note: Though Windows 98 is a pain sometomes, I need it to use my Cad/Cam & my CNC programs. Upgrading to XP is not an option on this machine. My XP machine has preformed flawlessly and I'm happy with it.

A corrupted registry can cause many problems that do not go away from running scandisk and defrag. The easiest and cleanest way to fix them is to do a clean install.

A really fast way to fix up any registry problems is to download RegClean from the Microsoft website. You just run the program repeatedly until the program announces there are no more errors to fix.

I recommend this all the time to my clients who are still on Windows NT or earlier. RegClean is not necessary for Windows 2000 or WinXP as the O/S has its own internal registry monitor.