# Windows ME/Scandisk question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394 "2002-11-05T17:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ascrivey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ascrivey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ascrivey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/1 "2002-11-05T17:01:07Z")
I’m not a regular poster but a regular lurker. I hope you all can help me! Is there a way to get Windows ME to run scandisk (or defrag for that matter) without restart 90 million times? I have turned off everything I can think of, and gone into control, alt, del and turned off lots of stuff from there. Someone told me to run it from dos but I can’t figure out how to do that. ANY help would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/2 "2002-11-05T17:19:02Z")
Sure. Two things to try. First, try shutting off your screensaver. Put it on “None”. Every time it kicks in, it starts the hard drive running, and Scandisk can only scan a drive that’s totally inactive. If this doesn’t work, then you have to run Scandisk from Safe Mode. Restart, and hold down the F8 key while you’re doing it. It’ll give you some distressing beeps here and there (the “stuck key” alert), but keep at it, and eventually you get a white-on-black menu that gives you options. Pick “Safe Mode”. Then your desktop comes up looking weird, because all the non-essentials have been disabled, all the automatic programs that are kicking in and making the hard drive move while ScanDisk is trying to scan it. Then you run Scandisk. Then when it’s done, you restart as usual, and up comes your regular desktop. This works for Defrag, too. ---
**Author:** ![ascrivey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ascrivey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ascrivey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/3 "2002-11-05T17:31:23Z")
Thank you Duck! This worked! I knew someone from here could help! ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/4 "2002-11-05T18:30:25Z")
You could also download and use “Power Defrag” from [http://www.download.com](http://www.download.com) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/5 "2002-11-05T23:35:50Z")
Yes, I prefer third party programs too as they work well. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/6 "2002-11-06T01:49:20Z")
I have Windows ME and I don’t have that problem with Scandisk as long as I turn off my screen saver. I must just have fewer background programs? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/7 "2002-11-06T15:18:35Z")
Yeah. You must be a Minimalist. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-scandisk-question/135394/8 "2002-11-06T15:22:11Z")
If you want for Me, just make a startup disk & use it to run scandisk & defrag. Defrag is more important, I think. But I use System Suite 2000 on my Me machine as it defrags the registry & does a whole bunch of things.