Dear Computer Lady,
I use Error checking and it helps my pc. Some people don’t even know where to find it in XP or why they should use it. I wish you would send some info on this in your newsletters. Everyone knew and used it in windows 98.
Thank you, A
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Dear A,
When you run the error checking command on your computer, you are actually running a program called Chkdsk.exe . This is a tool that checks your hard drive for problems, and then attempts to repair any problems that it might find. What kind of problems does it look for? Chkdsk looks for bad sectors on your hard drive, lost clusters, cross-linked files and directory errors. All these problems are related to storing files on the hard drive.
You can check for errors with Windows XP this way:
1. Click on “Start” then click on “My Computer”.
2. Right click on the hard drive you want to check, and click on “Properties” in the drop down menu.
3. Click on the “Tools” tab.
4. In the “Error-Checking” section, click “Check Now”.
5. In the dialog box that opens, click on “Start”.
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You can check for errors with Windows Vista this way:
1. Click on “Start” then click on “Computer”.
2. Right click on the hard drive you want to check, and click on “Properties” in the drop down menu.
3. Click on the “Tools” tab.
4. In the “Error-Checking” section, click “Check Now”.
5. In the dialog box that opens, click on “Start”.
If you want Chkdsk to automatically repair problems that it finds with files and folders, you can select, “Automatically fix file system errors”. If you do not select this option, the program will report any problems it finds, but not fix them.
If you select, “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors”, a more thorough scan will be done, during which physical errors on the hard disk itself will be located and Chkdsk will attempt to fix. This option will result in a much longer scan.
Elizabeth