Disk Defrag and Scandisk all of a sudden not working
By Rustinas1
@Rustinas1 (438)
United States
March 19, 2009 10:44am CST
on my husbands laptop. My husband had just purchased a laptop from a friend of his, it's neat we have matching ones now, and for some reason the Disk Defrag.EXE is not found. Which prevents the scandisk from working and I've tried all different ways on his laptop to get it to work and no luck. Even trying to do a Scheduled Task hoping maybe and still no luck. It's just a dud, I guess. Anyone know how to fix this or know of a program that is free and will fix this problem so both programs work. My husband was told that the defrag is all he needs, but I don't agree with that. I think both programs are just important and I use them on my weekly and it makes a huge difference. I found a program called RegCure online and supposedly free, but not sure of this. Never heard of it and was wondering what is out that from others who experience this problem and what do you suggest?
Again, hopefully free and one program that can fix both problems would be great, but my options and searching are always open.
Help, please, an thank you! We are Windows XP all around here!
2 responses
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
19 Mar 09
First, on your husband's computer search 'all files and folders' for anything with 'defrag' in the file name. You may find several but very likely not defrag.exe.
You should have:
defrag.hlp and defrag.chm in C:\WINDOWS\HELP and defrag.exe in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
My guess is that someone has been messing about and has deleted defrag.exe.
If that is the case, look for the same files on your machine, copy them to a disk or memory stick and then copy them to their rightful places on his machine.
The only problem is that, if someone has been messing with files in the System32 folder (or anywhere else), that may not be the only file that's been deleted. Really, the surest way would be to reinstall or repair Windows and for that you would probably need the Repair disk which should have been supplied with the machine when it was new, though some machines do have the entire Windows installation on a separate partition of the hard disk (generally found as Drive D:)
If you do find defrag.exe in a file search, then something else is wrong and a complete repair/reinstall of Windows would almost certainly be the proper thing to do.
@Rustinas1 (438)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Thank you, owlwings. I told my husband about that, he's going to get the disk today, if he remembers. LOL His friend was going to give it to him yesterday on his way home from work, and he spaced it. I even reminded him also. I will again today before he's out of work.
Not a single file came up when I did search his computer for the files. Oh yes, his friend really messed up things in their and one thing, he was very honest about all of that and let us know. That's awesome and great. Hopefully, it will be repaired tonight, otherwise I suggested the same thing, getting the files from my computer and putting them on his. Afterall, we have the same exact laptops.
If not, then he may have to do a whole system restore and we are hoping that won't be the case.
@Rustinas1 (438)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Thanks for the heads up! I was thinking about all of this, but forgotten some. I'm thankful for the refresher, owlwings.
@josephb (219)
• Malta
19 Mar 09
hey , you could repair windows via the windows cd , just insert the cd , restart your pc , go in the boot menu , select the cd then wait a bit till it loads, accpet the terms and then it will give you the repair windows option , it always works like that , just save your files in C:/ before or make some back up on a cd/DVD
@Rustinas1 (438)
• United States
19 Mar 09
That would be a great idea a a wonderful solution, josephb. Only one problem with that, and I should of mentioned it but didn't give it a thought until now, but neither one of us has a CD. Even when I brought my desk top computer, it did not come with a CD. They used to, but I don't know why they stopped that. I did ask my husband though to ask his friend if he may have the CD, but we don't think so. Have'nt heard back from him. Makes me think, I wonder if they may have a CD at his (hubby) job seeming they do rent out computer. Hmm........thanks for this thought. I don't even think he gave that a thought either. THANKS! Oh yes, and thanks for the reminder of saving our files and or making a back up CD. I should be able to make a back up CD/DVD fom my desk top computer to use on the laptops, do you think?
@Rustinas1 (438)
• United States
20 Mar 09
I have to get more disks. Wow, didn't realize it would take so many to make backups. Especially when I don't have much on my computer as it is.
Thanks again!
