disc defragment issue

Recently, I've encountered a problem when trying to defragment my hard drive. In the past, I would unplug cable modem, turn off screen saver, run scan disc then defragment without a problem. Now, when running scan disc it restarts numerous times before it finally runs, and defragmenter will only run to about 3%....then I get the message there are errors that need to be fixed, run scan disc first......I also get a message when I run scan disc that says something is writing to windows, and everytime the scan disc restarts the icons on my toolbar will flash...Any suggestions, and how can I tell which program is writing to windows?
Thank you
John Hawkins

 

Well you have the right idea, shutting down all unnecessary programs before running scandisk, although you don't need to physically disconnect your cable modem (or anything else for that matter) and you should get into the habit of running scandisk just before defrag each time.

As for your current problem...
- Make sure your screensaver is disabled (I've seen it do funky things to defrag if it kicks in)
- The only icons in the system tray (right-side of the taskbar) should be the time and a speaker, if there are others, right-click and exit them
- If neither of those solve it, hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete once to see the list of programs currently running. Should be a pretty short list at this point, something like...
Explorer
Loadqm
Srwatch
Point32
Systray
Hidserv
Type32
... End Tasks one by one, starting with those that sound least like system processes and keep trying defrag. Sooner or later, you should nail it. The worst that can happen is you kill a system taskand you have to reboot. Do NOT close down any tasks while Defrag is actually running however!

Good luck.

 

You should shut down all your background programs except for Explorer & systray You need these 2 programs to keep your Computer running. Do not ever shut them down or it's lights out.
PS: Spend $30.00 and buy & install Norton Utilities 2002 & never worry about Scandisk or Defrag again. Your Computer will run better longer & you get so much more in fixes & tweaks than Windows could ever give you.
Marturo