Computer technology help - Fix your hard drive errors

Your computer hard disk is a high-speed, high-density, complex piece of hardware. Sometimes as it's writing or removing data, errors can occur. Windows can usually fix or ignore minor errors, but over time more serious errors can build up that may cause problems. Disk errors can cause corrupted files, Windows errors, and a myriad of other problems. Luckily, Microsoft has included a free error checker called Scandisk that can look for and fix most of these problems.

It's a good idea to run Scandisk at least once every 3-6 months or so.

How To Check Your Disk For Errors

• Double-click the My Computer icon
• Find the disk you want to check (usually C:) and click it with your right mouse button
• On the small menu that appears, choose Properties
• On the Properties window, select the Tools tab
• In the first section, named Error Checking press the Check Now button
  
• On The "Check Disk" message, click the "Automatically Fix File system errors" check box to mark it. For a more exhaustive test, also put a check-mark in the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box (this type of scan will take much longer)
• Press the start button, and you will get a message asking you if you would like the tests to run the next time Windows starts. Select Yes and the test/error checking will run the next time you turn on your PC

The next time Windows starts, you will see the text-based scandisk utility screen as it tests your entire hard disk. A normal scan can take anywhere from 3-10 minutes. If you also selected the "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box, the scan could take several hours.

When the scanning and repairs are complete, you will have an error free hard disk!

Note that the free error checking utility included with Microsoft Windows can only correct minor disk errors. For more serious disk related problems it may be necessary to purchase a commercial disk-utility product.

Free help: More technical information about hard disk errors.

How to reformat your Windows XP computer: Format XP

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