Scandisk & SHELL32.DLL file (W98)

[DROD252]

Hello,

I have a little problem with scandisk on Win98. It does not work. I press on the start button, and nothing happens, and then it will not close out, or anything. The only way to get rid of it is to ctrl/alt/del it off. There has been times that I get a fatal error. After all this happens, alot of applications will not start. I get an error message saying: "The SHELL32.DLL file cannot start. Check the file for the problem." Well, I look for this file in the windows folder, but it's not there. Well, I wouldn't even know what to do with it if I did found it, anyway. :) When this happens, I restart my machine, and everything is back to normal, until I try to start ScanDisk again.
Well I've tried to reinstall windows 98 again over, but this did not help. Does my machine have a virus? Is there anyway I can fix this without a complete reformat/reinstall?? Please help before this problem gets worse, if it can get worse.

Thank you :),
drod

drod

[report_2]

As a simple fix (if no virus is involved) go to http:/housecall.antivirus.com/ (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/>http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/</a>)

Hope one of the two above resolves your problem.

[DROD252]

Well I've tried both of your suggestions, and it seems my scandisk is acting the same way. The online virus scanner found nothing, and it looks like I already had the March 7th security update, but I redownloaded and reinstalled it anyway, but I still get the same behavior from the scandisk. I guess I'm looking at a reformat/reinstall of windows right??

I have another question, though. How important is the scandisk anyway? I was advised to run my scandisk and defragger AT LEAST once a week, which I did. Well, I can see how the defragger is important, but I can't even run that without running the scandisk first. Will my machine's performance decrease if I just stop doing this??

Seriously trying to avoid a reformat/reinstall,

drod

[Mosaic1]

These are hidden windows\system files. They are not in the Windows Folder. They are in the Windows\system folder. If you go to Folder Options &gt;View and Select Show All Files you will be able to see them.

I believe the problem is with a file named shell.dll Not shell32.dll as stated.

Here's a link to a page with instructions on how to extract a Windows File from your install disk using System File Checker. It has step by step and screen shots.

Try this:
Extract shell.dll to C:\windows\system

Here's the link:
<a target="_blank" href=http://users.erols.com/dj-paulen/ss/>http://users.erols.com/dj-paulen/ss/</a>

[report_2]

If still no joy then you may want to try to extract another copy of scandisk too.