Hard disk problems -Fragmentation-

[Omni]

For some reason, regardless of how many times I try to optimize my hard drive (whether through the traditional scan disk defragmenter provided by Windows or speed disk optimizer provided by Norton Antivirus) I can’t get my disk space fragmentation level PAST 78%

It was like this since I got the computer I imagine, although oddly one time (and I’m not sure what sequences I did to cause this) the disk suddenly got defragmented up to about 98%, clearly out of the red zone. Now its back at a very low 78% and my computer could be running allot faster (my normal PF usage after startup items is suppose to be around 190-200Mb…Now they are somewhere at about 250-260Mb and that’s far too much PF consumption for me even with a 512 chip). I’m at my wits end and I can’t seem to boost my disks performance past that. Im fairly certin its not any viral or spyware components as I have and continually update/scan my computer with the following software

-Norton Antivirus 2004 Professional
-Adaware 6 full version
-Spybot Search and Destroy
-BPS Spyware Adware remover
-Spyware Blaster

(I use several spyware engines as I find I get better results then using just one :P, personally I don’t understand the copy right deal between Spybot and BPS)

Also my Norton Disk Doctor can’t seem to correct the problems detected on my drive C: and drive D:.. The Security Descriptors are always not fixed and it skips the file data and surface tests. Basically the reason for that is the operating system or another process has currently exclusive access to the drive or some of its files. This is the alert message I receive

“The Operating system or another process currently has exclusive access to this drive, or some of its files.

Norton Disk Doctor cannot continue with a repair under these conditions. A repair can be scheduled to occur the next time you restart the system. Norton Disk Doctor can still diagnose this drive if “Fix Errors Is unchecked.

Would you like to schedule a repair?“

Now when I schedule a repair and reboot my system it simply dose not attempt a repair and my computer loads normally. What should I do to correct this? Thanks for any help

-Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
-Console Manufacturer: COMPAQ
-Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3000 Processor
-RAM: 512mb 2700
-Harddrive: 160GB (7200 RPM) Ultra DMA Hard drive

[alc6379]

I think I may have a couple of ideas for you.

Have you run any memory diagnostics on your system? It's possible that your system is puking on a bad memory chip or something. I suggest trying a Google search for Memtest86 for best results there.

Also, are you running NTFS? It tends to become less fragmented than FAT32, as they tend to delay writes as much as possible to eliminate fragmentation. Even the page file is affected by this, IIRC. Another thing to explore is why your pagefile usage is so high. I've got an Athlon 2500+ with 512MB of PC3200 memory, and my pagefile usage barely gets above 90MB. I'd look through some startup items using MSCONFIG or something to see what's taking up all of your memory, or causing you to swap so much.

And, finally, if you want to run a test on your drive, you can just use scandisk or the Windows built-in error checking, and it will work just fine. I know for a fact that the native Windows tools will run when you restart. And, finally, you could be looking at a bad hard drive...

[Omni]

A couple of things

-How do I determine if I’m running a NTFS or a FAT32
-The amount of PG usage I had when I initially bought the system was about 190mb. I have a few items running on startup (like Norton, msn, AVI, Wacom Tablet) but nothing that SHOULD be consuming up this much resource. How can I determine which files in my MSCONFIG are useless and that I can disable (As the shortcut names don’t offer much information for which file its running and if I need it or not)

Also I have scanned my computer a few times with scandisk (through startup) and I suppose it didn’t seem to discover anything wrong with the hard disk. The only thing that bothers me is how fast it scanned it. I’m assuming if something would be wrong with the hard drive scan it would inform me before booting the system back up?

I don’t like the idea of buying a new harddrive as 160gig drives are well over ( In Canada) 200$

[bentkey]

Right click on the c drive letter in MyComputer and select properties. Up near the top of the display, it will tell you what file system you are using. While you're there, how big is your C partition?

[alc6379]

-The amount of PG usage I had when I initially bought the system was about 190mb. I have a few items running on startup (like Norton, msn, AVI, Wacom Tablet) but nothing that SHOULD be consuming up this much resource. How can I determine which files in my MSCONFIG are useless and that I can disable (As the shortcut names don’t offer much information for which file its running and if I need it or not)

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

The link above lists an enormous amount of items that you could find in MSCONFIG. For the rest, let Google be your guide...

[Omni]

Right click on the c drive letter in MyComputer and select properties. Up near the top of the display, it will tell you what file system you are using. While you're there, how big is your C partition?

ok so im using an NTFS

I'm not sure how to figure out my partition size ^,^;; unless its something like my harddrive size in which case I have about 106gigs free and using up about 38

[Omni]

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

The link above lists an enormous amount of items that you could find in MSCONFIG. For the rest, let Google be your guide...

:) thanks allot for the site guide alc6379, Its helping allot. Apparently I have more collateral file damages from previously removed viral files then I expected. Norton should be able to flush them out now ;)

[Omni]

I just discovered I have the following to variant viruses floating about in my startup module

"smss.exe: Added as a result of the FLOOD.F VIRUS! Note - this is not the legitimate Smss.exe system file should normally NOT figure in Msconfig/Startup!
Spoolsv: X Spoolsv.exe Added as a result of the CIADOOR.121 VIRUS! Note - "Spoolsv.exe" is located in the Windows or Winnt directory, and not in System32, like the legitimate Spoolsv.exe system file"

I cant seem to get rid of these imposters and Norton seems to fly by them, even after I specified there file type in smart scan. What should I do?

[bentkey]

Try some other virus scans, I'd start with the free House Call at Trendmicro.com

[HeddaLora]

You also ought to try Diskeeper for WinXP. It's an excellent defragger.

[kik786]

all friends are trying to be with you and telling you that you may do this and that.
i did have problem in my office pc and i solved it by two time formatting c:/
i than re-installed the windows xp pro sp1( full updated ).
i will suggest you the same and when you install windows than run norton antivirus 2002 two times for best results.

[dlh6213]

Omni, after following the suggestions in previous posts (other then reformatting -- that shouldn't be necessary), download HiJackThis from here:
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/x-Download-5034.html
Put it in a permanent folder (like c:\hjt\hijackthis.exe)
Close all windows, scan with hjt, post the log in the Security forum and describe the problems you're still having.