It won't run scandisk, tries 10 x and then gives the writing to disk error

I open MSCONFIG to wipeout some the crap at startup (mostly compaq crap) and it won't save the changes.

I still have no windows program install/uninstall...

I try to install my Yahoo DSL so I can get the puter hooked up to the web and use some tools there to fix things, but it won't install, it hangs up during the initial install.

I've researched all over the place and cant find anything that stands out to cause these problems.
Maybe clean install if you have the cd and backup everything you need.
Anyone else got any suggestions?

Don't have the disks, but I think I can dig something up.

Thanx for the effort

To be honest, it does sound like just wiping it would be the best solution. However, here's something else for you to try, Dougfunny. You said that you were trying to remove a load of startup entries through Msconfig. Well, if that wasn't working, let's do it the manual way - let's "hack the registry".

Go to your Start Menu, then Run and, in the box, type regedit and click OK.

This opens up the Registry Editor, which is a tree-based application, just like Windows Explorer.

Double-click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Double-click on Software
Double-click on Microsoft
Double-click on Windows
Double-click on Current Version

Underneath, this level, there should be 3 or 4 branches in the tree with useful info: Run, RunOnce, RunServices and you might have RunServicesEx.

Click on each one of those levels and tell us what is listed on the right-hand side of the screen.

(It might be easier to post up some screengrabs if you can manage that but, if not, just write us a list).

We can look at the list and advise you what to delete