HiIf anyone could help me with the following problem I'd be grateful. I'm no computer expert at all, so if you could keep things simple, that'd be great:specs:Pentium 4 1.4GOS - Win MERAM - 256MBHD 30G approx 8.2G usedProblem:I usually do a defrag about once a month. Never had a problem before. Now I get a message shortly after starting the defrag which says 'Can't defrag 'cos of errors on HD. To repair, run a 'Full' Scandisc'.Fair enough. So I start the scandisc. After a few mins it tells me 'Scandisc has restarted 10 times 'cos Windows/other program is writing on the HD being checked. Turn off the programs' or something like that. Mmmm. This is where I get stuck. I always turn off Norton Antivirus before defraging/scandiscing. The normal scandisk runs ok, tells me it's found and fixed errors, but still won't then defrag. I have it set to autorepair errors. Everything else runs fine. FS2K2 runs as well as can be expected - no real frame rate probs, not too many 'have encountered a problem' pop-ups.Any advice would be gratefully received!Cheers! Gavin

Gavin, Go to start, run, and type in "msconfig" in the box without the quotes. Hit enter. You will be in the System Configuration Utility. Click on the start up tab. You will see what loads on your system on start up. Un check everything but SysTray. Do not uncheck this. Hit the apply button and re start the computer when told. Now do your scan disk and defrag. When done, go back and check all the boxes again,,,unless you want to stop some annoying program from starting. See pic.

GreggThat did the trick! Thanks for your clear and prompt advice!!Cheers!Gavin

Good deal..... See ya on the forums...........