check disk

[Guest]

I manually shut down xp and when I started it back it wanted to do a disk
check. What is disk check? Is it something I should manually do
occasionally when I clean the disk, defragment, etc?

 

[Thane of Lochaber]

The purpose in this case is to check the disk for any damage done to the
file system by manually shutting it down; you aren't supposed to do that.
Always shut down Windows before turning off your computer.

It never hurts to run check disk yourself from time to time but if Windows
is properly shut down it shouldn't be necessary; the NTFS file system
usually takes care of itself.

 

[Guest]

Wow is this every misleading Thane. XP is a lot more robust than you make it
out to be. Even with power interupts, that I get quite often being a long
long way north and in a remote community, my XP has suffered no ill effects.
Nor does manual shutdown affect any part of my OS. CHKDSK simply checks your
HDD got disk continuity and for bad sectors and attempts to recover them.
CHKDSK is one of the tools in XP and should be run on the odd occassion to
keep your system humming right along. I generally use it about every three or
four months. Those with problems should perhaps run it in conjunction with
defrag about once a month or more. Weekly wouldn't hurt. If for any reason
chkdsk comes up at the beginning of a boot then simply let it run as some
routine has called for it's activation. There may or may not be anything
wrong but running it will only ensure your system operates at peak
proficiency.
{]:~)