Windows 98 - Can't Use Drives or Scan System w/o Crashing Options

[Nina_Semone]

Hello Cyberia World. I'm new to the site, but have spent some time surfing through the message boards. I'm hoping that some of you pros might be able to shed some light on a problem that I am having with my pc. I'm working with Windows 98 SE (of course no longer supported by Microsoft), and a celeron processor. I've mainly used my PC over the years for internet access, burning CD's, and simple things of that nature.

Although I can access the internet with no problem, that appears to be the only thing that I am able to do successfully. Whenever I attempt to click on My Computer, run EasyCD Creator, CCleaner, Adaware or any program that attempts to access my drives I receive a fatal exception error that forces me to shut down. I can go to RUN on the start menu and type in the drive I want to go to, but if I try to do too much from that window like push the back folder or choose a different drive from the drop down menu the system will crash.

I'm usually a peson that can slowly figure things out through trial and error, but I don't know where to start. I'm not sure if it's a windows 98 problem, hard drive, virus, explorer or what. Does anyone have any suggestions for a problem like this. I'd love to just purchase a new PC, but unfortunately I can't afford to at the momment.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Nina

[Nina_Semone]

Thanks for the response. I tried running scandisk, but it doesn't seem to complete or keeps starting over.

The error message that I am receiving when I attempt to do something like click on my computer is
" An exception 0E has occurred at 0028:c004D8c5 in VXD VFAT(01) + 0000b8ed. This was called from 0028:c1837d10 in VXD voltrack(04) + 00000430. It may be possible to continue normally."

When I attempt to run adaware it freezes when its scanning deep in the registry.

When I run ccleaner issues scan, the first area that it attempts to search is the registry, it also freezes immediately.