Scandisk & Defragment

These are a pair of programs that you should run periodically, the time that you waste, waiting  for these programs to run is very worthwhile and will pay dividends in the long run. You will often find that DEFRAG will keep stopping and restarting, this is probably caused by a program that you have running in the background that you possibly don't know about.

It is very worthwhile to investigate all the programs that you have running in the background they all contribute in making your computer run slower overall. You can see what some of them are by looking at the Bottom right hand end of the Task Bar. You are often able to remove some of them by going to Start> Settings> Taskbar & Start Menu> Start Menu Programs> Remove >>>>

If  however you have Windows 98 you can do it better, another way Start> Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Information> Tools> System Configuration Utility> Start Up   >> the two programs that you do not turn off are Systray and Explorer otherwise you can probably do without the others, buy un-ticking the box, if you slip up you can always go back and tick the box again afterwards. You will not be aware of the effects  until you Boot Up next time.

Otherwise, as I was saying, "You will often find that DEFRAG will keep stopping and restarting":- the best way to temporarily stop the background programs from running is to press the three keys Ctrl/Alt/Del at the same time very briefly, this will cause a window to pop up, displaying  all the programs that you have running in the background, simply highlight them and click End Task, do this for all programs except for the two I mentioned earlier "Systray and Explorer", job done.

Update on the Background Programs causing DEFRAG to keep stopping. The latest news is:- it is BEST to Boot Up windows in SAFE MODE you will then find that DEFRAG runs much better. For more info on this please get in touch, that is if there is anyone out there reading this ????? (depending on your Windows OS, you might need to press F5 or F8 or Esc while Booting Up, before you Load Windows.

I have found that Microsoft have written a Defrag Program that is much faster it was/is originally intended for Windows ME and Windows 2000 but it is compatible with Win95 and Win98. If you would like this program please get in touch.

Windows 9x