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asur
June 7th 04, 09:10 PM
In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading several
applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will now
optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it does
that, but it does something to cause Explorer to crash on
system startup after that (illegal operation). Is there
any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.

Hugh Candlin
June 7th 04, 11:10 PM
asur > wrote in message ...
> In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading several
> applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will now
> optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it does
> that, but it does something to cause Explorer to crash on
> system startup after that (illegal operation). Is there
> any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.

Choose
Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Disk Defragmenter

Click on Settings...

Deselect the option to
"Rearrange program files so my programs start faster"

Also,
Run MSCONFIG
Select the Startup tab
Disable TaskMonitor until you find out what
the cause of the problem is.

TASKMON gathers the statistics about your system usage
which DEFRAG uses to optimize your hard drive.

There is no point in slowing down your system that way
if you aren't going to use the stats.

asur
June 8th 04, 01:02 AM
Hugh, thanks very kindly for this fine tip. If only I'd
known! ;) It appears that the piece of software that does
the rearranging does it wrong, because the Explorer
crashes only started to occur *after* this rearranging was
done. I also observed this on another system, once, but
hadn't put two and two together. This time it was real
obvious. Thanks again.


>-----Original Message-----
>
>asur > wrote in
message ...
>> In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading several
>> applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will now
>> optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it
does
>> that, but it does something to cause Explorer to crash
on
>> system startup after that (illegal operation). Is there
>> any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.
>
>Choose
>Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Disk
Defragmenter
>
>Click on Settings...
>
>Deselect the option to
>"Rearrange program files so my programs start faster"
>
>Also,
>Run MSCONFIG
>Select the Startup tab
>Disable TaskMonitor until you find out what
>the cause of the problem is.
>
>TASKMON gathers the statistics about your system usage
>which DEFRAG uses to optimize your hard drive.
>
>There is no point in slowing down your system that way
>if you aren't going to use the stats.
>
>
>.
>

Gary S. Terhune
June 8th 04, 01:24 AM
This is *not* by any means normal behavior. That it occurs once in every 200
blue moons under specific hardware and/or software configurations is not
impossible, but I'd want to know what's causing it, not just disable
Optimization because it pukes on whatever setup it is you have. It's very
unlikely that it is Defrag or Optimization that is causing it, that's just
where you're seeing the symptoms.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"asur" > wrote in message
...
> Hugh, thanks very kindly for this fine tip. If only I'd
> known! ;) It appears that the piece of software that does
> the rearranging does it wrong, because the Explorer
> crashes only started to occur *after* this rearranging was
> done. I also observed this on another system, once, but
> hadn't put two and two together. This time it was real
> obvious. Thanks again.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >
> >asur > wrote in
> message ...
> >> In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading several
> >> applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will now
> >> optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it
> does
> >> that, but it does something to cause Explorer to crash
> on
> >> system startup after that (illegal operation). Is there
> >> any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.
> >
> >Choose
> >Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Disk
> Defragmenter
> >
> >Click on Settings...
> >
> >Deselect the option to
> >"Rearrange program files so my programs start faster"
> >
> >Also,
> >Run MSCONFIG
> >Select the Startup tab
> >Disable TaskMonitor until you find out what
> >the cause of the problem is.
> >
> >TASKMON gathers the statistics about your system usage
> >which DEFRAG uses to optimize your hard drive.
> >
> >There is no point in slowing down your system that way
> >if you aren't going to use the stats.
> >
> >
> >.
> >

asur
June 8th 04, 02:04 AM
>-----Original Message-----
>This is *not* by any means normal behavior. That it
occurs once in every 200
>blue moons under specific hardware and/or software
configurations is not
>impossible, but I'd want to know what's causing it, not
just disable
>Optimization because it pukes on whatever setup it is you
have. It's very
>unlikely that it is Defrag or Optimization that is
causing it, that's just
>where you're seeing the symptoms.

Interesting. Well, yes, I'd want to know what's causing it
too, ideally. If I were working at Microsoft, I'd find
out. Maybe. I do appreciate the huge number of factors
involved, from different PC hardware to different BIOS
code, to the different software being installed. I don't
think there's any way to really resolve what is happening
in my particular case, short of bringing this PC in to
Redmond. Pragmatically, what of course happens is
exemplified by this story: I bought a KVM switch from
StarTech, the smallest one in the world, they say.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work for certain DEC PCs. I
reported it. They said they couldn't reproduce the
problem. I happened to be in a CompUSA and saw that Belkin
was offering the same kind of KVM switch. It works just
fine. I reported this to StarTech, who then admitted "they
were working on a solution, but that it wasn't known when
it would appear." So, pragmatism, not always the best
route, admittedly, would appear to be called for here.
Kind regards.

>--
>Gary S. Terhune
>MS MVP for Win9x
>
>"asur" > wrote in
message
...
>> Hugh, thanks very kindly for this fine tip. If only I'd
>> known! ;) It appears that the piece of software that
does
>> the rearranging does it wrong, because the Explorer
>> crashes only started to occur *after* this rearranging
was
>> done. I also observed this on another system, once, but
>> hadn't put two and two together. This time it was real
>> obvious. Thanks again.
>>
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >
>> >asur > wrote in
>> message ...
>> >> In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading
several
>> >> applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will
now
>> >> optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it
>> does
>> >> that, but it does something to cause Explorer to
crash
>> on
>> >> system startup after that (illegal operation). Is
there
>> >> any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.
>> >
>> >Choose
>> >Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools =>
Disk
>> Defragmenter
>> >
>> >Click on Settings...
>> >
>> >Deselect the option to
>> >"Rearrange program files so my programs start faster"
>> >
>> >Also,
>> >Run MSCONFIG
>> >Select the Startup tab
>> >Disable TaskMonitor until you find out what
>> >the cause of the problem is.
>> >
>> >TASKMON gathers the statistics about your system usage
>> >which DEFRAG uses to optimize your hard drive.
>> >
>> >There is no point in slowing down your system that way
>> >if you aren't going to use the stats.
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>.
>

Gary S. Terhune
June 8th 04, 02:59 AM
Understood, though a shipment to MS would not be my method for determining
cause. Nor would it do any good. They're not interested, <s>.

I'd repartition, reformat, reinstall, test Defrag, then add apps one at a
time, testing at each step. If it never reappeared, I'd never know for sure
if it was weirdness in the disk table, screw-up in Windows install or a
screw-up in an application, but I'd know that whatever it was got fixed.

Again, I understand your reluctance to do that, but it's what I'd do.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"asur" > wrote in message
...
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >This is *not* by any means normal behavior. That it
> occurs once in every 200
> >blue moons under specific hardware and/or software
> configurations is not
> >impossible, but I'd want to know what's causing it, not
> just disable
> >Optimization because it pukes on whatever setup it is you
> have. It's very
> >unlikely that it is Defrag or Optimization that is
> causing it, that's just
> >where you're seeing the symptoms.
>
> Interesting. Well, yes, I'd want to know what's causing it
> too, ideally. If I were working at Microsoft, I'd find
> out. Maybe. I do appreciate the huge number of factors
> involved, from different PC hardware to different BIOS
> code, to the different software being installed. I don't
> think there's any way to really resolve what is happening
> in my particular case, short of bringing this PC in to
> Redmond. Pragmatically, what of course happens is
> exemplified by this story: I bought a KVM switch from
> StarTech, the smallest one in the world, they say.
> Unfortunately, it doesn't work for certain DEC PCs. I
> reported it. They said they couldn't reproduce the
> problem. I happened to be in a CompUSA and saw that Belkin
> was offering the same kind of KVM switch. It works just
> fine. I reported this to StarTech, who then admitted "they
> were working on a solution, but that it wasn't known when
> it would appear." So, pragmatism, not always the best
> route, admittedly, would appear to be called for here.
> Kind regards.
>
> >--
> >Gary S. Terhune
> >MS MVP for Win9x
> >
> >"asur" > wrote in
> message
> ...
> >> Hugh, thanks very kindly for this fine tip. If only I'd
> >> known! ;) It appears that the piece of software that
> does
> >> the rearranging does it wrong, because the Explorer
> >> crashes only started to occur *after* this rearranging
> was
> >> done. I also observed this on another system, once, but
> >> hadn't put two and two together. This time it was real
> >> obvious. Thanks again.
> >>
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >
> >> >asur > wrote in
> >> message ...
> >> >> In W98 SE, freshly installed, and after loading
> several
> >> >> applications, a window pops up, saying Windows will
> now
> >> >> optimize programs to start faster. I don't know if it
> >> does
> >> >> that, but it does something to cause Explorer to
> crash
> >> on
> >> >> system startup after that (illegal operation). Is
> there
> >> >> any way to disable this "optimization"? Thanks.
> >> >
> >> >Choose
> >> >Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools =>
> Disk
> >> Defragmenter
> >> >
> >> >Click on Settings...
> >> >
> >> >Deselect the option to
> >> >"Rearrange program files so my programs start faster"
> >> >
> >> >Also,
> >> >Run MSCONFIG
> >> >Select the Startup tab
> >> >Disable TaskMonitor until you find out what
> >> >the cause of the problem is.
> >> >
> >> >TASKMON gathers the statistics about your system usage
> >> >which DEFRAG uses to optimize your hard drive.
> >> >
> >> >There is no point in slowing down your system that way
> >> >if you aren't going to use the stats.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >.
> >> >
> >
> >.
> >

Hugh Candlin
June 8th 04, 06:45 AM
asur > wrote in message ...
> Hugh, thanks very kindly for this fine tip. If only I'd
> known! ;) It appears that the piece of software that does
> the rearranging does it wrong, because the Explorer
> crashes only started to occur *after* this rearranging was
> done. I also observed this on another system, once, but
> hadn't put two and two together. This time it was real
> obvious. Thanks again.

I was about to vehemently disagree, and tell you "no way".
Then I remembered that I once read about a worm virus
which uses a bogus TASKMON.EXE

I think that that may be the cause of your problem.
The TASKMON.EXE that you are running
isn't the genuine article.

Do you have a file called SHIMGAPI.DLL
in your WINDOWS folder?

If you do, then you have the MYDOOM worm.

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=101039