The homonymous Microsoft Knowledge Base article gives the following cause for the Win9x/Me problem:

"This problem can occur:
- If Windows or another program writes to the hard disk while ScanDisk is scanning that disk.
- If you have many items on the Quick Launch toolbar (which appears to the right of the Start button).
- If an item on the Quick Launch toolbar periodically writes to the hard disk while ScanDisk runs."

They recommend as a remedy among others to turn off the quick launch toolbar before (isn't "while" incorrect?) running scandisk. What is it that a quick lauch toolbar item could write to the harddisk? I have always thought that it is just waiting there for me to activate it by a mouse click.

Quick launch,
preloads parts of the programs that are there.
So they appear to start up faster.
With these active in memory, as far as windows is concerned they are running.
It is a common thing, for people to think that quick launch
is just a convenient spot for buttons.

Personally I never use quick launch, waste of RAM.

So to successfully complete a Scan Disk, you must make sure that all
programs are totally shut down, including the quick launch task bar.

Hope this helps

I always run both defrag and scandisk in safe mode for both 98 and me . There will be minimal interruptions causing restarts for both utilities . Tap the f8 key while booting and choose to boot into safe mode .

Thank you Bad-Frogger and nosirrah for your short and precise answers, which possibly will help many members.

I could leave it at that but I would like to add some remarks concerning non-windows scandisk and defrag utitilities. Their pure existence induces me to ask: Is using scandisk in the safe mode only not a bit overcautious?

I use the scandisk equivalent "DiskFixer" from the old Ontrack SystemSuite (which is now the VCOM SystemSuite), and the PC utilities contained in that suite are not described in terms as if they were considered to be safe mode utilities. In fact their RegistryDefrag Utility explicitly requires that all other programs have to be closed before starting it, which certainly implies that it is run from within Windows.

If scandisk is not a pure safe mode tool a regular user would want it to run satisfactorily in the full Windows mode. The safe mode, although the ideal environment for scandisk and defrag, would be a temporary or emergency solution for many users. Of course Bad-Frogger's advice concerning shutdown of progs including those partially loaded by the quick lauch tool bar is particularly valuable in those cases and should be observed.

Hi,

As many of you pointed out the inablity to scan the HD originates from too many utilities running in the background.
Especially those programs which they have to interrupt the flow of events of the system to test or check various parameters in real time.( See taskbar).
They behave like IRQs and they are mainly utilities which use timers in their programming code to access and update data in parts of the HD.
This is pricesily the activity which ScandskW can't tolerate and restarts...to a max of 10 times and finally gives up.

Hence there are two solutions to the problem I can think of:
1. Restart in Safe Mode and start a slower scan of the HD.
and 2. Click Start>Run type "msconfig" without the quotes & click Enter.
Click the Start Up tag on the top of the displayed menu and untick in there all the boxes except *StateMgr. Then Restart. and start a speedy scandskw

AGeorge - Admin Of EDS

Try the ScanDefrag utility.

http://www.blueorbsoft.com/scandefrag/


It lets you run Scandisk in a controlled state, without switching in and out of safe mode.

Quite right simplisi,

1. Use a reliable Cleaner Utility and clean your system without emptying your recycle bin for 14 days.

2. A Scandskw is next,

and 3. A ScanDefrag, as you very well pointed out, is necessary to put the HD in order.

AGeorge - Admin of EDS