computer problem. CMD window shutsdown unexpectedly

Factual Questions
1

So, I’m running ad aware on a machine I’m cleaning up for a friend, and notice it hangs. That is to say I checked it before I went to bed, and when I woke up, the exact number of files had been checked.

I then ran spybot and it froze too, but displayed a message w/ a file path. To make a long story short, as I manually traversed down the file path that gave the error… and windows explorer erred.

That was odd thought I. I tried it again in DOS. It’s in a path that’s down deep beyond c:\documents and settings\user name\local settings emp emporary internet files\content.ie5\012z4127

then when I executed the “dir” cmd the cmd window shut down

I went to control panel > internet options and tried to delete old files, temp files, etc. and received an error.

I tried deleting that particular user name… received an error.

Mind you, all of these errors are off the type where my only option is whether or not to send a report to ms. On one of the few instances where there was an internet conx i received feedback that says to run windows update.

I tried that, but to no avail. that errs out too, and says it can’t run windows update.

~sigh~

2

It could be that the path and filename to one of the files is too long - what version of Windows are you running?

Also, it could just be a problem with the hard drive - have you tried running a disk check (ChkDsk in Windows XP, Scandisk in Win9x)?

3

Sounds like a file system corruption. Deletion does not work because the delete function is trying to traverse the broken tree and can’t.

You need to use an XP cd, boot off that into the recovery console, and run

chkdsk /f c:

Actually, you can do this from a CMD prompt. You will be asked if you want the drive scanned on next boot. Answer yes and reboot the PC.

Si

4

The switches for the Recovery Console version of ChkDsk are different to those you’d use in a normal command prompt - you want chkdsk /R in the recovery console - but you’re right - running it from a command window is probably easier (or you can get to it in the GUI by opening ‘My Computer’ - right-clicking the drive letter and choosing ‘properties’, then going to the ‘Tools’ tab.