I can complete a Defrag....

Defrag cannot become corrupt,usually when this message appears it may be signalling a bad hard drive
Boot the computer and hit Cntrl+Alt+Del and see what programs are running in the background,specifically Anti-Virus software,screen saver,select and end task for any program,now see if you can run Defrag or boot from a startup disk and run defrag from the DOS prompt,which may be the better option.

There should be no problem reinstalling Win98SE over the current version (rename defrag.exe to defrag.old beforehand)... but if the user does not wish it, then you have another alternative:

Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Information --> Tools --> System Files Checker --> Extract One File from installation disk and type in or browse to c:\windows\defrag.exe and click on Start. You should have either the Win98SE cd handy, or the Cabinet files on the hdd.
Another thing you can do is run the defrag in safe mode.

I agree with answer 1, it is very unlikely that Defrag gets corrupted. It could be you're having some hard disk problems. I'd sugest you to try to unload as much programs that you don't need at the time as posible, such as Antivirus, some other TSR programs and so on. If it still doesn't help then try to reboot your pc and start it up on Safe Mode, run the defrag, let it finish and restart your pc again and run the defrag once more. It may help.
Good luck,

@lberto

run msconfig

deselect autoexec, sysedit

reboot.
run defrag.

run msconfig
select normal boot up. reboot

I do agree with answers one and two. Another thing you can do is to disable virtual memory, just when running defrag. It should work also.

Try starting in dos or safe mode which probably would be better since nothing unecessary will load and then run the defrag. this should resolve the issue.

defrag.exe is probably not corrupt but a hidden applog file in C:\windows\applog can cause defrag to fail (tho when it happened to me it did not complain about memory)

Go to the microsoft knowledge base(support.microsoft.com - and follow the links)and ask for article number Q238165 - that gives easy directions for unhiding and then deleting the file - after that my defrag opperation chugged along as usual (slowly and with ambiguous rationale at best).

MK

I am assuming that the reason you want to defrag is that you have completely run out of space on the c: drive . In this case you wont be able to run any programs until you create some space on drive c: . You can either delete or move certain files out of drive c: and then try defragging or you can change your swap file location to another drive ( the swap file is a large file and will free up alot of space ) . To change the swapfile location right click on mycomputer and select properties ...then the performance tab and then press virtual memmory and select "let me specify my own virtual memmory settings" . On the drop down list choose another drive which has a good amount of empty space and apply the settings ...Ignore the warning you get...restart the computer ...run the defrag then if you wish you can move the swap space back to drive c: ( not nessessary ..infact it is best to leave the swap space on a drive that has a good amount of empty space and c: seems full ). After you movethe swap space always remember the location and do not by mistake delete the file or format the drive it is on ..because you can't restart windows without the swap file .

Good luck !!!!

When your system says you're out of memory, it doesn't mean physical memory. It refers to the resources available for it to perform certain tasks. When you defrag, the easiest way to do so is to load the system in Safe Mode. This allows only the minimal drivers needed to operate the system to load, keeping available the maximum amount of available resources.

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