"restarting due to disk write"

I have windowsME. I can't run scandisk or any Norton disk utility because
every few seconds the utility restarts with this message.
I've tried stopping every service I can think of.
I read once that there is an indexing subtask that might be causing the
problem, it indexes files and
folders to make searches quicker. Do I have that right? If so, what's the
indexing task and how do I temporarily disable it?
Thanks for your help
Tom

You may have a virus/spyware hijack

download the Stinger from here and run it to make sure that A-V-disabling
viruses are not present on your PC
http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe

- update your virus scanner and run a full system scan of all files.

download AdAware from www.lavasoftusa.com, install, update, and run it to
remove spyware, adware,
and other such nasties from your system.

(Oh - and get rid of Norton - it's death to ME systems!)
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Tom Perry" wrote in message
...
I have windowsME. I can't run scandisk or any Norton disk utility because
every few seconds the utility restarts with this message.
I've tried stopping every service I can think of.
I read once that there is an indexing subtask that might be causing the
problem, it indexes files and
folders to make searches quicker. Do I have that right? If so, what's the
indexing task and how do I temporarily disable it?
Thanks for your help
Tom

Have you tried running scandisk in Safe Mode? This often helps.
Applications writing to hard disk whilst in normal mode can include
firewall and antivirus application logs and some screensavers can cause
the same message to be seen.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Tom Perry wrote:

I have windowsME. I can't run scandisk or any Norton disk utility
because every few seconds the utility restarts with this message.
I've tried stopping every service I can think of.
I read once that there is an indexing subtask that might be causing
the problem, it indexes files and
folders to make searches quicker. Do I have that right? If so, what's
the indexing task and how do I temporarily disable it?
Thanks for your help
Tom

Noel, Mike, thanks for your responses.

I was never able to run scandisk or defrag to completion, even though I took
these steps:
1. tried it in safemode
2. turned off my screensaver
3. used ctrl+alt+del and ended all tasks except Explorer
4. unplugged my cable modem
5. turned off System Restore
6. ran an anti-adware utility and removed the modules
7. turned off Norton utilities

Well, I give up now. I'll have to wait and install XP to manage this pc, I
guess.

But thanks again for your suggestions.
Tom
"Tom Perry" wrote in message
...
I have windowsME. I can't run scandisk or any Norton disk utility because
every few seconds the utility restarts with this message.
I've tried stopping every service I can think of.
I read once that there is an indexing subtask that might be causing the
problem, it indexes files and
folders to make searches quicker. Do I have that right? If so, what's the
indexing task and how do I temporarily disable it?
Thanks for your help
Tom

Tom,

5. turned off System Restore

I'm not clear why you might think that this would have helped (it won't)
but one thing it will have done is meant that any checkpoints you might
have had are now useless. :-( Hopefully you will not need to restore
your PC to the state it was in before this problem started.

As for thinking that XP will solve your problem, fine, but remember that
unless you choose to clean install any problems, especially due to the
presence of malware will simply be carried forward to your new system.
One thing I note you did not try was to disable your AV application whilst
attempting to defrag and/or scandisk. I would suggest you try this as some
AVs become very active during such operations.

Best of luck with which ever route you try.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Tom Perry wrote:
Noel, Mike, thanks for your responses.

I was never able to run scandisk or defrag to completion, even though
I took these steps:
1. tried it in safemode
2. turned off my screensaver
3. used ctrl+alt+del and ended all tasks except Explorer
4. unplugged my cable modem
5. turned off System Restore
6. ran an anti-adware utility and removed the modules
7. turned off Norton utilities

Well, I give up now. I'll have to wait and install XP to manage this
pc, I guess.

But thanks again for your suggestions.

In article ,
says...
I have windowsME. I can't run scandisk or any Norton disk utility because
every few seconds the utility restarts with this message.
I've tried stopping every service I can think of.
I read once that there is an indexing subtask that might be causing the
problem, it indexes files and
folders to make searches quicker. Do I have that right? If so, what's the
indexing task and how do I temporarily disable it?
Thanks for your help
Tom


ScanDefrag will efficiently run the MS or Norton disk utilities.
The log will list all of the running programs and you can close
the unprotected ones by using Restrictive Mode. See the
ReadMe for a more detailed explanation.
http://home.earthlink.net/~bblanton2...efrag/main.htm
or http://www.blueorbsoft.com/scandefrag/index.html

Mike, everything on my list came from either this newsgroup or google.
The bit about turning off System Restore came from a post I found via
google.
After reading your latest, I'm turning it back on after I write this!
It would be so nice if there was some utility, either built-in or external,
that at least told
you what process was writing to disk. Well, thanks again for your time and
help.
Tom
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Tom,

5. turned off System Restore

I'm not clear why you might think that this would have helped (it won't)
but one thing it will have done is meant that any checkpoints you might
have had are now useless. :-( Hopefully you will not need to restore
your PC to the state it was in before this problem started.

As for thinking that XP will solve your problem, fine, but remember that
unless you choose to clean install any problems, especially due to the
presence of malware will simply be carried forward to your new system.
One thing I note you did not try was to disable your AV application whilst
attempting to defrag and/or scandisk. I would suggest you try this as some
AVs become very active during such operations.

Best of luck with which ever route you try.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Tom Perry wrote:
Noel, Mike, thanks for your responses.

I was never able to run scandisk or defrag to completion, even though
I took these steps:
1. tried it in safemode
2. turned off my screensaver
3. used ctrl+alt+del and ended all tasks except Explorer
4. unplugged my cable modem
5. turned off System Restore
6. ran an anti-adware utility and removed the modules
7. turned off Norton utilities

Well, I give up now. I'll have to wait and install XP to manage this
pc, I guess.

But thanks again for your suggestions.

Look in your registry and see if these keys are the

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Applets\Defrag\Settings]
Disable loadqm.exe
Disable loadwc.exe
Disable ScreenSaver
Disable Wkdetect.exe

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Applets\Scandisk\Settings]
Disable loadqm.exe
Disable loadwc.exe
Disable ScreenSaver
Disable Wkdetect.exe

Set all the disable subkeys to value "yes". It might help with defrag
and scandisk being interrupted when run. If the keys aren't in the
registry you can add them or they can be merged with this .reg file.

Copy the stuff BETWEEN the ==== lines to a notepad file and save it as
with a .reg extension, scndfrg.reg for example. To merge it to the
registry double click the file and say yes or right click and chose "Merge".

================================================== ===============================
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Applets\Defrag\Settings]
"Disable loadqm.exe"="yes"
"Disable loadwc.exe"="yes"
"Disable ScreenSaver"="yes"
"Disable Wkdetect.exe"="yes"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Applets\Scandisk\Settings]
"Disable loadqm.exe"="yes"
"Disable loadwc.exe"="yes"
"Disable ScreenSaver"="yes"
"Disable Wkdetect.exe"="yes"
================================================== =============================

I can't say that this will fix your problem but these apps are common
troublemakers for scandisk/defrag and these registry applets entries
will temporarily close them while scandisk or defrag runs. The standard
warning and caution notes when working with the registry apply.

John

Tom Perry wrote:
Mike, everything on my list came from either this newsgroup or google.
The bit about turning off System Restore came from a post I found via
google.
After reading your latest, I'm turning it back on after I write this!
It would be so nice if there was some utility, either built-in or external,
that at least told
you what process was writing to disk. Well, thanks again for your time and
help.
Tom
"Mike M" wrote in message
...

Tom,


5. turned off System Restore

I'm not clear why you might think that this would have helped (it won't)
but one thing it will have done is meant that any checkpoints you might
have had are now useless. :-( Hopefully you will not need to restore
your PC to the state it was in before this problem started.

As for thinking that XP will solve your problem, fine, but remember that
unless you choose to clean install any problems, especially due to the
presence of malware will simply be carried forward to your new system.
One thing I note you did not try was to disable your AV application whilst
attempting to defrag and/or scandisk. I would suggest you try this as some
AVs become very active during such operations.

Best of luck with which ever route you try.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Tom Perry wrote:

Noel, Mike, thanks for your responses.

I was never able to run scandisk or defrag to completion, even though
I took these steps:
1. tried it in safemode
2. turned off my screensaver
3. used ctrl+alt+del and ended all tasks except Explorer
4. unplugged my cable modem
5. turned off System Restore
6. ran an anti-adware utility and removed the modules
7. turned off Norton utilities

Well, I give up now. I'll have to wait and install XP to manage this
pc, I guess.

But thanks again for your suggestions.

Quick comment:

If something is writing to HD and thus restarting Defrag or Scandisk,
and you can't find what it is, and you have no network, wireless,
Internet or other peripherals plugged in - then it's likely to be code
written to hide from you, i.e. malware.

Chase accordingly.



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I'm baaaack!
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