Shoutbox

hi,
people I'm new to this computer stuff, well I'm 55 and starting to learn what comes natural to you youngsters L0L


Problem is with a Toshiba satellite 2800 laptop.

when I run 'scandisk' the signe comes up that "the drive contents have changed and the thing is restarting" it takes hours to run scandisk and then at the end it says there were no faults anyway,
the same thing happens with "defragment" so what do I have running, maybe in the background that is causing this hassle
I use windows ME, and have been advised it is a shet programme and to get 'xp' ??
so tell me what to do an make an old fella happy


thanks

You're using Windows ME, which is really crap (I've experienced it myself).
With 'xp' they mean Windows XP, which is far better than Windows ME.

I would (also) recommend you to install Windows XP. You can upgrade your Windows ME to XP, but it's better to do a fresh install of Windows XP. (So format your harddisk and reinstall Windows XP). If you don't want to lose the data on your harddisk or/and your don't have the software/drivers that came with your laptop, you might want to upgrade to XP. Note that some drivers don't work with Windows Xp anymore, and you might need to update them (i.E. display drivers).

About the windows scandisk/defragmentation problem:
Because you probably have a lot of programs, like software/drivers that came with your laptop, running in the background reading and writing your harddisk, your harddisk contents are constantly 'changed'. As far as I know this problem would be the same in Windows XP.
For that reason I use a different program for defragmenting:
PerfectDisk 7. It works extremely good and is much faster than the Windows Defrag (NOTE: It's Windows 2000/XP/2003 only, so not for ME!)

delete the file CVTAPLOG, this file causes defrag to restart alot becoz its a log file of there all the drive contents are sposed to be

removing it allows defrag to properly defrag

As your new to computers i am going to dumb this down

1.) get someone to upgrade your pc to windows xp
2.) Get some one to reformat your pc
3.) Get someone to give you some useful software etc

Hire someone to do this as i wont trust myself handering your computer with just text Hire someone who knoews this stuff it's not hard. Buying xp will be the pricy bit

if you have a best buy near your house you could get the "geek squad" to install windows xp on your laptop which should only take 2 or 3 days.

also if you buy windows xp buy the one that says upgrade in the top right hand corner.

If you get home edition it is chearper ($99) and professional edition is more expenisve ($199).

Dont get help online to install xp etc get a professional to do it seeing as your new to computers