Lost Clusters

I ran a Norton one button scan and found out there is a lost cluster in one chain.  The message is as follows:  "Lost clusters are clusters that are not in use but are reported as being in use by a file."

What do you think, and how did I lose the cluster?

Ray

Ray,

Lost clusters happen when the computer gets "lost" while writing or updating a file.  The File Allocation Table marks the space as in use, but there's no corresponding entry elsewhere in the table that points to this cluster.  In other words, it's part of a file, but which file is anyone's guess.  And, most likely, the original file is now screwed up, as well. 

Norton Disk Doctor and Microsoft SCANDISK both give you the choice of saving the cluster as a file or freeing up the space.  Always choose to free up the space.

DaLe

CD Access

My son is a jeweler.  For the last five or six years, he has kept his whole portfolio on a CD.  It has always worked very well, until he had problems with his computer and had to format the hard drive and reinstall everything.  Now, he can't get into the CD.  His computer will recognize and read other CD's, but not this one.  I can't get into it on my machine, either (actually, I never could).

His CD burner was older than mine.  I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Connie

Connie,

Try installing Adaptec's UDF Reader program, available from  Download.com.  If the computer can't read the CD at all, this should fix it.  And if you install UDFReader on your computer, you should be able to read it, also.

DaLe

Virus Program

I received your note about Klez or Bugbear, and you told us to clean up the virus.  I don’t know how, or even if I have it.  I would appreciate a note telling me how to do it.

I had my computer rebuilt through a friend of a friend, and he said it had PC Health Scheduler installed (a virus program, I believe).  Hopefully, it is working, but I don’t know how to check it.  The only place I can find it is on the scheduled items — it checks daily at 8.  Do you recognize this virus program?

Sharon

Sharon,

I have no direct experience with PC Health.  We recommend  AVG, a free anti-virus program, but any good checker should be able to find and fix the virus if your PC is infected.  The real trick is to prevent infection, and that's accomplished by updating your Internet Explorer and Outlook Express to the latest version — and by NOT clicking on attachments that you weren't expecting, no matter who they're from.

If you have Windows 2000 or XP, click here for Internet Explorer 7.

If you have Windows 98, 98SE, or Me, click here for Internet Explorer 6.  You could also click here if you have Win 2000 or Win XP and don't want to download IE7; the only reason that would be a good idea would be if you knew your copy of Windows wouldn't pass Microsoft's online validation process.

If you have Windows 95, click here for Internet Explorer 5.  (Note:  The Microsoft link for this program has gone away since I wrote this column — this link points to a zip file on my Downloads Page; you'll need to upzip it to a temporary folder, then run IE5Setup.exe to install or update Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 and Internet Tools.)

The instructions on the Microsoft pages are pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any problems, just bring it to us at the TBCS Resource Center, and we'll help you with it.

Or, you could just download  Firefox from Mozilla.com.  It's smaller and faster than any of the Microsoft Internet Explorer versions, and lots of folks think it's safer.

DaLe