compact command in XP

My machine was running slow, so after trying a few other things, I did the file compress option within the disk cleanup utility. Then I ran defrag. Holy moly. All kinds of files are gone, from itunes music to photos to word and excel files.

I did a search online and came up with a way to uncompress the files by entering compact /a /s /u c:\*.* on the command line. It acts like it wants to run, then I get an error message that 0 files were uncompressed due to "the" file already being in use.

Is there anything I can do to get the compact command to work?

Thanks!!

 

Thanks for the reply!

I used the standard XP defrag

OS is XP, don't know which service packs are installed (how do I tell?)

Here's the source: http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum....system-has-compressed-almost-all-files-on-the