[raygun]

How are you trying to clear the free space? It sounds like you're trying to run defrag.

The thing to do is run scandisk in DOS and then run defrag.

But I'd not rely on Microsoft either one of those. Use SpeedDisk and DiskDoc. They are so much better than Microsoft's versions.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I get the same restart problem with Norton Speed Disk on my machine as a I do without it on my neigbor's machine. I can "defragment" with Speed Disk but I can't use the Wipe Free Space ( or Norton Wipe info) option without the constant restart due to disk write problem that only lets me get 78% clear. On my neighbor's machine, I can only defrag it in the Safe Mode to avoid the continual restart.