defrag restarts on win98se machine

[ClubMed]

I am trying to defrag and scan for errors ona win98se laptop, it keeps restarting because some program keeps writing to the disk.

when i hit CNTRL+ALT+DEL which are the minimum programs that should be running?

[PresterJohn]

the simplest thing to do in your case is boot in safe mode and defrag from there.

at the absolute minimum, disable the AV and you should probably do the same for your firewall as well since many firewalls do background disk access (zonealarm is one of them). and of course...any other additional startup apps you might running, should not be loaded either.

[Quidam]

Be sure that no Screen Saver or Power options are enabled.

[zen]

Yeah, your best bet is to defrag in safe mode.

And dont forget about screen savers if you dont.

Darnit. Someone beat me again!

[Bill in SD, CA]

Kill everything in task manager except explorer and systray. Kill the screensaver and you should be good to go.

Bill

[ClubMed]

thanks guys, it worked,

[zepper]

The defrag in Win98 is not too good. The better fix is to get a copy of defrag from WinMe. Google on- Fasoldt defrag -and you will find an article telling how to do it and provicing a link to the file you need. You may then be able to complete a defrag w/o resorting to safe mode. I also replaced scandisk while I was at it, but you'll have to find that file for your self or snatch it from a friend unfortunate enough to have Me... I also grabbed any related .hlp files.
.bh.

[ClubMed]

Thanks for the info zepper, I tried it in the past and did not notice any difference in the handling of the system so I don't bother with that anymore

[Beemer]

WinME's defrag is about 5 times faster than Win98's I figure. Definately find a copy and paste it into the Windows folder and replace the one you have existing.

Work with msconfig's Startup tab and get rid of the screensaver. Monitors are no longer prone to burn in and it's just one more thing you have to remember to turn off before you start your system maintenance.

IMO

Cheers!