Unsure if need to reinstall Windows ME

[chamma]

Hello, I am new here. I have a 4 year old PC with an AMD 1.4 ghz processor and Windows ME. Lately both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer have been causing the computer to freeze up constantly. Ctrl-alt-delete does not restart the computer and I have to pull the plug on it each time, resulting in Scandisk running and "Restore Active Desktop" messages at startup. My NOD32 antivirus, Spybot, and Ad-aware can't find any problems.

I have been lurking in the forums for a while, and am not sure if I need to format C and reinstall Windows, or run System Restore, or even run Defrag (Drive C is FAT 32 with 12 gb used and 26.3 gb free). If reinstalling is the answer, how do I determine what utilities and programs are running and how do I disable them so they don't cause a problem during setup? For example, I'm not sure if the computer came with its own built-in antivirus protection.

Thanks, Chris

[1badtech]

Before reinstalling Windows, I would try doing a disk cleanup and defrag first.

Here's an article from Microsoft that might help you.

http://www.microsoft.com/AtWork/getstarted/speed.mspx/

[Tweaker]

Hello chamma, welcome to CTH.

After you run defrag/disk cleanup, I would try Hijack This (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/download/file/hijack-this) program located here, run it the program then post the results in our safety forum (http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25) and someone will take a look and see if there are any issues.

I would also be sure your virus program is up to date.

[chamma]

Thanks, 1badtech and Tweaker, I'll try your suggestions and let you know what happens.

Chris

[chamma]

Hello,

I just posted my HijackThis log. If anyone could check it out, I'd appreciate it. Thanks,

Chris

[Tweaker]

Someone will be along shortly to check it out, be patient. ;)

[chamma]

Well, just writing to say thanks for your help, everyone. Apparently there weren't many problems indicated in the HijackThis log. At Ann-Marie's suggestion I deleted a few extraneous lines with HijackThis. The computer seems alright now, although I currently have no way to connect it to the Internet (am writing from a different computer) and check if IE is really working.



I didn't say this before because it didn't seem relevant, but I was trying to get the comptuer fixed so that I can give it away. However, (keep in mind I'm not an expert) it just came to my attention that deleting all files from the hard drive doesn't really permanently remove them from the computer. Since I'm giving the computer to a neighbor, I will have to do a "wipe" and reinstall Windows ME anyway. I purchased something called WipeDrive to do this. Which brings me back to a question I had earlier --


"...how do I determine what utilities and programs are running and how do I disable them so they don't cause a problem during setup? For example, I'm not sure if the computer came with its own built-in antivirus protection."

If this qualifies as a new thread, let me know and I will post it as such.

Thanks, Chris

[Tweaker]

Hello chamma

Try running msconfig,

Go start>run>type msconfig>clicke ok>select startup tab and it should list the programs that are running.

[chamma]

Thanks, I'll check it out. Chris