defrag problem

[cbk]

Hello

I have win 98. And had a problem with using the maintenance wizard to defrag and clean up hard drive. It kept restarting itself and I had to defrag in "safe mode" However everytime I use the safe mode for that it messes up my icons on my desktop and briefcase and documents and I have to re-arrange everytime....... Is there anyway to stop that? Thank you

[Catweazle]

I'm not sure of the answer to your question - I've not heard of that happening before, and perhaps someone else might provide an answer to it.

But I can tell you this! The absolute best way to use Defrag is to press <Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Del> together to bring up the Task Manager, the 'End task' everything except systray and explorer before you run the Defrag tool. That way all of the background programs and services which are resetting the thing will be shut down, and it'll do the job quickly and effectively.

[caperjack]

When i use win98 i always used this program to shutdown all the programs running before i did a defrag in normal mode .
http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall.htm

[DMR]

Both of the above suggestions are probably hitting the nail on the head- if any program or process (even those running in the background) make changes to the contents/structure of your disk while defrag is running, defrag will quite often detect the changes and restart its operation from the beginning. (Things like anti-virus software often interfere with the defrag process.)

[Monte]

yeah always shutdown all other stuff before defragin, i mean come on its windows 98 ;)

[cbk]

Hi,

Thank you for your advice, I closed all programs and was able to defrag in normal mode. However I believe I was "hijacked" or whatever that means.

When I boot up I cant open explorer or get dial-up properties so I can log on.

And I cant open documents or briefcase. With numerous shutdowns and restarts I am able to get to dial-up eventually but my homepage instead of yahoo says "homepage.com" and under internet options my homepage is "http://%68%6F%6D%65%70%61%67%65%2E%63%6F%6D%00@%77%77%77%2E%65%2D%66%69%6E%64%65%72%2E%63%63/%68%70/

I cant seem to get rid of it...... any help please.

[DMR]

The weird homepage URLs do indicate a virus and/or spyware infection.

1. Have a look through the posts in our Security forum for info on how to download and use Ad Aware, SpyBot, and other recommended "spyware" removal utilities.

2. Download the latest updates for your anti-virus software and run a full system scan.

3. If you do find virus/spyware problems, start a thread in the Security forum and tell us exactly what you've found. Include as much spaecific informatio as possible.