andsome Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 I was using my daughters computer over the weekend, running XP Home SP3. It is an Evesham with an Evesham dedicated version of Windows, so I cannot reinstall Windows using my old XP disc. It is in an awful state, and using it is worse than wading through thigh high treacle. I ran C Cleaner, which took at least a couple of minutes to run, such was the clutter, and followed this up with a boot time defrag using Diskeeper, having set it to run a three stage check disc first. The summary after the check disc showed that there was 8KB of bad sectors. I then ran a five stage check disc, having elected for it to find and if possible to correct bad sectors. The summary again showed 8KB of bad sectors. On boot up I noted that the small summary window said that Windows scan had completed, and that the volume was clean. Does this mean that the bad sectors had been repaired? I had no time to run another scan as it was time for us to leave. The computer was still just as painfully slow. Some possibly relevant points follow. My five year old granddaughter regularly plays on the computer and has done so for the last couple of years. The inbox in Outlook Express contains literally hundreds of old e mails which she never deletes. C Cleaner is usually only run when I do it. The computer is only defragmented when I do it. I noted that Firefox had been installed, but it failed to start, stating that there were missing files. When I booted it up on the second day, there was a message that Firefox was reconfiguring and downloading missing files. It then ran OK, but equally as slow as I.E. 8. There are always C.D’s or D.V.D’s in the drive drawer, no one ever removes them after using them, and the drive can be heard spinning when the computer boots up. Boot up time is several minutes. She uses Zone Alarm security suite. A scan however using Shields up showed that five ports were open. All the other ports were shown as closed. NONE were shown as in stealth mode, although the recommendation is that they should be. The computer failed the scan. What is the opinion of the experts on here please? Does this hard drive need replacing yet? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 If it has got bad sectors - replace the H/D if you can get one cheap enough. Presumably as it is over 5 years old it has an IDE rather than SATA drive ? You can still buy IDE drives :) New 80GB Seagate here ( http://www.ebuyer.com/product/122071 ) £30 +5 yr warranty.If you can't find the Evesham Recovery or customised XP CD, you should still be able to re-install using your own XP disc, provided you use her Product ID. I have done this several times on other Evesham boxes where the H/D has died.But, before you do, make sure you have all the drivers for the PC.Re.the "maintenance" problem :-You can set CC to run/clean on startup.Auslogics Disk Defrag and Defraggler can both be set to run automatically on a schedule you set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 There is an alternative way to go about solving problems with bad sectors on hard drives which is to use a program called Spinrite. Although, when I was recommended it, I was told that the software can potentially further harm your hard drive from the intense read/writing it does to the hard drive so I'm not recommending you do this unless you want to take a 50/50 shot at it. Another thing is, I don't know if there is a Windows version. :lol: I'd look but the internet I'm using at the minute is incredibly slow so the forum will probably log me out or something by the time I'm able to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 SpinRite v6.0 recognizes and operates on ALL file systems.Spinrite however, costs $89 http://www.grc.com/cs/prepurch.htm- a new H/D is cheaper :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Ouch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 It's time like these you look at OSS as a religion. :)Think I pressed the wrong button there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Thanks for the help folks. I honestly don't know what more I can say to her regarding care of the machine. She reckons that she dows not have time to run C Cleaner, although I find that done regularly it takes far far less than ten seconds.What is the opinions on possible damage that can be done by the youngster playing on the machine, and what about always leaving a CD in the CD drive? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 It is possible that both could provide those concerned with experience. The former could be quite expensive experience and the latter much less so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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