Cheap Desktop Computers Need Care Also

Why should you run Scandisk and what is Scandisk anyway?

Earlier versions of Windows including Windows ME, Windows 98SE, Windows 98 and Windows 95 came with a system utility known as 'Scandisk'.

Scandisk does just what it sounds like, it scans your hard drive looking for errors and correcting them. The hard drive is where Windows is installed, also all of your programs and any files you may have created. If you ever turned off your computer by just turning off the power (you should never do that, but sometimes you just have to, or the electricity goes off and so does your computer) then errors can occur on your hard drive. If you get errors in the wrong place, then some programs won't work right, or, maybe they won't even open. You can't find files you know should be there someplace because you saved them. (You did save them, didn't you?)

So after awhile you need to run Scandisk. Before you open Scandisk, make sure you don't have any programs open. If you have a Screensaver, make sure it is turned off. If you don't close them, Scandisk will keep restarting.  Right click on your Desktop (any blank space) and when the menu comes up, select Properties. When that menu appears, click the tab that is marked Screensaver and select 'None'. Don't forget to click the 'Apply' button. Then close the Properties box.

Start Scandisk

Now click on your Start button & select Programs. In the Programs menu select 'Accessories', then select System Tools. Now click on Scandisk. When the Scandisk Program opens, put a check mark in the little square at the bottom to automatically fix errors. Then start the program & go findsomething else to do for a while. Scandisk can take a long time to run, so don't do this if you have something else you want to do on your computer right away. If you are using Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE or Windows ME, you need to run Scandisk once a month.

If Scandisk gives you a message saying 'Scandisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable Scandisk to finish sooner.

Do you want to continue receiving this warning?' Go into Safemode to run Scandisk. To go into Safemode depends on what kind of computer you have. You should check the manual received with your computer to see how to go into Safemode. Safemode is simply a way to boot your computer without loading all the drivers and programs that usually start when you turn on your computer. The desktop will look weird because the video drivers for your video card won't load; only the generic driver will load. But you can fix problems in Safemode that just can't be fixed in normal mode.

Scandisk for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Vista (all versions)

There is not really a scandisk for these systems; instead there is Check
Disk or Chkdsk. You can start ChkDsk by opening the My Computer icon, right-clicking on the hard drive icon, selecting Properties/Tools (tab), and then clicking the Check Now button. When you open ChkDsk, select Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. ChkDsk will be performed the next time you restart your computer after you click Yes to schedule the disk check. Generally it is not necessary to run Chkdsk unless you are having problems.

Sometimes if Windows is not closed properly, Chkdsk will run at Startup. There is an option to skip Chkdsk, but if it comes up there are more than likely errors that need to be fixed, so let Chkdsk run.

Run CheckDisk and Defrag, and pretty soon your old cheap desktop computer will be purring like a kitten and probably running faster.