ItsGeekToMe.co

Q: I am unable to use Disk Defragmenter.  I open Disk Defragmenter, click on Defragment and get a message with a big red X in a grey box with a blue border:  “Disk Defragmenter has detected that chkdsk is scheduled to run on the volume (C).  Please run Chkdsk f/.” 

– Diana M.
Crestview, Fla

A: The system’s message is obviously trying to tell you something, Diana.  It’s just a matter of either doing what it says, or helping it to do what it is trying to do.  The message you quoted indicates that at some point, some error occurred while Windows was accessing your hard drive, and now it wants to run a disk checking utility to make sure everything is working properly.  Naturally this is something it would want to do before running something as disk-intensive as a defrag operation.  The way Windows runs chkdsk is to “schedule” it to run the next time the system reboots.  There are several things that can prevent it running, and the schedule will not clear until it does run successfully.  If you’re running any anti-Spyware, particularly Spyware Doctor, either disable it or uninstall it, then reboot.  You could also try running it manually, by entering “chkdsk/f” at a command prompt, which you can get by pressing <WinKey>+R and entering “cmd”.  You may receive error messages about the drive being in use (which is why Windows tries to schedule it to run when booting).  If it prompts you, answer Yes for it to run on the next boot, then reboot.  If it still does not run, boot the computer in safe mode by pressing F8 after powering on, but before the boot process starts.  Then follow the procedures above to run it manually.  Once you finally get chkdsk to run, try the defrag operation again, and it should work properly.

Q: My problem is that .pps attachments to emails will not open for me. I have Vista and use Outlook Mail.  I get a note to the effect that it does not have a program associated with it for opening it and I should set one up in the ” set associations ” control panel. Well I have downloaded Power Point Viewer and associated it with .pps in the control panel but I still get the message when I try to open a .pps file. 

– John B.
Niceville, Fla

A: I have talked about file associations in previous columns, so I won’t cover that in too much detail here.  The problem you are experiencing is not what it appears to be anyway.  This is one of those “Thanks, Bill!” problems that has been around for a while, and Microsoft must know about it, but for some reason has chosen not to fix it. When a file is associated with a particular application, it is also associated with one or more actions, such as Open, Edit, or Print.  The problem with .PPS files is that they don’t use the “Open” action like almost every other file type.  Instead they use “Show”.  Unfortunately, for some reason “Show” doesn’t always get properly defined, and when you try to launch a .PPS file, you get the missing file association error.  To fix this problem, you need to either create a Show action, or change the Open action to Show.  The procedures to do this are a little complex for this column, but I found a webpage that steps you through the fix, including pictures to guide you.  Visit tinyurl.com/3x83wa for all the details.