PC trouble

You may have a virus. These things do spread themselves by downloading unknown applications from the net. The first order is to figure out if it is in fact a virus. You can go to
http://tinyurl.com/2okx
to have norton do a free scan on your computer online. With most viruses now, if you try to install an anti-virus program after you have been infected, it will not install.
Good luck!

Mike

there is a chance you have a virus follow ansewer
#1, or try running a rescue set on your system if you have anti-virus software already installed.
be sure to lock the write protect tabs on the floppys. if no virus then use ALT-CTRL-DEL and shut down every thing except EXPLORER AND SYSTRAY.
then run scandisk, also run a complete scan of surface of the hard drive. how old is the computer? how much RAM do you have? have you changed any configurations on your system?
you may try stripping downsystem to just the operating system starting with the most recent
install, be sure to back up anything you might want to save.
good luck!!

My Dear Friend, The procedure you are telling may cause due to Bad Sector in Your HDD Or you may have some problem with your HDD. If you know how to run Scandisk from the command prompt of Windows 98 then it will show the Red B mark at your sector if not then look for anther reason.

Hope this will help you.

Run msconfig and go to the startup tab. Check there for strange things that are starting up. Uncheck items that are suspect. You can recheck them if after reboot there's no difference. Try only one or two at a time so you can tell which may be causing a problem.

One thing to note about viruses and the restore feature in Windows ME. If you have a virus it may be also hiding in the restore folder. After you clean the virus it'll come right back. Norton and McAfee both have info on how to remove viruses and not having this issue occur. If you do find a virus the best thing to do is go online and read the instructions on removal before attempting to get rid of it. The restore folder issue is mentioned if needed.

By the way if you didn't know, to run scandisk from DOS, boot the computer and keep pressing the F8 key just before the windows screen appears. A list of boot options will come up. Select command prompt only. The computer will finish booting and end up with C:\> showing. Type in scandisk, hit enter and let it run. If you get bad sectors anywhere near the beginning of the drive I'd get it replaced.

Quite possibly a virus as previously noted. That would be my bet. If you are having trouble running scandisk, in that it re-starts all the time, try starting the machine in Safe Mode (keep tapping the F8 key continuously once the post checks are done) and it will show you a screen to start in safe mode.

This often allows scandisk and defrag to run uninterrupted. You can then check whether it is your HDD causing the problem

All the above are good, if you do decide to reload windows me, Start by backing up what you can and need. You can clear windows by going to the dos prompt and doing an attrib -s -h -r /s from the windows directory and then doing a deltree c:\windowsand poof windows is gone. Reinstall from your operating system cd. I hope it doesn't come to this point
Good Luck.

For the part where your Disk defrag will not run along with the scandisk.
I have found that if you are using Norton utilities you have to disable Utilities before you can defrag.
As for the hanging wilth Windows ME I can't help with that as my machine still does that and i usually end up having to reboot the system.

Dear Frustrated:

Did you get more frustrated after reading the previous ideas? Not saying they are bad ideas, just a little complicated maybe for someone not as technoid as the rest of us. Well, if the above ideas left you wanting to make wall art out of your computer, you may just try simply using your emergency bootdisk to start your computer and see if it detects anything. But for sure run an antivirus program first to rule out any virus's. Have you cleared your history lately? If you don't have an emergency bootdisk and want to make one, you can email me and I will help you, or you can try bootdisk.com for one if you still have access to a computer that will work on the internet. Hope this helps! meddjay@aol.com

I had a similar problem before, I had a Pentium III 866, 1 Gb Ram. 80 Gb HDD, DVD, CDROM, etc, everything was working just fine with Windows 98, then I wanted to try Windows ME, then my problems began, I had memory erros, blue screens, etc, I re-install ME 1000 times, either on the same Hdd or in another one, I tried everything and nothing worked, then I tried Windows XP and no problems anymore.
I do not recommend to Install ME on any systems, it is not steable at all, some friends of mine gotsimilar problems.
I suggest you to get rid of ME and try either XP or W2K which is even better.

Good luck,
@lberto

If your Scandisk and your Defrag programs are restarting and telling you that another program is writing to the disk, try turning off your screen saver via start>settings>control panel>display.
The slow response of your system may be due to a downloaded program that is continually accessing (paging in and out of ) your machine's memory. Check your HDD activity light to see if the HDD is constantly working. If it is, try to uninstall, one at a time, programs that you may have downloaded. Kazaa is bad about using up memory. Also, try shutting down programs that are running in the background. You could add additional RAM but until you find what is eating up your memory, it won't help.

i have ME and have seeen a number of others and scandisk and defrag always have the same problem. i have one that was left for 12 hours and could not complete defrag. ME is a lousy OS. though mine is currently stable. i do run scandisk and defrag DAILY, only way to keep on top of it.system restore should follow ME out the window. norton and others have other prog that do the same and better.
all the best of luck
cya

One of the good/bad things about Windows ME is the system restore. Some viri infect the system restore files as well so when you do a system restore you replace the virus as well. Best bet. Go to trend micro and use their free online virus scan.see if you have a virus. if you do look in the virus information database at mcaffee of symantec for instructions for completely cleaning Windows Me. Most of the instructions involve deleteing and recreating the system restore folder. If you are clean from a virus, use your Windows ME CD to boot your system and run scandisk or use any other self booting diag utility. Check your PC maker, most of the big ones have one for download from their support site.

IF YOU ARE USING NORTON-ANTI-VIRUS 2002, OPEN IT,
GO TO OPTIONS CLICK ON THE EXCLUSIONS BAR AND CHECK WHICH FILES ARE LISTED. REMOVE ALL EXCEPT
*.nch and *.dbx THESE ARE THE DEFAULT FILES AT TIME OF INSTALL. RUN A COMPLETE SYSTEM SCAN. THERE
WAS A RESCUE DISK UPDATE ABOUT THREE MONTHS AGO THAT CHANGED THE 6 FLOPPY SET TO A 8 FLOPPY SET.
SEE IF YOU CAN GET A SET FROM A CLEAN SYSTEM WITH THE SAME OPERATING SYSTEM AS YOURS, LOCK THE WRITE PROTECT TABS AND RUN THE SET. IT WILL CLEAN THE SYSTEM AND BOOT THE MACHINE TO DOS.
IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM CHECK
YOUR MANUAL OR THEIR SUPPORT SITE.
GOOD LUCK!! IT MIGHT NOT BE A VIRUS JUST A "TWITCHY" PROGRAM.

Dear frustrated,
There are a couple of things you can do.
If you perform a control-alt-delete (old dos reboot, new windows task manager)
I'll use the to mark the keys to type

It will show you what processes are running. You will have the options of selecting any of these processes and ending the task, shutting the computer, or cancelling with no action.
Use the key combo to end all tasks except explorer.
Now for some DOS commands.
open an MSDOSwindow from start\program\msdos clicking on the start tool bar.
This will leave you at a c:\windows prompt
EXIT will close the window and bring you back to your normal view screen.
Ok so now you can open and close a DOS window.
So open a DOS window.
do a CD TEMP
cd is for change directory.
Now you should be at the dos prompt c:\windows\temp
If you are not then you don't have the normal temp directory I'm used to seeing and just EXIT
and never mind the rest.
Now do a
DEL *.*
This will erase everything from your temp directory which should make your printing work better/ start up work better/ and any program that runs temporary files should now execute them a little faster.
Next do a CD ..
This will take you back to
C:\WINDOWS
Here do a
DEL *.TMP
This will erase all tmp files (scandisk will create these for improper shutdowns of open files)
Then type
EXIT
Now try scandisk and defrag from the start tool bar.
Good Luck!

Go buy a copy or xp pro (not home!!!) and have your local computer store install. Some of the major chains install for free. You will of course need to be sure your processor etc... meets xp pro specs. I had me and was having to reboot every hour sometimes 2-3 times per hour. xp pro took care of these problems. ME is just a terrible os. I had 3 me machines and have went to xp pro on all. 1 word of advise, xp pro has problems with many peripheral drivers. You will have to download and install them. Not hard just time consuming! Some programs will also need to be updated.

Good luck

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