Number 196 - September 1999

Win98 Defragging
Golden Triangle P C Club, Beaumont, Texas
Q. I had tried Disk Defragmenter on my computer a couple of months ago without any problem, but when I tried it yesterday, my computer froze at 10 percent complete. I reset my computer, turned off the screen saver and tried it again, but it did the same thing. There were no virus scanners in the background and no other program running. What can I do next to accomplish the task? My computer is a Compaq, Pentium II, 333-megahertz and using Windows 98.     A. The answer to this can be found at the Microsoft Knowledge Base at support.microsoft.com, in article support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/9/78.asp. But here's the summary:     Basically you weren't patient enough. Windows 98 has a different way of defragmenting a hard drive than Windows 95, and part of the process slows the computer down to the point that it appears not to be responding.	With a traditional disk defragmenting process, the files on the computer are placed sequentially one after the other so there are no gaps in between. But with Windows 98, the operating system arranges your files so that the most-used items are placed on the faster part of the hard drive.     To do this, Windows keeps a series of logs showing which programs you use the most. It then reads these logs and rearranges the files accordingly. Your best fix--go get a cup of coffee, take a jog around the block or call an old friend.     The more you use the computer, the more extensive these log files become. That's why your first defrag effort went quickly, and the next one seemed to hang up.     Another option is to use the Norton Utilities' Speed Disk, which does the same thing but much faster.
Number 196 - September 1999