Here's my standard email for hard drive maintenance:<br>
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The following steps are valid in Win95 and Win98. Using this process can usually get rid of "illegal operations," "invalid page faults," "invalid protection faults" and the like. I take no responsibility for the outcome of using this process; however, I work for a helpdesk and have been doing it for two years over the phone with Fortune 500 company computers/users. It will alleviate 90% of common computer/application/display problems. Use this process once a month at home and once a week at work to keep your hard drive clean and efficient. On WinNT, use all of these steps, except Step 5.<br>
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1. No programs should be open. That means no buttons next to your Start button in Windows. It may also be a good idea to "end task" (hit ctrl-alt-del to get a list) on everything EXCEPT Explorer and systray. Ending tasks is especially helpful if Scandisk won't complete (Step 5).<br>
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2. Hit Start-Find-Files or Folders. In the Named box, type<br>
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*.tmp,~*.*<br>
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3. Double-check your typing and hit Find now. When it is done searching, hit ctrl-a to select all of the files, and hit your delete key. Send the files to the recycle bin. Close this window.<br>
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4. Empty the recycle bin.<br>
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5. Hit Start-Run-Scandisk. Select your hard drive (usually C, Standard test, and Automatically fix errors. When scandisk is complete, close it by hitting Close twice.<br>
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6. Hit Start-Shutdown-Restart the computer-Yes to reboot the PC.<br>
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Approximately once every couple months and definitely before and after installing/uninstalling programs, hit Start-Run and type in "defrag" (without the quotes) and hit OK. Let defrag run on the C:\ drive. It could take anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours, depending on the size of your hard drive and the speed of your processor. Reboot your PC after this as well.<br>
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