Format or Defrag (1 Viewer)

dingding

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Im not really sure whats going on.

But when i start my computer it comes up with an error mesage, some error in fat 32 or something. It asks whether i want to fix it but if i choose to fix it, it just freezes so i have to cancel it.

I'm also getting pop-up adds every 20mins and my computer crashes pretty often.

So i downloaded spybot to see if it was a virus and that removed 15 programs but can't remove 5 or so programs and all the problems are still there.

What do you reckon i do from here?
 

sunny

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Theres probably more than one problem in your computer.

1) Corrupt files somewhere
dingding said:
some error in fat 32 or something
.............this tends to be the important part of the message
Try running scandisk to fix the file system problems.

2) Try other spyware removal tools, like Ad-Aware and HijackThis.

3) Take better care of your computer.
 
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Sounds a little messed up, you could probably bodgy it up and make it last a little while longer, but it sounds to me like it could use a good formatting.

This time, try installing, regularly updating, and using spybot, ad-aware and preferably an antivirus package of some description. I'm not sure if those would entirely have avoided the fat32 situation, but they'd have definitely helped with the other problems.
 

dingding

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ok thanks..
I've never formated by computer before, but i gather that i back up my files, format it, then reinstall windows and what programs i use. Is there anything i should know?
 

Jago

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I suggest getting your closest computer nerd to do it for you.
 

+Po1ntDeXt3r+

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backup with DVD

on an another HDD as the slave drive like think d:\ or more

or on USB drive if u got small stuff

how did you try to repair the problem?
 

t-i-m-m-y

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I think Jago's right..get some1 to help you back up your stuff, only your important stuff. then format

i'm getting quite used to formatting on a regular basis:D
 

Mithoric

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[edit: big typo]

I suggest-
1. Use google and read a tutorial on formatting first
2. Come and confirm your steps here

It's really not that hard at all. Or get your closest nerd to do it for you like suggested. At least pay attention to what he/she does though so if you need to do it again it's a fairly straight forward tasks
 
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sunny

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Mithoric said:
Defragmenting is pretty well useless on todays drives. It's just a leftover from the old days where drives would stuff up in the way they stored and removed stuff a lot so it's really a big waste of time.
What are you basing this on?
 

Mithoric

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sunny said:
What are you basing this on?
Argh crap. I was writing in messenger to someone about scandisk when I alt tabbed to read the thread and wrote the wrong thing lol ... switch defragmenting with using scandisk and then ignore it because of it's irrelevance lol... Didn't realise I had even written that.
 

redruM

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does anyone know of a good free defragmenting prog?
 

redruM

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this basically pops up when i tell it to defrag...
 

sunny

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redruM said:
this basically pops up when i tell it to defrag...
You need to get MSCs opened with MMC. You can fix the file type by opening with:
Code:
<path to your mmc here>/mmc.exe /a "%1" %*
Or if you can live without it, you can start MSCs by doing Start -> Run -> mmc pathtomsc

eg:
mmc c:\windows\system32\dfgr.msc
 

redruM

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sunny said:
You need to get MSCs opened with MMC. You can fix the file type by opening with:
Code:
<path to your mmc here>/mmc.exe /a "%1" %*
Or if you can live without it, you can start MSCs by doing Start -> Run -> mmc pathtomsc

eg:
mmc c:\windows\system32\dfgr.msc
i'm really confused sunny...sorry!
 

sunny

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MSC files are opened by a program called MMC (Microsoft Management Console). MMC runs these MSC files that are programs that relate to computer management, such as defrag (which is the file dfrg.msc). Somehow, your computer has forgotten that it needs to open MSC files with MMC (like it remembers opening text files with notepad). The first way explicitly tells the computer to open MSC files with MMC from now on. If you're not sure how to add file associations, adding one for MSCs will be even more confusing.

You can still run MSC files however, by telling MMC to run it by doing:
Start -> Run -> type in "mmc c:\windows\system32\dfrg.msc" (without the quotes, or where your MSC file is located)
 

redruM

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i get you...

and it works too! :p

thanks again mate.
 

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