• Run Scandisk before Defrag. This should clear any errors before defragmentation begins.
  Note: My personal preference is to run both. However, if you ask for Defrag to 'Check for errors' it will run Scandisk first - that is part of what is happening during the first 10% of a session. The choice is yours!
   
• To speed up Defragmentation on a slow machine, minimise the dialogue box. Don't have it running in 'Show Details' view, however fascinating those little moving coloured boxes may be! And don't open up other programs while waiting for it to do its work, or you'll have to wait even longer.
   
• Defrag Details: If you like watching Defrag at work, don't ask for "Show Details" until the percentage complete reaches about 10. You won't see anything before then anyway, while the drive is examined.
   
• Defragging Floppy Disks: Floppy disks also need Defragmenting periodically when used for holding copies of files etc. Always Scan and Defrag a floppy before making a copy of it.
   
• Faster Defrag (Win98 only): Get hold of a copy of the Windows Millenium Edition (WinME) Disk Defragmenter ("defrag.exe").
  Rename the Win98 version to " defrag.ex_ ". Copy the WinME version into the   C:\Windows\   folder alongside it.   Its options are the same but it works faster and more efficiently.
   
• Auto-Cleaners: If you have a 'Windows Cleanup' program you think you can rely upon to do it's job without deleting essential files, you could schedule that to run first.
   
• Scheduling Maintenance: If you have System Agent and it's Task Scheduler interface installed, you could give it something useful to do and save having to remember when to Scan and Defrag.
   

Use ScanDisk to check a floppy if something says it is unreadable. ScanDisk can often repair a floppy sufficiently to at least get the data off it, by moving data in bad areas to good ones - provided there is enough space.

• If ScanDisk reports 'Bad Sectors', copy the contents of the floppy to a folder on your Hard Drive (don't make a second copy of the floppy). Insert a blank floppy and copy or move the files to that one. Then format the one with bad sectors, and run ScanDisk again. If the sectors are still bad, throw it away - it is unreliable and therefore useless.
• If the floppy you have copied the original's files to is reported as faulty, you have a different problem. Using ScanDisk on it may work but is unlikely, as the data has almost certainly been corrupted. In that case you either need a replacement if it is a software disk (ask the manufacturer), or have simply lost what was on it.
• If it is not a specific floppy disk but the Floppy Drive which is unreadable/inaccessible, the problem is elswhere. A connection inside the computer may be loose, or the floppy drive may simply have died - it happens. They are cheap and easy to replace. Just follow the instructions for opening up a PC, unplug and unscrew the dead drive, replace it and close the case.