unknown utility

[Bruckner]

Not long ago an "unknown utility" locked up my C drive. I try to trace down with Norton Disk Doctor, but no luck. I want to defragment the disk, but I cannot acces to it. How can I find it out, which utility blocking the "C" drive. As someone suggested, that as soon as the message is on view, then press ctrl+alt+del. Shurely I got a list of different utility, but which one is the guilty one?
Is there a way to find it out?
Thank you any help.

[Rat]

To do the defrag, you can "end Task" all the items EXCEPT Systray and Explorer, diable your anti virus and set your screensaver to "None". Or you can boot into Safe mode and do the defrag from there. Run the Scabdisk, clear all your browser caches and empty your recycle bin before you defrag. As far as that unidentified utility running, post what you see when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and we will see if there is anything that shouldn't be there. You may want to run your antivirus just for the fun of it.

Rat...

[big_block_buick]

hmm,it might take a little time.and someone might have a better suggestion but in that situation i would.

1st.after ctr alt del look for program not responding.which ever program isnt responding would be the culprit.

2nd.if there is none not responding.shut down one at a time.(the only ones that you need running are explorer,and systray).and i'm not even sure on those.

3rd.reboot into safe mode and defrag.

i've been fortunate to never have this kind of problem so this is what i have read,hope this helps you out..

_73

[Starmaster5]

If you can get in to safe mode, you can also find the startup list of programs that windows runs on startup. Many people don't know about msconfig! Hit run and then type msconfig. Tab over to startup, then check out what program might be causuing the problem. Uncheck anything you dont want to startup. I do most just to make my pc run faster.