# PC Scan & Repair



## Raye (Aug 6, 2004)

Is there a free download that will not only scan my pc, but repair it as well?


----------



## WhitPhil (Oct 4, 2000)

There are many programs that will scan your PC (for many things).
And there are some that will "attempt" to "repair" some of those "things".

Specifically what do you want it to scan for, and fix?

IE: What problems are you having?


----------



## Raye (Aug 6, 2004)

I don't know in particular. I just thought that if I ran a scan periodocally I could keep my computer from getting "gunked up". Is there any such thing?


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Raye:

Performing maintenance and cleanup on your computer is one of the best ways to keep it running smoothly. Click the link below and read some of the articles there. They should be of some help to you.


----------



## nightqueen (Jul 26, 2004)

I use AdAware which is a free download that checks for adware and spyware and gets rid of them for you.

Or you can buy something like Norton Systemworks which has a range of things to check your pc for errors.


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Stay away from Norton SystemWorks.:down: It's a memory hog, it's too intrusive, and it's problematic.:down: And don't use ZoneAlarm with it - which has problems of its own.:down:


----------



## Raye (Aug 6, 2004)

Thanks, I will.


----------



## WhitPhil (Oct 4, 2000)

Sorry Frank, but I have to disagree. 

I ran both of these for years on Win9x with no problems. Norton Systemworks may be large BUT you should be running it as part of your maintenance routine, which means it's essentially running by itself. So, at this point size doesn't matter. (lol)

As for ZA, I experiences no problems running this beside NSW and I have not seen any reports of the 2 clashing. I'm not even sure why they would?


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Hi, WhitPhil. Just about every computer that I've troubleshooted and done maintenance on that has NSW installed has had problems with it, especially with getting the antivirus update function to work. I've also read more than one article that warns about Norton Antivirus and ZoneAlarm not being compatible with each other. The newest version of ZA suite has also gotten low ratings. I guess the gods have been good to you.

By the way, I made an addition in my "Hard Drive Maintenance" article to reflect what you advised me. This will give people the choice on how they want to use Scandisk.


----------



## WhitPhil (Oct 4, 2000)

Hi Frank:

NSW contains SystemDoctor, DiskDoctor, Windoctor, Speedisk and NAV. So, when someone has trouble with NSW, which component is it. 
It could certainly be SystemDoctor, since the silly thing sets itself up to be running all the time. And for sure, this is a resource gobbler. 
And, in the case of Windoctor (similar to Scandisk Autofix), you do NOT want to have Windoctor automatically fix things. At times, it is an extremely bad "guesser" and can screw things up royally.
As for NAV and ZA, I've seen nothing about incompatibilities and would be interested in reading any links you have.
And the latest version (just recently released) of ZA works like a charm. It was the previous version that was causing some headaches.

Re Your scandisk instructions: I still believe that you don't completely understand the dangers, since you still "advocate" setting Crosslinked files to delete. With this option set, AND if you actually have crosslinks, you will lose files. In your case, if you run with this option, AND have never had crosslinks, of course the option works fine.

These potential dangers should be pointed out to people.

A link to this site would be useful.
As well, people should be instructed to ALWAYS review the Scandisk log (C:\scandisk.log) to see exactly what "fix"s scandisk "attempted".

Also, my suggestion was to FIRST run a Standard run with autofix off, to ensure the integrity of the FAT and disk directory. Then, if you wanted to also do a surface scan, to run it again with autofix on. This time, you "know" there will be no autofix done in the FAT/directory areas, and the only fixes will be on bad sectors.


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

WhitPhil:

The biggest problem they've had is getting the Norton Antivirus virus definition files updated. LiveUpdate seems to be problematic. I've gotten it updated by downloading the 4 MB+ update from www.majorgeeks.com and then installing it from there.

I've made note of the URL to the link that you provided. I'll add it to the site the next time I work on it. Thanks!


----------



## WhitPhil (Oct 4, 2000)

Frank:
I wonder if it's a Norton 2004 issue. I have seen many problems noted about NAV 2004 and have no plans on installing it. I'm still (happily) running 2003.


----------



## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Norton Antivirus 2004 is the main version that I've run across. If I remember correctly, those who have upgraded to Windows XP or bought a computer with it installed have had to use the 2004 version because the 2003 version is not compatible with it. 

I rank Norton and McAfee on the same scale as "AOL Hell", but that's my personal opinion. Computer Associates ETrust Antivirus 2005, Grisoft AVG Antivirus 6.0, and Sygate Firewall 5.5 have worked well for me on both my Windows 98SE and Windows XP SP2 computers.


----------

