[ksen]

When you have a minute I have real computer question.

I recently was given a Gateway Celeron 400 machine with 32MB RAM and Windows 98 (second edition, I think). It gets bogged down pretty easliy, and when I go to shut down, the process never finishes so whenever I turn the thing back on, I get the blue screen of death (you know, the one that chastises you for not shutting down properly).

I am tempted to reformat the C: drive and reload everything, but I wanted to check with someone who would actually know what they were doing first.

Thanks.

-Kevin

[ksen]

Oh my, look where we are already.

-Kevin

[JenB]

Formatting and reloading sounds like a good plan. Just make sure you've got everything backed up first!

[ecurbh]

I had the same problem with my computer freezing on shutdown, and to correct it I had to:

1. Go to Start >> Run
2. Enter "msconfig" and click OK
3. Click the Advanced button
4. Change the "Disable fast shutdown" option - I am at work so I don't remember if I checked or unchecked it, but whatever it was, I changed it.

No problems shutting down since!

[Penny1]

Celeron + MS Windows = Disaster.

However, irishtenor has a Compaq with a Celeron and said his problems with Windows98 cleared right up with a utility that would "clean" unwanted files from his hard drive (like those banner-ads, etc.). That might be a better option than reformatting your hard drive if it'll work.

I'm not sure what the name of the software was, so I'm pinging him--maybe he can get back to you overnight and give you some pointers.