TOK

Two things worth repeating, it could be your typo but the command should be chkdsk /f. Also, you must be in Administrator mode.

Finally got CHKDSK to run in F mode after which the message said Windows found problems with the file system and run F to correct. A new Catch 22! Life is too short to keep restarting the machine. I'll live with it as it is. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. (Perhaps I should have asked Santa for a new machine).

TOK

Did you red my post 8664?

It is /f mode not F

If you are running chkdsk on the c drive then it will allways ask for a restart if you use the /f option. If it doesn't then correct your typing.

Does anyone know if Opera leaks memory?

C'mon TOK !!! Don't give up now! type in chkdsk/f
Then type y when prompted
Restart & all your problems will be solved!!!!! Don't let it beat you! ;o)

Just in the process of doing that - spurred on by you and Opti - carefully using a lower case f, typed my Y, and now the bl**dy DOS box won't close. Same problem as before. "Windows cannot end this program. It may need more time to complete an operation." Well, really. How much time does it need?

Now presss & hold down in this order:
ctrl Alt Delete
In the applications box see if the DOS command prompt is running.
If so highlight it & press end task at the bottom.

EDIT - Assuming you are running Windows XP or Vista.

Done that Harry and the wretched "Windows cannot end this program etc" box pops up. (Yes, XP Pro)

It's still running. I'll leave it there while I walk into town to get some fresh air.

In that case sounds like you have a corruption in Windows.
Have you tried my original suggestion of restart with F8 pressed & start in safe mode with command prompt?

Hilary,

"Does anyone know if Opera leaks memory?"

Don't know, but it can build up horrendous cache's. CCleaner will remove them.

My secondary problem was that I back up each night using Karen's Replicator and that is set not to delete files on my backup. I recovered about five gig of Opera cache info the other day - but temporarily stalled my PC in the process as it hated doing a delete on a USB drive using Win Explorer.

Tony

Hil: All the browsers leak. Their data-driven nature renders them susceptible to all sorts of horrors inflicted by badly-scripted web pages. Best to close them down every so often (daily??) and re-open to clean up the memory footprint.

I thought so! Ta DelBoy.

I can watch the cogs whirring by about 5pm most days and had been tempted to switch to Firefox instead.

re - CCleaner - a great little prog this imho.
One little puzzle though - despite always using Firefox as part of my dont let Bill have it all strategy, CCleaner always has a lot of IE files to clear. Bloody thing still finds a way to get into the act and I don't know how :-(

Just try doing a CCleaner clean after you have tidied up and compressed your e-mails (in OE). I get asked to do this every so often, by the program.

I think it must rename all the e-mails, by putting different file extensions on them or whatever. Anyhow, instead of the more normal regular 6MB to 20MB, the result is I have to delete a massive 500MB of junk files in the clean.

Yes. CCleaner? I just couldn't and wouldn't be without it!

It's me again Harry, back from a refreshing but slippy walk into town. Yes, tried your original suggestion, and everything else, but still no joy. I think it's time to leave half well alone. Many thanks again. TOK

Hilary,

Try FreeRam XP (for Win XP & 2000. Don't know whether it's compatible with "7"), from

http://www.yourwaresolutions.com/

or

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/system/fwmemory.html

No prob TOK. I would suggest you back up anything you have which you don't want to lose pdq!
Unless Opti has any other suggestions, maybe a format & clean install is the way forward assuming you have the Windows disk. It will then correct or flag any bad sectors you have on the hard drive before installing.
(there are other ways of correcting errors using DEBUG, but complicated without sitting at the machine.)

Harry - I have Acronis backing up daily to another internal disc so hopefully all OK. Yes, I have the disc but I don't fancy a re-install. I can live with it as it is for now. Regards,
Tok.

EDIT Just remembered that the chkdsk reports indicated no bad sectors on the disk, just faults on the file system, so perhaps nothing too dire.

Anybody know anything about rootkits? I did a virus scan on my laptop and found Rootkit.Agent.H :-( It had infected a driver file. However, the scan didn't detect any other infections - nothing dodgy in the registry or memory processes, for example.

The previous virus scan was three months before, and in those three months I used my credit cards for online purchases, accessed my bank accounts, etc.

I guess I'm hoping that the fact it was "only" an infected file, and no strange registry keys, etc, means that it didn't do any real damage - such as send my Visa card info to Ukraine or somewhere... Is that a realistic assumption, or should I be contacting the credit card companies to block my cards?