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Dec 1, 2001, 6:16pm

Hello All,

First of all, I'm using Windows 98.

This is the first time this has ever happened to me, so obviously I don't
know what to do.

I need a FREE program that will tell me what programs are running in the
background and/or what they are also doing.

This problem has only occurred for less than a week now, and I haven't
installed anything new, not that I know of anyway...
What is happening is that when I start my computer, it already presumes that
I am connected to the Internet. ICQ Detect opens up and loads ICQ, e-mail
tries to check without connecting, Outlook says it is connected to the
Internet, and web-pages try to load when I open up Internet Explorer. Of
course, nothing loads and works, because it's not connected.
ZoneAlarm pro picks up connections, the reason for this is because even
WINGATE, with the networked computer, sees that I am connected to the net
(which I'm not) and tries to load its programs that need the Internet and
have detected it, somehow.

This is not my main program, I close all of these programs, wingate,
ZoneAlarm, EVERYTHING in the taskbar that I can see open, even what I know
of in CTRL-ALT-DEL...
I run Defrag, which is a mess because I never ran it for probably 6 months
now (sorry, could never be bothered, LMAO), and it only fixed up a few
little blocks and it tells me that C Drive has been changed: restarting, and
defrag starts the folder checking process and does a few more blocks on the
HDD and restarts again and again. Scandisk does the same, but luckily
scandisk doesn't take as long.

I left defrag running when I went to bed last night and left it to run for
about 8 hours... It has only done barely HALF of the screen, not half of the
defrag, half of the screen in view!!! It was still on the 10% mark because
of all these resets of defrag...

What is it that could possibly be causing this!?!? I need a defrag and fast,
this PC is running me nuts... The only thing I can think of is starting up
some rescue disks and running defrag in DOS mode.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated thanks :)

--
_________________________________________
Anduin Lothario
ICQ#:17962714

SMS: +278314217962714
More ways to contact me:
http://wwp.icq.com/17962714
http://www.anduin-lothario.com
_________________________________________

Dec 1, 2001, 6:39pm

so your saying all those programs are running when you defrag? or not? u
cant have any extra programs running becuase when they try to use the hard
drive it restarts defrag and scandisk and things like that that are scanning
the HD. If you closed them and it still does it then try running in safe
mode so that none of your startup items (some may start in the background
and u cant see them) and all of that extra crap wont load.

[View Quote]

Dec 1, 2001, 6:48pm

At http://www.rarsoft.com/ you can download "far",
basically a 32 bit norton commander clone. Several
plugins are available, one of them a process browser
that can inspect and kill processes.

Other plugins are an FTP client, a registry browser,
network browsers and some hundred more.

--
"_
|
/\
\ /
__/ /_

Dec 1, 2001, 7:05pm

Ya mine always restarts"Data changed,restarting"And stuff like that

Dec 1, 2001, 7:27pm

You can try WinProcess http://www.procreativesystems.com/winprocess/index.htm to check what programs are running, also run Start/Run/msconfig to see what programs auto launch with windows and enable/disable them as you wish. Btw I always run defrag is safe mode, it is faster.

-Baron


[View Quote]

Dec 1, 2001, 8:04pm

Start up Windows in Safe Mode. That way only Explorer and Systray will be
active, and your computer will not be capable of connecting to the Internet.
Run defrag from there, like Baron said.
--
SW Chris
Eagle Scout, Philosopher, Peacemaker, and... Kung Fu Master?
http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame1.html


[View Quote]

Dec 1, 2001, 11:54pm

Turn off your screen saver before starting the defrag... screen saver
makes defrags restart over and over.

Also in Win98 is the program "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\MSINFO\MSINFO32.EXE"

Start that and in software environment it will show you what startup
programs you have. You should be able to diagnose what may be causing your
other errors and remove them from whatever is causing them to start.

Regards, Justin


[View Quote]

Dec 2, 2001, 1:34am

I thank you all so much for your help, SAFE MODE definately made Defrag work
without the slightest hassle, not a single restart. Still took a few hours
of course, but then, there's always the playstation during that time.

I'm still trying to figure out what is wrong with my internet connection
though... When I start up my PC, it automatically 'thinks' that it is
already connected. Any suggestions? May it be a network setting, I haven't
touched anything, so I don't see why.

Thanks anyway.

--
_________________________________________
Anduin Lothario
ICQ#:17962714

SMS: +278314217962714
More ways to contact me:
http://wwp.icq.com/17962714
http://www.anduin-lothario.com
_________________________________________

Dec 2, 2001, 5:50am

For defrag to work 100% with no problems you must close all running
programs.
do that ctrl alt and delete 1 time and close out everything in their. you
might get an error or to but that's fine for now, next pause the task
scheduler then disable any screensavers and make sure you don't have you PC
set to turn off the HD when your idle, after that run scandisk because
defrag will not run if there are errors on the drive. After it runs and
fixed all errors then start the defrag and leave your PC alone till its
done.


[View Quote]

Dec 3, 2001, 7:08pm

Or...if you're feeling really daring...try this: (I've done it before on my
comp...nothing big happens, at least for me...but its best that you have a
reset button on your computer)

Boot your machine normally into Windows.
Open the system.ini file.
Search for "shell=".
Change shell=explorer to shell=defrag.exe (Or whatever program you choose.
If you want to use a program that does not reside in a standard Windows
directory, you must include the path using the DOS 8.3 filename format:
"c:progra~1winampwinamp.exe").
Reboot your machine. It will boot into Windows using the program you
specified.


To change your shell back to Explorer:


Reboot your machine into a command prompt.
Type "edit" (a DOS-based text editing program), and reverse the steps.
Change shell=defrag.exe back to shell=explorer.exe.
Save the file and exit the program.
Reboot your machine.


--
Captain MAD Mike
-Governor, PC Addict, Odd Man
PS> This is just something I copied off The Screen Savers...can't find it on
the site anymore (saved it on my hard drive).
[View Quote]

Dec 3, 2001, 10:22pm

But when you do it in safe mode does it still defrag everything?Sicne
everything isn' open at that time

Dec 3, 2001, 11:55pm

Uhh... your hard drive is "open", so is the FAT. That's all that's really needed to defrag the disk.

-Agent1

[View Quote]

Dec 4, 2001, 3:13am

That sounds like a lot of work considering the alternative. :)
--
SW Chris
Eagle Scout, Philosopher, Peacemaker, and... Kung Fu Master?
http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame1.html

[View Quote]

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