Computer question

[skymama 35]

Ok, now that you all helped me with my dinner problems, here's a computer question.
Last night, I went to System Tools, and the disk defragmenter, clicked on it to defragment the C drive, and the box came up with the little colored squares jumping around, and it looked like it had started, so I went to bed. When I got up this morning, that box was still there, and it said it was 0% complete! Now, how can that be, it ran for 8 hours? I clicked on the display screen, and it was just a blank white screen. I turned it off, and thought about trying it again tonight. So, did I do something wrong?
Andrea
I'm high as a kite
I just might
Stop and check you out.

[freeflir29 0]

This problem drove me nuts for a long time until I figured it out. What most likely happened is that Defrag never ran because another program kept writing to the disk. The culprit on my computer was "Realplayer" I don't know what that program does but it's annoying. Just press CTRL,ALT, Delete and bring up "End Task" Click on Realplayer and then shut it down. I'll bet ya $5 your Defrag will now run.
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Mama....when disc defragging, the program will reset and restart if there is anything running in the background, such as virus checkers etc, task scheduler, and a whole host of other 'invisible' applications........
Go here fix mamas problem
and follow the download instructions etc, things will work just fine after that. Its pretty straightforward to use, and virtually foolproof, shutting apps like this will not hurt your PC.
I use it to speed up system response when I am running processor intensive apps like video editing, or burning CDs etc...
Good luck.
Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[freeflir29 0]

Nice program!!! I have been wondering about some of the programs that are running. I'm just not ever sure which I can shut down and which I can't. I have had some funny results from experimenting though..."Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Not as nice as the program I've got for you....should be in the post this w/e bro Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[freeflir29 0]

Quote

should be in the post this w/e bro

I love you man........
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[rhino 0]

yepper... that's it... Got to close down all programs, virus scans, messengers...
Blue Skies .....

[nacmacfeegle 0]

The safe way to do it sarge, is to use the wee app that I linked to above. Works just fine and any clutz like myself can safely shut stuff down stuff without friggin with the kernel apps......
Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[skymama 35]

Sniff....you guys are da bomb, it just brings a tear to my eye!
Thanks so much, I will check that. I NEVER would have figured that out on my own. I do have Real Player, and I have Black Ice too. Could that have been stopping it from running also?
Andrea
I'm high as a kite
I just might
Stop and check you out.

[nacmacfeegle 0]

If it appears in the box in EndItall, then yes its running, and should be stopped, it should be perefctly safe to do so.
Once you have defragged, reboot and all these wee thingies will start up again as if nothing ever happened....'you guys are da bomb, it just brings a tear to my eye'
Don't be fooled, we are nasty, horrible people in real life....
Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[rhino 0]

Kill the apps!! Kill the apps!!! boioioioioioioing!!!
Can you say fdisk!!
Sgt. Cowan
Blue Skies .....

[Staso 0]

when defrag starts id doesn't do any defragmentation, instead it analyzes the disk data and you can see "colored squares jumping ". you have to start defragmentation when analyzing is done. other programms writing/reading to/from disk won't prohibit defrag from running, but it's wise to stop them from messing you data when you do defragmentation.
stan.
--
Go fast ! Then go even faster ...

[Muenkel 0]

You lost me on the word "defragmenter".
Sorry.
"JANE, HOW DO YOU STOP THIS CRAZY THING?"
Chris

[freeflir29 0]

Quote

other programms writing/reading to/from disk won't prohibit defrag from running

So I suppose that the error message "Disk Defragmentor has restarted 10 times because another program is writing to the disk" was just my imagination. Technically it didn't "Stop" it. It just kept it from completeing. "Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Chris, defragmenting helps everything run faster and smoother.
It puts all the bits of information that the system needs in a logical place, next to each other etc.....
Its a bit like tidying up your desk, or keeping up to date with a paper filing system.
Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[Staso 0]

> So I suppose that the error message "Disk Defragmentor has restarted 10 times because another program is writing to the disk" was just my imagination
if another program has file locked and defragmentor can't move it, it will either complain or leave it depending on the settings of particular defragmentor. not every program
locks data on the disc. and since usually program keeps handle to the file (instead of information where the file is
physically located on disk), moving that file won't be a problem for the program that uses it. anything running that has direct access to disk will definetely be a problem.
stan.
--
Go fast ! Then go even faster ...

[lummy 4]

I've seen screensavers do this too... You start the Defrag, the screensaver kicks in and shows all the pretty pics you set up in your slideshow, Defrag mumbles about the Hartd drive changing and needs to start again... and on and on and on....
One shot... HEY!!! Mas Tequila!!!! Two Shots HEY HEY!!!! Three Shots.......

[AndyMan 7]

Quote

if another program has file locked and defragmentor can't move it, it will either complain or leave it depending on the settings of particular defragmentor. not every program
locks data on the disc. and since usually program keeps handle to the file (instead of information where the file is

IIRC, defrag under windows 9X will simply restart every time somthing writes to the disk. Windows 2000 and XP will simply work around the changes.
_Am
ICQ: 5578907
MSN Messenger: andrewdmetcalfe at hotmail dot com
AIM: andrewdmetcalfe
Yahoo IM: ametcalf_1999

[lummy 4]

Andy's right....
One shot... HEY!!! Mas Tequila!!!! Two Shots HEY HEY!!!! Three Shots.......

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Peace brothers..My magic app saves everyone falling out..And, I'm assuming from earlier posts that problems are solved.....
"EndItAll 2
October 16, 2001
EndItAll 2: A True Killer App
By Neil J. Rubenking
Install utilities often tell you to shut down all other tasks before running the install. There are also programs that demand so much computing power that any concurrently running tasks will adversely affect their performance. On today's powerful systems, you easily can have a dozen or more programs loaded at any given time. Shutting them down manually is tedious and time-consuming.
This issue's utility, EndItAll 2, lists all the programs running on your system and lets you decide which ones to close down. The processes necessary for basic system operation are protected from termination, though. From the remaining processes, you can choose which to close, which to kill (close down forcibly), and which to protect. Once you know which files you want to shut down, you can configure EndItAll for automatic action via a script or a batch file. This is useful for backups and defrags during off-hours. Options let you block power-management utilities and screen savers during operation.
Version 2 is a major update to EndItAll, which was originally published on the PC Magazine Extra Web site. EndItAll 2 runs under Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows NT 4.0, and requires version 4.7 or later of the system library Comctl32.dll. If you're running Windows 95 or NT 4.0, you may need to download an update. You can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/
ieplatform/ie/comctrlx86.asp. Choose the latest version number of the x86 download. EndItAll was written with Delphi 6. The source code is provided with the utility for those interested in seeing how the program works. Note that PC Magazine programs are copyrighted and cannot be distributed, whether modified or unmodified. Use is subject to the terms and conditions of the license agreement distributed with the programs.
Understanding EndItAll
EndItAll has the power to shut down almost any program, and that power can be dangerous. Closing a visible application like your word processor is usually harmless, but killing the wrong invisible background process can crash Windows or make it unstable. You must understand EndItAll's two ways of shutting down programs, which we call close and kill.
The safest way to shut down any program is to choose Exit or Close from its File menu, or to click the close (X) button in its top right corner. This gives the program a chance to perform any special shut-down tasks like recording configuration settings or asking if you want to save changes. Whenever possible, EndItAll tries to close a program using the programmatic equivalent of clicking the close button. EndItAll sends a message asking the program to close, and then waits up to 30 seconds for the program to finish up. If the program asks whether you want to save changes, you must answer within 30 seconds; otherwise EndItAll will decide that the close action failed. When EndItAll closes a program in this way, all of the memory and other resources the program was using are returned to the system so other programs can use them.
To close an application programmatically, a message is sent to the application's main window. If there is no main window, then the application cannot be closed. Some programs, particularly those that are activated from an icon in the system tray, may have a main window that's hidden. As long as a window exists, hidden or not, EndItAll can send it a message asking it to close.
If you can't close a program by clicking the close button, either because there isn't one or because the program doesn't respond, your only recourse is to kill the program by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del to invoke the Windows Task Manager and then choosing End Task. Likewise, if EndItAll can't close a program normally, it can try to kill the program. Killing a program, whether through Task Manager or EndItAll, can cause problems. The program doesn't get the opportunity to record its configuration or save changed data. Under Windows 9x, memory and other resources may not be freed for use by other programs. And killing some essential programs can crash Windows. Thus, you should never kill a program if you can close it normally. EndItAll will try to close rather than kill a program whenever possible.
After you have killed one or more programs under Windows 9x, there's a chance that some of the system's memory and other resources are tied up and unavailable to other programs. The most cautious course is to restart Windows as soon as doing so is convenient. Under Windows NT and 2000, EndItAll can effectively force a program to close itself, which avoids the problem of tied up resources. Even so, you may want to log off or restart in order to regain the use of programs that are launched at start-up but were shut down by EndItAll.
EndItAll categorizes each program as one of four types: Application, Hidden, Explorer, or Process. Application means the program has at least one visible window. In most cases, you can close such a program yourself. Hidden means the program has only hidden windows; you might be able to close it yourself by activating the hidden window and then closing it. Explorer gets special treatment, in that EndItAll will close folder windows only, not Explorer itself. The last program type, Process, is a background process with no windows, hidden or visible. Because there are no windows to receive the close message, this last type must be killed.
Killing a process can be dangerous--and background processes can't be closed--so by default, EndItAll excludes (or protects) background processes from close or kill attempts. This protection is optional; you can remove it (more on this later). If you discover that killing a particular process causes problems, you can restore its protection. By default, visible and hidden applications are not protected; both the close action and the kill action are allowed. You can, however, choose to protect any program you like.
Certain programs are permanently protected; EndItAll will never close or kill itself, Kernel32.dll under Windows 9x, and Lsass.exe under Windows 2000, among others. Protection for these programs is hard-coded inside EndItAll, because terminating them causes spectacular problems. EndItAll will never kill Windows Explorer, but you can choose whether to let EndItAll close Explorer's folder windows."

Cya
D
GR# 37
Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky; the blind may only dream.

[freeflir29 0]

Ohh....I'm still in the stone ages with the original Win 98 so mine stops. Pretty annoying and yes my screen saver will stop it from running too. Fairly annoying....."Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[Muenkel 0]

Quote

Its a bit like tidying up your desk, or keeping up to date with a paper filing system.

Well if this is a metaphor for defragmenting then I am screwed. My desk is far from tidy and my paper filing system is non-existent.
"JANE, HOW DO YOU STOP THIS CRAZY THING?"
Chris

[skymama 35]

Well, I'm not really quite clear on WHY I should be doing it, I was just told that I should do it every so often. Will running the defragmenter make it run faster? That's what I'm hoping. I'm thinking that the 440 items that I sent to the Recycling Bin will help too. Darn teenagers and all the junk they download!
Andrea
I'm high as a kite
I just might
Stop and check you out.

[ramon 0]

1.buy Suse Linux for $49.
2.put the boot disk in the floppy drive
3. reboot
4. enjoy
ramon
"wee girls on a skydive road trip on big bikes...... yikes, dykes and bikes kinda thing...... ", David McKelvie

[freeflir29 0]

Quote

Will running the defragmenter make it run faster?

Yes definately. I have mine set to run every Thursday night. Keeps your disk running cleanly. It will also prompt you to run scandisk if you have errors in your programs which I seem to get a lot.
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"