This will NOT work with Windows XP!!!
| NOTE: Windows XP has a much improved defrag
utility which does not require running it in safe mode. |
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Many people say that they have problems running "defrag" on their hard drive(s). The most common advice you will get is "Reboot your computer in safe mode." What I seldom hear is anyone going further and saying "Before you start the defrag, set your screensaver to none." Doing both works about 90% of the time.
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| But if nothing seems to work try this method, only if you think you can. An error along the way could lead to other problems, so be very careful. Since you will be modifying the system.ini file, it might be a good idea to make a backup of it. |
| Before you start there are a couple of things you should know. If you are running Windows-ME, you will need to have a bootable floppy (startup disk), if you are using Windows-98 a boot disk will not be needed (but you should have one anyway, everyone should.). Make sure that your floppy disk is working before you start. |
If you are running Windows-98 you can edit the
system.ini file using sysedit (START>RUN and
type sysedit). In Windows-ME, sysedit has been
removed, so will have to use Explorer and go to
the c:\windows folder and double click on the
file system.ini to edit it.
| NOTE: You may not be able to find the file
"system.ini" because of the default
settings of Windows Explorer. For the solution click
here. |
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[boot]
oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon
shell=Explorer.exe (CHANGE THIS LINE)
system.drv=system.drv
drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv
user.exe=user.exe
gdi.exe=gdi.exe
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
dibeng.drv=dibeng.dll
comm.drv=comm.drv
mouse.drv=mouse.drv
keyboard.drv=keyboard.drv
*DisplayFallback=0
fonts.fon=vgasys.fon
fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon
386Grabber=vgafull.3gr
display.drv=pnpdrvr.drv
SCRNSAVE.EXE=C:\WINDOWS\CALOGO~1.SCR (CHANGE THIS LINE)
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| The information above is from my system.ini file, yours should be similar. Note the third line that reads "shell=Explorer.exe". Change that line to "shell=Defrag.exe" this change will make your system start up in Defrag instead of Explorer. Farther down you will see a line that begins with "SCRNSAVE.EXE=C:\WINDOWS..." That line tells your system to load your screensaver. Disable the line by putting a semicolon (;) at the start of the line (;SCRNSAVE.EXE=C:\WINDOWS...). Save the changes you have made and close the file. When you restart your computer it will start in DEFRAG, with no other programs loading. |
| Reboot your machine to a DOS command prompt. This is a little tricky since you will have no taskbar or start button. So press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice or use the reset button on your computer case. With W-98, hold down the ctrl key while it boots. With W-ME you will have to use the boot floppy. Type "edit c:\windows\system.ini" (edit is a DOS-based text editing program), and reverse the changes you made previously. Change "shell=defrag.exe" back to "shell=explorer.exe", and remove the semicolon (;) from the scrnsave line. Save the file and exit the program. Reboot your machine. |
