Defrag help please

ajbrynoffa

tried to defrag my pc last night as its running dead slow,but it got to 2% and stoipped saying there was a problem with the following folder...............C:\WINDOWS\TASKS\sa.dat..................any ideas what this means and how to remedy it?

blinky

Version of Windows?

Tried running Scandisk?

alanrowell

Are all the tasks in the bottom right hand corner of the screen closed or disabled?

ajbrynoffa

its windows xp.....haven`t run scandisk ,how do you do that.(excuse my ignorance!!)....and no they aren`t disabled.should thay be?

garysletters

I have also had problems running defrag recently.
I run it roughly once every few months. It normally takes hours, but progress is seen very easily and quickly.
This time however, i've run scan disk, and all other maintenance stuff first, closed all my firewall/pop up software ect. and yet the defrag doesnt even get to 1%. I've left it on all night and still no advance. It doesnt come up with a problem like the one above, the programme "picture" keeps on moving, so its not freezing, but no progress is made

Anyone have a clue???

Are their any other defrag programmes (maybe freeware) that I could use instead???

msdl28712

always best to defrag in safemode press f8 on comp boot up and choice safemode option

alanrowell

If you attempt to run defrag and there are other tasks running (firewalls, antivirus, screensavers, etc) it won't get anywhere.

So you have to close or disable (if possible) all those applications that show up next to the clock in the bottom right hand corner AND turn off the screensaver.

After the defrag, it's best to reboot.

mjr600

Get a free months trial of Diskeeper 9 from the below link, its the full version during the trial and should sort the drive and check it for probelms as well. It is an excellent bit of software....

http://www.executive.com/downloads/downloads-r.asp

After the month use the free Lite version available from here....

http://www.webattack.com/get/dkeeperlite.shtml

Fortyfoot

I am on windows ME and have had a similar problem. I went onto the Micrsoft site and read a note which advised:-

"Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE

In the close programme box click on and close all the progs except Explorer and Systray.
Then start Defrag."

It sometimes comes back saying it has restarted 10 times - do you want to continue receiving this notice? Click "No"

It worked for me.

Fortyfoot
8)

keepsmiling_3

I had the same problem until I downloaded power defrag from http://www.download.com

This made the whole thing automatic. When you wanted to do a defrag, windows shut down under control of this program and then started the defrag on re-boot. This stops all the problems as no other programs are running at this point causing any interuptions.

Download link below 30 day free trail.

http://www.download.com/Power-Defrag/3000-2086_4-10230284.html?tag=lst-0-1

garysletters

I have tried closing all the icons in my system tray before. Still didnt work.
I'm gonna try the "Ctrl/Alt/Delete" tip and shut down EVERYTHING manually (except explorer and systray) I always thought that some of these programmes were vital to the running of windows????
I hope they all load back up again when i reboot!!

If that still doesnt work, i'll try the downloads as well.

Are you sure its safe to shut down every programme in this way???? i'm gonna give it a go later on tonight, so a few quick responses will be very reassuring.

Thanks to everyone for your responses so far. I'll let you know how i get on.