Pinging Computer Geniuses--VANITY

[jra]

Apologies in advance for the vanity.

I've got a computer prob. I've got an IBM Aptiva w/an AMD K6-2 (?) Running Win98.

The machine takes 3.5-4 min to boot up. Locks up occasionally (I know, they all do--there's more.), The hard drive has begun to fill up for no obvious reason (not properly deleting temp files???), It will NOT defrag...the defrag program will stay on for hours and never go beyond 0%, and now the computer's clock has begun to lose time, or at the very least, has lost time.

I'm on a cable modem, but I have ZoneAlarm to keep the hackers out...not as interested in how I got the prob as I am in what it is and how to fix it.

Help!

[SealSeven]

If your wondering what some of those start-up programs are, go to this site:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

[DJtex]

The old but sad truth is: "90% of big Windows problems are solved by reinstalling the Win-98 CD." Maybe that's why Microsoft makes it so painless.

Plan A: You can perform a reinstall without impacting any installed software. The Win98 install process relinks your previously-installed applications and leaves your system 99.5% the same as before the reinstall. Surprisingly often, that 0.5% change is the gunk that was messing up your system.

Plan B: Only if this does not work, you probably do need to reformat your disk and do a "bare-metal" rebuild. But this will require full reload of all applications, and the loss of all of your old data.

Definitely try Plan A before giving up and going for Plan B.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Windows ME boots a lot faster that Win98.

As others have suggested, programs running in the background or screensavers may be be preventing defrag from running - normally you'll get a message like "Defrag has restarted 10 times..." if that is the case. If it consistantly stalls at the same point and you get a message "unable to write to sector..." then you have a bad spot on the HD. This is many times cured by a reformat, but will not if it is truely bad. Then it's a good idea to go HD shopping.

In general, I suggest copying off your docs, favorites (using the export feature in explorer) and any other critical info, and doing a reformat / reinstall of 98. You will be surprised at the increase in performance just by doing this. Of course, there is always the hassle of tracking down the drivers, but again this is much easier with Windows ME than 95/98. Alternately, buy a new HD and copy over your critical stuff after a new install - you can make the old HD the second HD by moving it to the other connector on the the HD cable and changing the jumper setting.

In general, every system would benefit from a wipe and reinstall after about 12 -18 months. Windows was designed to be as bullet-proof as possible and in most cases saves old system files after an upgrade - AOL is notorious for this, it's not unusual to find 4 or 5 versions of AOL on a HD since every upgrade adds a new folder and files rather than overwriting the old one. Not bad in the beginning but it consumes disk space and adds more and more to the registry.

It's painful and time-consuming, but starting from scratch will fix these problems every time. It's a good idea to make a 2nd partition on the drive (which becomes "D" drive)and then save copies of your important programs and docs there - when you want to reinstall you just blow off "C", reinstall and copy back over your important stuff.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Clean the startup, by running msconfig as described by jeffc in #7. You probably have all kinds of programs that start when you start up your computer, and there is no need to have most of them running at all. Use THIS LIST as a reference if you are not sure which programs you don't want to run at startup. It is the most comprehensive list I have found.

Also, you mention temp files. Do take some time to get rid of your temp files.

Even if these suggestions don't fix all of your problems, you should find them to be beneficial anyway and they should be part of your regular computer maintenence.

[davisfh]

I'm assuming you want to keep your older computer system
for a while. There is a utility called "QuickClean" that I
have on my computer. It automatically deletes temporarily
files periodically. That might provide a little help for you.
Problem is, I can't remember where I got it. You might
just try doing a search for "QuickClean" on the net. You'll
probably come up with it that way.

[Ouachita]

Before installing Norton Systemworks, I used the Win ME defrag utility on my Win 98se system. It's a heck of a lot faster.

Using The New Improved Windows ME Defrag Utility In Windows 9x

[Cicero]

Defrag won't run if you have any programs or processes running in the background or if drivers it doesn't like are loaded. It sees a file change and keeps starting over again. One possibility is to locate the program that's causing the problem and shut it down with a three-fingered salute. Another is to reboot and run defrag in Safe Mode, which will take forever but at least will do the job.

You should certainly clean out your temporary internet files before running defrag and also make a search for *.tmp files. On occasion the temporary internet files refuse to get cleaned out in the usual way, under Internet Options/General tab, in which case you need to get to the DOS prompt, type in "CD Windows", and once in the windows directory type in "deltree /y tempor~1." That will delete the temporary intenet folder and its subfolders with their contents. Then do the three-fingered salute and Windows should reconstruct your temporary internet file folders when it restarts.

[Cicero]

I should add that the Registry tends to grow like a cancer and eventually just gets too logy to work properly. In that case you may want to do a Fresh Install.

I won't even attempt to advise you on this, but the two critical points are:

a) make sure you have saved all your personal files and settings. Programs will have to be reinstalled.

b) make sure you have a floppy boot disk that works and that will allow you to find your CD drive, so you can reinstall Windows. In other words, you need to be able to install the CD drive driver properly from the floppy.

c) if you have a Windows upgrade installation CD, make sure you have another, earlier Windows CD you can show it so it will agree to install the upgrade.

d) pray.

[bigfootbob]

I have a similar problem. My scandisk only scans to 70%. I tried your tip and when it got to about 50% it locked up. I tried a second time with the same results. My unit is about 3 years old and has had this issue for over a year.

[rintense]

No, you are correct. I'd get a new computer, personally... but, keeping the temp/history files clean is always a good idea. I'd also run an optimization every few months as well. The WinFix by Norton is also good to check and see which Win 98 files may have been corrupted. Amazing how screwed up system files can bog down your machine.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You really should try "Plan B" on post #22 and reformat your hard drive after you have saved your important files/documents. Reloading applications isn't that difficult and your system performance after a reformat will amaze you. You might also notice that you HD makes funny noises or seems to skip around when accessing files. Both are indications of bad files, bad sectors, or worse.

For some reason, drives get funky over time and if you're unable to perform a simple scandisk it's time for major surgery.