I went to defragment my computer and it said errors and that i needed to run scan disk on win98 to correct the problem. When I went to run scan disk it just keeps restarting. I tried to run a sysrec but that didn't work either. my computer is running awfully slow and I don't know what to do. Can someone help?

When running Scandisk or Defrag, it's best to turn off all ancillary back ground processes. ie; Screen savers, Anti-virus, Spyware detectors, Firewalls, etc. With Windows 9x you have the luxury of running scandisk in DOS. It's much faster. This is an asset if you have large partitions on your hard disk.

Boot your machine into the DOS Command Prompt Only mode. This is easiest by running MSCONFIG and choosing the Boot Menu for your startup:

Click on Start, Run, type in msconfig in the Run box. When the small window opens, click on Advanced near the lower right hand side of the window. Place a check mark in the box for "Enable Startup Menu". You will be prompted to restart. If you're ready, do so. (This Startup Menu can be removed by reversing these steps.)

When the boot completes, at the C:\> prompt, type in scandisk /all/autofix/nosave/nosummary and hit the Enter key. All of your drives (partitions) will be scanned and fixed if problems exist. When the process is finished, boot the machine and choose Safe Mode. This will load windows with minimal drivers etc. Defrag in safe mode.

Caveat: The drawback to booting into Safe Mode is that your desktop icons are automatically arranged, and if you had your own arrangement, you will have to recreate that arrangement in normal mode. Windows doesn't provide a save feature for your icons. There are (free) third party programs available which will save your desktop arrangement.

To save you some typing and possible DOS syntax errors (DOS is VERY PARTICULAR about the command line entries, I'll paste in a dos 7.x (95/98) batch file I made long ago to automate this process. Open Notepad and copy/paste the following lines into the empty document. Save it as scandrvs.bat in the root directory of C:. (ie; c:\scandrvs.bat)

===== Copy lines below ==========================
@echo off
%WinBootDir%\command\scandisk /all/autofix/nosave/nosummary

echo.
echo.
echo Scandisk has completed. You can now restart your system.
echo.
exit

===== End copy at above blank line ==============

When you get the C:\> prompt simply type in scandrvs and hit the Enter key.

Thanks for your help. I have a new problem. I upgraded my Registry Repair program and when I tried to run it I got an error msg. The RegistryRepair.EXE file is linked to missing export SHELL32.DLL:SHGetFolderPathA. What do I do? Can you help? Thanks

"I upgraded my Registry Repair program..."

If the name of this file is indeed RegistryRepair.EXE, a quick Google search turns up information relating it possibly to malware. http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/m...repair.exe.php

As a first response you might want to post a HijackThis log for review by our Pros in that section:

Please follow the instructions HERE> ( http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread.php?t=32403 ) & then post your log in a new thread in the Spyware, Adware, Viruses and HijackThis Logs ( http://www.d-a-l.com/help/forumdisplay.php?f=8 ) section outlining the details of your problem.

(Not in this section please).

Have you resolved your scandisk/defrag problems?