How do I run scan disk and defrag?

It is only recomended to do this for XP once or twice a year.

First you need to shut down anything that will stop or interupt the machine. Do this when you don't need to use the computer, because it may take a couple hours to defrag/scan a large hard drive.

First the shuting down of ALL programs. Do all of this preperation or your machine will get interupted and keep starting over! Then it will never get done. Remember to go back afterward and reset things.

1. START - SETTINGS - CONTROL PANEL - DISPLAY - SCREENSAVER - set to NONE
   
   
2. START - SETTINGS - CONTROL PANEL - POWER MANAGEMENT
   • set POWER SCHEMES to ALWAYS ON
   • set system standby to NEVER
   • set Turn off Monitor to NEVER
   • set Turn off hard disks to NEVER
   • click OK
     
     
3. Disable your antivirus program RIGHT CLICK on Norton (down by the clock) click DISABLE AUTO-PROTECT
   
   
4. Press CONTROL - ALT - DELETE (this takes two hands). Do it ONCE - if you do it twice in a row it shuts down your computer and you will have to start it back up. Click END TASK and close any open programs - DON'T TOUCH SYSTRAY. You must select the programs one at a time and end task.
   
   
5. If you have cable you may even need to disconnect that until you are through. This I am not sure about - since I don't have cable. See if it works - if not - then disconnect it.

Now you are ready to run SCAN DISK or DEFRAG.

1. Select START - PROGRAMS - ACCESSORIES - SYSTEM TOOLS
2. Then select Disk Defragmenter or DISK CLEANUP (Scan Disk). You should do both every 4 - 6 months.

You then just tell the computer what drives you want to scan or defrag and thats it. Just leave it alone till it is done. If the progress bar doesn't move past the first little bit, chances are something is still interupting the process and needs to be turned off.