When running Disk Defragmenter a message appears telling me the task cannot be completed because the disk needs to be repaired and I should run ScanDisk. However, ScanDisk seizes up after a few minutes of operating. I have followed your previous advice about closing all non-essential applications while running the ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter but this does not help. The machine is about 4 years old and seems to be running more slowly than previously - do I need to replace the hard disk? The computer is a Pentium II 233 MHz laptop running Windows 98. (more…)

In the ‘Performance and Maintenance’ control panel, I am running ‘Free up space on your hard disk’ to clean up temporary files. However, the window just sits there and the computer slows to a crawl with the CPU usage at 100%. The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

Disk Defragmenter never completes its operation, instead when the progress reaches 3%, it always restarts. Also when running ScanDisk on the ‘Thorough’ option, progress is so slow it would take several days to complete if kept running. I am unsure if all background applications are closed when running these tools. The operating system is Windows 98. (more…)

When using ScanDisk, the scan restarts after a short period of time and after a number of restarts the following message appears: ‘ScanDisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable Scandisk to finish sooner’. Even after scanning in Safe Mode the problem re-occurs. Norton Disk Doctor does not work either, neither did removing this program in case there was a conflict with ScanDisk. The same problem also occurs when running Disk Defragmenter. The computer is a Pentium II 350 with Windows 98 SE. (more…)