Remember how you were taught to run Defrag and ScanDisk in Windows 98? Well, if you've moved up to Windows XP, you have probably discovered that the ScanDisk option isn't there! So, what can you do? You can use Chkdsk (Check Disk) instead. Don't know where that is? Well, just follow the steps below and you'll see how to find and use Chkdsk.
1) Open MY COMPUTER.
2) Right click on the hard drive you want to check and choose PROPERTIES from the menu that appears.
3) Click on the TOOLS tab.
4) In the ERROR-CHECKING section, click on CHECK NOW.
5) Place a checkmark in both of the two boxes of the new window. (Note: A check in the second option will cause the computer to perform a thorough scan, which will take time depending on the size of the hard drive you are checking.)
6) Click START.
7) In most cases, you will get a window that says the drive cannot be checked because files are in use and do you want to check the disk the next time you start the computer. Answer YES to the question.
8) Reboot your computer. When Windows reappears, it will run the chkdsk program, just like the old scandisk!
