Alternative to Windows DeFrag

I think you'll find a solution here:

http://badour.freewebsites.com/html/defrag.html

I like Diskeeper. I have never had any trouble with it, and it is very effective. Here's a link (be sure to remove any spaces). Hope this helps.

It's possible that an enterprise version of anti-virus is preventing the defrag from working. One possible solution that was in the MS knowledge base is to start the machine in Safe Mode, disable all screen savers (set to none), delete all temp and temporary internet files, empty the recycle bin, and then run scan disk and defrag. Reboot and the client should be good to go.

If this is not a networked computer, I have found that for home users, Norton System Works has a great defragmenter (Speed Disk) and other utilities with very user friendly interfaces that are easy to understand. It's not too expensive and can be found online easily.

Best wishes and please post a comment with the solution to this or more specifics about your client's system.

DiskKeeper does a great job. I use it and my PC's performance has been great.

http://www.execsoft.com/diskeeper/diskeeper.asp?ad=w2kol2

I've upgraded the defrag utility on all of my Win98SE computers to the WinME defrag utility. It's much faster, works great and doesn't mind having programs that run in the background. Here is a link to it (remove any spaces that creep in): http://www.geocities.com/one_human/programs.html#utilities
Has the client tried defragging in safe mode?