Strange occurence while defragging HD

erik · Post by **erik** » 11 Aug 2003 2:08 pm

I've been getting many errors so I decided to defrag. Well, when I got to about 90% my computer posted a message saying, "change in system, resetting". It went back to the begining and restarted the defrag. It breezed through the first 90% then continued on. Anyone know what might have happened?

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 11 Aug 2003 2:14 pm

Yes you have stuff running in the background.
Make sure you shut off all running programs and things that load on startup.
Ricky

Mike Selecky · Post by **Mike Selecky** » 11 Aug 2003 5:46 pm

I usually run these utilities after first starting Windoze in Safe Mode - this helps to insure that various drivers and other startup software is not loaded. To start in Safe Mode, hold down the F8 key when starting Windows. From the Windows 98 Help:

<small>
<blockquote>
To start Windows in safe mode

Click Options, and then click Print to print this topic for reference. Windows Help is not available while you start your computer or run your programs on the MS-DOS operating system.

Click Start, and then click Shut down.
Click Restart, click OK, and then press and hold the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.

For some machines, you can use F8 instead of CTRL to bring up the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu.

Enter the number for Safe mode, and then press ENTER.

Notes
In safe mode, Windows uses default settings (VGA monitor, no network, Microsoft mouse driver, and the minimum device drivers required to start Windows). You will not have access to CD-ROM drives, printers, or other devices.

You can change settings as needed by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, clicking Control Panel, and double-clicking Network or System.

After you finish this procedure, you need to restart your computer before Windows will start properly.

</blockquote>
</small>

Colin Goss · Post by **Colin Goss** » 11 Aug 2003 10:48 pm

Why not try Diskeeper. The "lite" version is available free. It has the advantage of running in the background, and does not need everything else to be shut down.

John Steele (deceased) · Post by **John Steele (deceased)** » 13 Aug 2003 9:04 am

Maybe you have the "blaster" worm.
That's what it does.
I did... just got rid of it with a free fix from Norton.
-John

erik · Post by **erik** » 13 Aug 2003 1:53 pm

Thanks for the answers. Could you be more specific on this blaster worm. It does what specifically? I get regular updates from Norton. Shouldn't that take acre of it?

Michael Garnett · Post by **Michael Garnett** » 21 Aug 2003 12:34 am

erik, you probably don't have the worm if you're getting regular updates for the virus scanner, and if you haven't opened weird emails from people you don't know.

The way Defrag software is written is the computer takes a "picture" of all the information on the drive and sets out to rearrange the data in such a way that programs are placed end to end, continuously. During the regular use of the computer, files are often broken up and the pieces are scattered throughout the drive. The computer, when it breaks them up, puts a "forwarding address" on the end of the file fragment so it can find the rest of the file.

If you have any "peripheral" programs running, be they e-mail programs, virus scanners, (any program down near the clock and more) they might be writing or accessing the drive, which changes the drive status from the "photo". The program has to start over.

Unplug your computer from the internet. Run in safe mode is a good idea, but not entirely necessary if you can get whatever's causing the trouble turned off.

Gere Mullican · Post by **Gere Mullican** » 25 Aug 2003 8:20 am

You should also disable your screen saver. Then defrag should run un-interrupted and won't be restarting every little bit. Yous my 2 cents worth. Thanks.
Gere