Dr Watson

[TimS]

I am looking at a friend's computer which "runs slowly".

I have done the usual defrag and adware stuff - to no great benefit, but the defrag fails to defrag 'documents and settings' - on further research this folder is 4.3 meg nearly all of which is a Dr Watson .txt file.

A touch of Googling shows that Dr Watson is a 'good guy' provided by Microsoft (or am I just dumb) ..... any suggestions/advice.

Thanks as ever - TimS

[Engineer]

Tim
Try looking here (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;275481) or just search the MS knowledge data base :)

[TimS]

Engineer,

I have seen that, but I question how I have file this size:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson

4.03 GB (4,331,311,194 bytes)

that defrag apparently won't touch.

Brgds

TimS



.................. I have tried to open the file - obviously Notepad simply says it can\'t open a file of this size (in fact can any application?), but Word advises that \'there is a serious disk error on file drwtsn32\'.

Any input would be welcome.




................. and I have just run Dr Watson and it reports no errors found !!

[Darth Nigel]

That file is the Dr Watson error log file -- every time Dr Watson finds something fugly with the system, it appends something to the file.

This seems to indicate two problems; one, you have this farking big file that you need to get rid of, and two, your computer is suffering from some malady.

You should be able to delete the Dr Watson log file without ill effect. It's been a while (OK, a f@ck of a long time) since I used Win98 but you might have to boot it in safe mode to delete the file. This is the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson file, not the drwtsn32 file.

Once you have got rid of the file (which should free up some disc space), run a virus scan and a spyware scan on the machine. Also, if you see the file growing again, take a look and see what error is being reported. There may be a hint there, like a lot of messages indicating that some memory or other component is failing. You might also run drwtsn32 and turn down some of the log settings, so that it writes less information when whining.

I'd also run scandisk or whatever it's called in full physical mode to see if there are any bad disc blocks.

Hope some of this helps. Is this Win 98 or Win ME? If it's Win ME, then you are basically stuck, because Win ME was a dog.

[stickyb]

Defrag won't touch a file that contains physical errors - eg one of the disc sectors has gone bad, and it usually won't give you an error message either.
Check the disc for errors (easiest way is in explorer, right click on disc, select properties then tools then check for errors)

All that said and done, a large Dr W file may only be indicative of some other problem or infestation, so be prepared to carry on.

Have you run tools like spybot and hijack this?

[MadsDad]

TimS.

Wordpad should be able to open your file (below Notepad on Programs/Accessories), so at least you can see what the logged errors are.

[Engineer]

Assuming that you are operating XP

Create a restore point delete the file run Dr W again to see if the file is recreated.

[TimS]

Thanks for your inputs.

Simply deleted the 4.3 Gb file - neither Word nor Wordpad would open it - ran Defrag / Chkdsk neither of which showed any subsequent problem.

I then had to leave (now in New York and Atlanta for a few days) but I gather performance much improved.

Will have another look when I return - in the mean time no spyware identified (didn't have time for Adaware or Hijack).

Your inputs much appreciated.

Brgds

TimS