Here is my newest problem...:rolleyes:

Whenever I try to do a 'thorough scan disc' After about an hour my screen goes blue. I have to move my mouse around for it to continue scanning.

Can I run this while online or do I need to be offline?

Thanks guys in advance. :)

I was also thinking of buying the newest Windows but not sure if that will be any better?

Finally, my last question....when I play pool on Yahoo games, is seems after abouty 5 games later I get booted? :mad: I was wondering why or if there was something I could do to avoid this? :)

Hi, TC:wave:

I don't know the answer to the last two questions, but as for the scan disc, is the blue screen by any chance a screen saver? If so you'll want to disable it to run scan disk. Otherwise there's zero activity as far as the computer is concerned and the screen saver will come on.

Here's how to disable the screen saver:

1)Go to Control Panel under "settings" in the Start menu

2) From there click on "display"

3) Next to the "settings" button (after going into display) there are your choices of screen savers. One of the options (at the top of the menu) should be "none". Choose that for your option. That should eliminate your screen saver and allow you to run scandisk without any interruptions. After running scandisk you can always go back and turn on your screen saver:)


As far as being offline, I usually close everything down (and remain offline) so that scandisk can run more properly. This one is just a guess.

TopCat,
In regards to ScanDisk, I find it helps to run it from Safe Mode. Also, try disabling your virus scan program until Scan Disk is done.

Originally posted by TopCat
Here is my newest problem...:rolleyes:

Whenever I try to do a 'thorough scan disc' After about an hour my screen goes blue. I have to move my mouse around for it to continue scanning.

Can I run this while online or do I need to be offline?

Thanks guys in advance. :)

I was also thinking of buying the newest Windows but not sure if that will be any better?

Finally, my last question....when I play pool on Yahoo games, is seems after abouty 5 games later I get booted? :mad: I was wondering why or if there was something I could do to avoid this? :)

After an hour the screen goes blue? Like Boggle said, that COULD be a screen saver, although I've never seen any screen saver that just turns the screen another color. Right click on your desktop, go to Properties, then Screen Saver. You can disable it from there.

You can be online or offline when you scandisk. Preferably be offline because each time the computer does something, scandisk will take note and eventually will ask you if you want to continue scanning or stop. Again, you don't have to be offline, but it makes things easier.

You can be in safe mode or have a normal boot up. If you boot normally, just leave your computer alone during scanning. Most other programs loaded won't bother it. Once in a great while a virus scanner might trip, but I run scandisk with Norton Anti Virus running and it works fine. If you want to make absolute sure that scandisk will run without interruptions, reboot to safe mode. I usually just scan under a normal boot up.

Even when your computer is just sitting there, it is ALWAYS busy with something. The clock is always running, all ports are being scanned, memory is in use, you name it. The only time your computer is not doing anything is when its off.

Are you talking about getting Windows XP? I absolutely HATE XP with a burning passion. I had nothing but problems with it. I can tell you it is definitely NOT worth the $100+. No way. I got mine for free and I still hate it. I use Windows 2000 at home.

Not sure on the yahoo deal. Someone else might have had the same problem. My g/f plays those games, I don't. I just don't have time to do that, so I can't really think of any reason why this happens to you.

I seem to have seen a screensaver once that just cycled through basic colors, but it has been a LONG time.

As for upgrading? I tend to like XP the best of any of Microsoft's offerrings so far (for home use. For business I would still suggest 2000). I wouldn't upgrade just yet though. Service Pack1 should be out in a couple of months. I would wait for that. One problem I have had (that others don't seem to be experiencing) is performance degradation after a couple of months. I'm hoping that SP1 will remedy that.

Overall, I still like it.

As for the Yahoo games? Sorry. Never played them, so I can't help.

TC...just leave that fluckin' PC alone and send me the money. After I may have set it straight again, you can punish me as long as you like it. :naughty: :D

Okay...a little bit more seriously:
First...if I have understood it right, you are doing a complete scan of your hard disk, which is unneccessary IMHO unless you are experiencing serious problems. The complete scan is also performing a physical surface scan of the HD - and this takes a lot of time, even on really powerful systems. And, if physical problems with your hard drive are detected, you don't need to run ScanDisk anymore - you will notice it before, believe me.
Another problem while running ScanDisk...as aaron have said it, your computer is always busy until you switch it off. If you want to run ScanDisk anyway, make sure that all other applications are closed (including being online!), and do only a normal scan. This should work well enough. If ScanDisk is running while booting up, leave it alone.

About the screen saver...probably one of the screen savers is not working properly. Disable the screen savers generally and see if this problem occurs again.
I'm maybe wrong there, but I can remember that the defragging program of Win98 came with it's own screen saver (the status window jumped over the screen after a few minutes). Don't know if ScanDisk comes with a similiar feature.

XP or not? Well, the opinions are still divided.
Most users have said that their systems were running very stable after the installation, but they have also mentioned that the performance went down noticably after a few months. And, there's still the "phoning home"-issue - if you don't disable all the features (AFAIK, there are over 50!), XP is reporting every fart you let go to Microsoft once that you are online. Luckily, there are some programs available which are doing the needed settings more or less automatically for you, like AntiSpy. Like Shakey said, wait a little bit longer until the SP1 is implemented to XP if you are really considering to buy it. It's not that bad - Win2000 is definetly requiring more knowledge from the user (IMHO, once again ;)).

About Yahoo...frankly, I'm trying to avoid anything related to Yahoo as far as possible. I'm not very fond of the policy that certain things were written into the registry of your OS without any proper possibility to remove them again in case you didn't want them anymore. Good for you if you are an experienced user...but bad if you are "just" the everyday-go-happy type.

Still confused? Call 1-800-tecslut (only $3,000 per call) :D

*dials 1-800-tecslut ..and uses credit card* :naughty:

Seriously, thanks to all who helped!!
:*

I went in and chose 'none' as my screensaver..this was the problem. :rolleyes:

I never ever use Windows Scandisk. For all my computer maintance I use Norton Utilities, does a much better job at correcting Windows fluck-ups

Using Norton I'm now at 16 consecutive months of runnin' Win ME, with only a few BSODs and no reinstalls whatsoever :thumb:

Is that a free download, smurf?

Originally posted by TopCat
Is that a free download, smurf?

If memory serves me, you can download a demo somewhere off the symantec web site. I believe it is www.symantec.com

Most of the symantec and norton utilities have demos and what you download is the full version that has an expiration date.

If they had a clue, they would give you a very limited demo version instead, because you can EASILY find cracks to remove the expiration date.

It probably is worth the money, but cracks are tempting. :D