[hannahjay]

hi - not sure what kind of problem this is, but i have windows XP so thought id throw it here.

basically, every time i ask my computer to defrag, or try and do a 'disk cleanup' it crashes a few mins/secs into it.

it also crashes pretty much every time i add a new CD to itunes....

its driving me crazy? i dont know what to do...please help!!!

possibly relevant info - its a toshiba portege A200, approx 2 yrs old, up to date mcafee virus stuff (oh, and it crashed last time i tried to do an on demand scan), recently ran spyware stopper and deleted all the stuff it found, also i recently got a new external hard drive cos my laptop was nearly at capacity, so ive copied all of 'my documents' onto the external hard drive, and then deleted all the stuff i dont immediately need on the lap top (ie, most things)...the problems (crashing) was going on before i got the external hard drive so i havent managed to f**k something up doing that....

forgot to mention - laptop behaves itself otherwise, i can faff about on it for hours (internet, essays, music ete (except uploading CDs)) - its just when i ask it to defrag/disk clean/upload CD to itunes/and possibly do a virus scan...

ooh, and also, like i said i copied everything onto the external hard drive and then deleted everything from my documenst except approx 8G of music...but when you look at the properties of my C drive, it still says that there is only 14G free space? what is taking up so much space? (i have 40G)....(this was why i was originally trying to defrag and dlean up, to see if i could get rid of some extra luggage?)

im totally at a loss! any suggestions welcome!

thanks, from a computer (semi) illiterate student doctor!!! x

Edited by hannahjay, 12 January 2007 - 12:48 PM.

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do a prefetch

start>>run>>type in>>prefetch>>>ok

go to edit>>select all>>on any blue file right click and delete

try this cleaner

http://www.stevengou...ftware/cleanup/

read the page first

[hannahjay]

which one do i do first? ...the prefetch or download and do the cleanup thing?

dont want to make anything worse by doing things the wrong way round!

thanks!! Hx

ps - curiosity just got the better of me and i went to run/prefetch to see what happened - when you say select all and delete any blue ones? do you mean delete everything that appears on the screen? when you do edit and select all all the 'files' that have been are then automatically highlighted in blue? do i delete everything that the prefetch finds??? sorry if im being a dunce! Hx

Edited by hannahjay, 12 January 2007 - 06:18 PM.

[hannahjay]

ok - so in idiot terms....

1 - do the prefetch and delete everything that comes up
2 - download and do the thing from the cleanup website
3 - do check disk that you just said

....is that right?

sorry - im scared im going to do something wrong! ill do it if you say yes!

thanks so much for your help xxx

[hannahjay]

hi - so, i did the prefetch, and then downloaded and did the cleanup from the website (i think it deleted about 1.2G). it completed a defrag without any problems.

so i then did a 'disk cleanup' and it crashed a few mins into it... :-(

soooo, i went to do a check disk, but when i right click on my comp then properties, there is then no 'tools' to click on? there are options to click on 'general, computer name, hardware, advanced, system restore, automatic updates and remote'...but no 'tools'?

what should i do now?

thanks for this, hannah x

Edited by hannahjay, 13 January 2007 - 06:14 AM.

[hannahjay]

did the disk check, it said everything was ok...

ran another 'disk cleanup' from the start menu...crashed again! (even quicker than last time too)

do i need to hunt in the hidden depths of my room to find all the CDs and stuff that came with the laptop? if so, which one in particular do i need?

thanks.... Hxxx

[peterm]

In my signature there is a link to tuneup trial.
Download the program. On the second tab run disk cleaner and registry cleaner(if it crashes running the disk cleaner the restart and do the registry cleaner.) Then on the optimize tab run the registry defrag.
Did you change any hardware - besides external drive or update from microsoft or add new software before this started to happen.
Also can you right click on my computer >propertities>hardware>device manager. click on the + sign next to cd/dvd rom drives. Any yellow or red marks.

[hannahjay]

hi - i did everything you said. no crashing whilst doing all the tuneup stuff, and managed to defrag through that too...all good. there are no red or yellow marks where you said to look.

once id done everything you said, i ran a 'disk cleanup' form start menu to see what happened....crashed after a few secs. :-(

as far as im aware, i havent changed any hardware. and also, cant think of any software ive added (apart from the external had drive), i have upgraded to newer versions of iTunes as ive been prompted when ive entered iTunes etc. cant think of anything else ive done though?

hannah x

[hannahjay]

it said that C: is NOT dirty...i tried to do the next bit (CHKNFTS etc...) but it said "CHKNFTS" is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. i tried it twice, taking the 'space' out and seeing if that made a difference, it didnt.

H xxx

[hannahjay]

have just been through all the CDs etc that i got with the laptop, i dont have anything that appears to be an XP CD. i have a toshiba portege a200 product recovery DVD-ROM that says in big letters it will remove all my information etc when used, and ill lose any software ive installed. so im guessing thats not what your talking about.

my computer came with XP installed on it already...all i had to do was install office (and my sister has since lost the office installation CD)

the only other CD i had in with everything were another 2 toshiba CDs that say 'additional software' on them.

am i screwed....?

Hxxx