I have an older computer that refuses to work. It was reformated once and worked fine afterwards. It will hardly run any thing and that is if it starts. It is running Windows 98, has 192MB of ram and has plenty of free space on the hard drive.

I want the computer just to use the internet and some light programs, no games. ive tried to defrag it but it will get to 10% and say something changed and it will restart. I cant think of a single point were it stopped working but rather continuely got worse.

Try the disk cleanup.

START>PROGRAMS>ACCESSORIES>SYSTEM TOOLS>DISK CLEANUP

This should help.

Try to run defrag within safe mode.

If you are having problems getting into safe mode, please look at the following tutorial:

How to start Windows in Safe mode.

Let us know if that works for you.

The restarting is caused by sundry applications accessing a portion of the hard drive. Defragging in "save mode" will drastically reduce the number of modules needing to use the hard drive for various things, and speed up defragging.
As Acklan aptly remarks, deleting unneeded applications, files, and other crud from your hard drive before defragging is good practice.
Regards,
John

When you have a few minutes go to START>CONTROL PANAL>ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS and remove the programs that you don't use or can't remember the last time you used it. The exception would be any MicroSoft software, and any antivirus or antispyware. They run on there own.
By the way, which antivirus do you use and when was the last time you updated it?

there are different reasons for a slow pc apart from fragmentation. Try some general guidelines for faster pc given here

hope it helps.

You are right jbravo, but with that said it's as good of a place to start as any for the new or less experienced computer user.

Thanx for the advice from everyone, ive removed the programs a no longer use, and deleted temporary internet files, and ive done a disk cleanup prior to this. I am currently trying to run a thorough scandisk while in safemode but it also continues to restart. A standard check goes through no problem though.

I havnt used this computer for about a year, when i got tired of dealing with its slowness, but now i need it, but i had nortan antivirus but i havnt wanted to pay for an update for a computer that doesnt work.

That's easily fixed - download AVG Free (which, surprisingly, is free!) then disconnect from the internet and uninstall Nortons. After AVG is installed log back on to the internet and update it and scan your system asap, then your done. (don't forget you also need anti-spyware and one firewall)

(US Link): AVG Free

How much time and how difficult would it be for me to remormat it. There isnt really much that i would be losing.

Provided you have the Win98 CD and a working CDROM drive its pretty easy and will take a couple of hours plus a bit of follow up tweaking. It would also help if you can find your motherboard driver CD. You may also need the Win98 drivers for any add-on devices or peripherals you have (e.g. LAN card, modem, scanner, etc.).

I think it would be a good idea to try and get Scandisk (with 'fix' and 'check' ticked) to run in Safe Mode before you do this, because there's not much point in reinstalling the system if your hard drive is dying. It would also be better if you can burn a CD with anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software so you can install these before you connect to the internet.

Here's my recipe for installing Win98 (hopefully SE):

You will need a startup floppy - Go to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and there is a tab for 'startup disk'. If you can't do that make one on another computer, they're not specific.

Then these are the steps I would recommend:

1. Boot from the startup floppy with CDROM support and at the A: prompt type "FORMAT C:" without the quotes. If you are sure answer "Y" to the warning.

2. Put the Win98 CD in the CDROM drive. Because of the way the startup disk boots this will most likely be your E: drive.

3. At the A: prompt type "C:" (no quotes) return, then "MKDIR WIN98" return. This should make a new directory on your hard drive called WIN98. Check this by typing "DIR".

4. At the C: prompt type "E:" then "DIR", you should see several directories listed including one called WIN98. If not you are on the wrong drive and you need to try different drive letters until you find your CDROM. When you see WIN98 type "CD WIN98" then "COPY *.* C:\WIN98". This will copy the contents of the Windows folder to your hard drive (which makes installation and future changes easier).

5. When the copy is done type "C:\" then "CD WIN98". Do a DIR to check there are files ending in CAB present. then remove the CD and type "Setup".

6. Now you are in the Windows 98 installation program and you follow the prompts.

7. When Win98 has finished install the motherboard/chipset drivers and the drivers for any onboard devices from the mobo CD and reboot.

8. Now install drivers for any additional cards or peripherals from their manufacturers CDs.

9. Install Anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall. Then you can setup your internet connection.

10. Install your applications, reboot and your done.

Good luck!