Some of the programs that we use in Windows, have a system menu containing an option – Always on top.  If selected, this feature sets a window to be always on top of other windows. This is very useful if you want to work across multiple windows but want to focus more of your attention on a particular window. You can set that window to be always on top and keep an eye on it. I personally use this feature to set my TV Tuner window to be always on top so that I can enjoy TV programs while doing work at the same time.

Unfortunately this Always on Top option is not available in many programs. Possibly because the software designer never thought that users will ever need such a feature. However, if you want to keep a program always on top, you can use the Always On Top application. After downloading and installing this program, you can start it from the shortcut it creates. Now you can drag the hand like icon over a window the you want to make always on top. Later, you can toggle the always on top status of that window on and off using the hotkey Ctrl + F8.

This software works very well for the situations when you have to read data from one application and type it into another, for example, password managers. You can set the first password manager window to be always on top and easily read the information and type it into your login window.

Download Window On Top

Download Window On Top

Previously, we asked you if you use the Windows command prompt and many of you answered by saying you do not; for those that do use the command line interface (CLI), many use it infrequently. In this guide, we’ll go through the basics of the command prompt, show you examples of how you can use it, and show you how to customize it.

Familiarize Yourself with the Command Prompt

Before you start using the command prompt, I recommend you learn the basic shortcuts and commands. The first guide, listed below, shows you how to access the command prompt. If you’re familiar with how to get to the command prompt already, you can skip this guide.

• How to open the command prompt

Basic Commands

Now you have the command prompt in front of you, let’s go through a series of commands to help you navigate:

Unless you changed your home or working directory, you’ll see you start in your home folder (usually something like C:\Users\Rich)

1. Type cls to clear the command prompt
2. Type ver to view the Windows version you are currently using
3. Type dir to view the contents of the directory (folder) you are currently in
4. Type cd .. to change directory to the parent (folder above) i.e. from C:\Users\Rich to C:\Users
5. Press the up arrow twice to list your second from last command (dir) and press Enter. You’ll now be viewing the contents of the C:\Users folder
6. Type cd Public to change to the Public folder
7. Type md test to create a “Test” directory in C:\Users\Public (optionally type dir again to view it in the listing)
8. Type ren test test2 to rename the test folder to test2
9. Type rd test2 to remove the directory you just created and renamed
10. Type copy “C:\Windows\System32\Bubbles.scr” BubblesCopy.scr to copy the bubbles screensaver from the Windows directory to your Public directory (note: If you don’t specify a path for the file, the directory you are currently working in is used)
11. Type dir to view the contents of the public folder again. Do you see the Bubbles.scr file?
12. Type del BubblesCopy.scr to delete the bubbles screensaver from your Public folder
13. Type echo All Done! to print “All Done!” on the command line interface

To recap, you used the following commands:

• cls - Clears the screen so you are left with an empty prompt
• ver – Show the Windows version
• dir – List the contents of the directory you’re currently working in
• cd – Change directory i.e. cd C:\Users\Rich; cd .. etc.
• md – Create a directory (mkdir also performs the same)
• ren – Renames a file or directory
• rd – Remove a directory (rmdir also performs the same)
• copy - Copies a file from the source to the destination i.e. copy C:\sample.text copied-C:\sample.txt
• del – Deletes a specified file
• echo – Echoes the string (text) specified i.e. echo Hello

Add Command Switches

Switches give you a greater degree of control over your commands and give you more options. You can add them after the command to change the behavior of that command.

We used the dir command a number of times in the previous example, let’s look at the available switches. The easiest way to see what’s available is to open a command prompt and type:

dir /?

The /? is a switch that returns the help text and available switches for each command. In this case, you got a response that’s something similar to:

C:\Users\Public>dir /?
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N] [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/R] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]

[drive:][path][filename] Specifies drive, directory, and/or files to list.

/A          Displays files with specified attributes.
attributes
D  Directories                R  Read-only files
H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
S  System files               I  Not content indexed files
L  Reparse Points             -  Prefix meaning not
/B          Uses bare format (no heading information or summary).
/C          Display the thousand separator in file sizes.  This is the default.  Use /-C to disable display of separator.
/D          Same as wide but files are list sorted by column.
/L          Uses lowercase.
/N          New long list format where filenames are on the far right.
/O          List by files in sorted order.
sortorder
N  By name (alphabetic)       S  By size (smallest first)
E  By extension (alphabetic)  D  By date/time (oldest first)
G  Group directories first    -  Prefix to reverse order
/P          Pauses after each screenful of information.
/Q          Display the owner of the file.
/R          Display alternate data streams of the file.
/S          Displays files in specified directory and all subdirectories.
/T          Controls which time field displayed or used for sorting
timefield
C  Creation
A  Last Access
W  Last Written
/W          Uses wide list format.
/X          This displays the short names generated for non-8dot3 file
names.  The format is that of /N with the short name inserted
before the long name. If no short name is present, blanks are
displayed in its place.
/4          Displays four-digit years

Here you see the list of switches you can add to your dir command. Now, in C:\Users (cd C:\Users), type:

dir /W

This displays the contents in “Wide” format, which is particularly helpful if you’re listing out a large directory as you need to scroll less to see all the output.

Let’s try another one:

dir /Q

Now you see the owners of each folder listed. Understanding these switches and knowing how to use them will come with practice and time. Feel free to explore the switches of other commands i.e. del /?

Additional Commands

As you become more familiar with the basic commands, you can add more to your artillery by learning some shortcuts that will save you of time if you come to rely on the command prompt more frequently:

• Top 10 command prompt commands
• Become a command prompt super user

Command Prompt Usage Examples

Once you’re familiar and comfortable with the command prompt, I recommend you try some of the other commands and tools available:

• Use Windows commands to manage your PC and improve productivity
• Correct program associations using the command prompt
• Basic networking commands
• Delete persistent files using the command prompt
• Fix corrupted Windows files using the command prompt
• Use xcopy on the command line to transfer large amounts of data

Customize the Command Prompt

For those that want a custom look with the dated looking command prompt, you are in luck. You can customize the native command prompt’s color scheme or you can use a third party command prompt that provides further customization like transparency:

• Customize the appearance of the command prompt

You can also customize the default working directory when you launch the command prompt. For example, I use my scripts directory:

• Set the command prompt to open in your scripts directory

What else can you do with the command prompt? Are you a beginner and are you struggling to find use for or understanding of the command prompt? Let us know in the comments and we’ll be happy to help.

Many of the recommended tools made it into our top anti-malware programs list and we agree with the recommendations given. Once you’ve removed the malware, you should fix any issues present on your PC and then take steps to protect your PC from future attacks. A good start can be made by reading the PC Security Handbook.

What steps do you recommend when removing malware? How else can you protect your PC from infections?

Malware Removal Guide for Windows | Real Security via Windows Forums

The performance information is broken down into four categories:

1. CPU
2. Physical Memory
3. Kernel Memory
4. System

CPU

CPU (Central Processing Unit) usage represents the percentage of CPU capacity currently being used by Windows and all running applications. This number should be low (< 5%) when you are not actively using your computer.

You may see more than one CPU graph even if you only have one processor (99.9% of all home computers.) Each graph shows the activity of each processor core. If your CPU uses hyper-threading technology, you’ll have two graphs for each core (i.e. twelve CPU graphs on a six-core i7.) (More about Processors and cores.)

Physical Memory

Physical memory is commonly referred to as RAM (random access memory)

• Total—The total physical RAM in your system (in MB.) Divide this number by 1,024 to get the number in gigabytes
• Cached—Physical RAM set aside by Windows for cached documents and programs. Cached memory is used to speed up Windows and is the first to be used when available memory hits 0MB
• Available—Memory available for immediate use (standby and free memory)
• Free—Unused memory available for immediate use

Kernel Memory

Kernel memory is memory dedicated to the operating system (Windows) and not applications.

• Paged—Kernel memory which is mapped to pages of virtual memory (stored on your hard disk drive)
• Nonpaged—Kernel memory which resides in physical memory

System

• Handles—A handle is a pointer to a system resource used by an application. If you want to find out what handles a process has open, you can either use Handle or Process Explorer
• Threads—A thread is a processor task, executed by a process. Most processes use two or more threads to execute tasks
• Processes—This is the total number of processes running, on your PC, by all users
• Uptime—The number of days : hours : minutes : seconds you’ve been running your current session
• Commit (GB)—The minimum and maximum size (in gigabytes) of your pagefile

What is Resolution?

Screens are made up of tiny addressable squares or pixels. If you look closely at your monitor, you’ll see these tiny squares made up of (usually) Red, Green, and Blue lines. The Red, Green, and Blue lights mix to produce a colored light; the collection of these colors work like a huge patchwork quilt to produce the image you’re looking at right now.

Resolution is the number of these pixels wide by the number of pixels high that your screen displays.

i.e. 1920 x 1080 resolution is 1,980 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels high and is referred to as “nineteen twenty by ten eighty.”

What is My Resolution?

If you have JavaScript enabled in your browser, you will see your resolution below:

Manually Check Screen Resolution

To manually check screen resolution:

Windows 7

Go to your Desktop (Windows Key + D)

Right click the Desktop and click Screen Resolution:

Your screen resolution is displayed:

Windows Vista

Go to your Desktop (Windows Key + D)

Right click the Desktop and click Personalize:

On the Personalize appearance and sounds panel, click Display Settings

Your screen resolution is displayed:

Terabyte vs. Tebibyte

Hard drive manufacturers use the International System of Units (SI) convention to when listing hard drive capacity. Kilo-, mega-, giga-, and tera- are some of the prefixes used in accordance with the SI and are base-10 (decimal.) “Tera” means trillion so a terabyte is one trillion, 1,000,000,000,000, or 10²⁰ bytes.

When Windows shows the drive’s capacity, it lists it as “less” because it’s calculating the size using a base-2 (binary numeral) system. Windows is really listing the sizes in tebibytes not terabytes. A tebibyte is 1,099,511,627,776 or 2⁴⁰ bytes.

The words kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte are used interchangeably with kibibyte (kilo binary byte), mebibyte (mega binary byte), gibibyte, and tebibyte respectively; however, there is a difference and this difference gets bigger at each order of magnitude.

In 1999, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) came together to help clear up the ambiguity between the base-10 and base-2 systems by providing us with a different set of prefixes to identify base-2 byte prefixes in computing. This chart shows the percentage difference between a kilobyte and kibibyte etc. as we progress through orders of magnitude:

A 1 TB drive is 1000GB. A 1TB drive is also 931 gibibytes (GiB) or 0.91 tebibytes (TiB.)

It really doesn’t matter what unit of measurement is used as the hard drive will always have the same capacity regardless of the numbering convention used to quantify it. The fact is a “terabyte”, according to standards, is a trillion bytes or a thousand gigabytes. Although many may use 1 TB to mean 1024 GB, the standard (which helps alleviate confusion for all of us) states that only 1 TiB is 1024 GiB and that 1 TB is 1000 GB.

We’ve been using “kilo” to mean 1024 bytes for so long that it really is quite a struggle to think of it differently (or accept the prefix “kibi” at all.) Adoption of this terminology is slow but, correct use shows you’ve really done your homework and that you’ve paid attention to detail!

Hopefully this guide has cleared up some ambiguity for Windows users who are wondering where all that extra hard drive space went. If you’re using OS X Leopard or a newer release of many Linux versions, you may have noticed that space is reported in base-10, which was primarily done to clear up any confusion.

Where to Run Commands

Note: see below for an even quicker method for Windows Vista/7/8.

To run the commands, listed below, in Windows XP (can also be used in Windows Vista/7/8):

1. Click the Start button and click Run (or press Winkey+R):

2. Type the command in the Run dialog and click OK (or press Enter.)

To run the commands, listed below, in Windows Vista/7/8, you can also use the Start Menu search function:

Press the Start button (or press the Winkey), type the command, and press Enter.

If the command fails, use steps 1 & 2 above.

Environment Variables

Environment variables can be used to open common folders in Windows. You can even append strings to the end of an environment variable to go directly to a folder i.e. %UserProfile%\Music

Commands to Run

Most of the commands, listed below, will work; however, some commands such as QuickTime.cpl (requires Quick Time) or gpedit.msc (requires Business, Professional, or Ultimate Windows versions) may not run depending on installed components, Windows versions, Windows editions etc.

Command	Launches	XP	Vista/7/8
access.cpl	Accessibility Controls
hdwwiz.cpl	Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl	Device Manager
appwiz.cpl	Add/ Remove Programs
control admintools	Administrative Tools
wuaucpl.cpl	Automatic Updates
fsquirt	Bluetooth Transfer wizard
calc	Calculator
certmgr.msc	Certificate Manager
charmap	Character Map
chkdsk	Check Disk Utility
clipbrd	Clipboard Viewer
cmd	Command Prompt
dcomcnfg	Component Services
compmgmt.msc	Computer Management
control panel	Control Panel
timedate.cpl	Date and Time Properties
ddeshare	DDE Share
devmgmt.msc	Device Manager
directx.cpl	Direct X Control Panel
dxdiag	Direct X Troubleshooter
cleanmgr	Disk Cleanup Utility
dfrg.msc	Disk Defragment
diskmgmt.msc	Disk Management
diskpart	Disk Partition Manager
control desktop	Display Properties / Personalization
desk.cpl	Screen Resolution
control color	Window Color and Appearance
dn /vtsn32	Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility
verifier	Driver Verifier Utility
eventvwr.msc	Event Viewer
sigverif	File Signature Verification Tool
findfast.cpl	Findfast
control folders	Folders Properties
fonts OR control fonts	Fonts Folder
freecell	Free Cell Card Game
joy.cpl	Game Controllers
gpedit.msc	Group Policy Editor (Select editions)
mshearts	Hearts Card Game
iexpress	Iexpress wizard
ciadv.msc	Indexing Service
inetcpl.cpl	Internet Properties
Iexplore	Internet Explorer
javaws	Java Control Panel (lf lnstalled)
toy.cpl	Joystick Properties
main.cpl keyboard OR control keyboard	Keyboard Properties
secpol.msc	Local Security Settings (Select versions)
lusrmgr.msc	Local Users and Groups (Select versions)
logoff	Logs You Out Of Windows
winchat	Microsoft Chat
winmine	Minesweeper Game
main.cpl OR control mouse	Mouse Properties
netsetup.cpl	Network Setup Wizard
notepad	Notepad
nvtuicpl.cpl	Nview Desktop Manager(If installed)
packager	Object Packager
odbccp32.cpl	ODBC Data Source Administrator
osk	On Screen Keyboard
ac3filter.cpl	OpensAC3 Filter(If installed)
password.cpl	Password Properties
perfmon	Performance Monitor
telephon.cpl	Phone and Modem Options
powercfg.cpl	Power Management
control printers	Printers and Faxes
printers	Printers Folder
eudcedit	Private Character Editor
QuickTime.cpl	Quicktime Preferences (lf installed)
intl.cpl	Regional Settings
regedit	Registry Editor
regedit32	Registry Editor
mstsc	Remote Desktop
ntmsmgr.msc	Removable Storage
ntmsoprq.msc	Removable Storage Operator Requests
rsop.msc	Resultant Set of Policy (Select versions)
sticpl.cpl	Scanners and Cameras
control schedtasks	Scheduled Tasks
wscui.cpl	Security Center
services.msc	Services
fsmgmt.msc	Shared Folders
shutdown	Shuts Down Windows
mmsys.cpl	Sounds and Audio
spider	Spider Solitare Card Game
cliconfg	SQL Client Configuration
sysedit	System Configuration Editor
msconfig	System Configuration Utility
sfc /scannow	System File Checker(Scan Immediately)
sfc /scanonce	System FC (Scan Once At Next Boot)
sfc /scanboot	System FC (Scan On Every Boot)
sfc /revert	System FC (Return to Default Setting)
sfc /purgecache	System FC (Purge File Cache)
sfc /cachesize=x	System FC (Set Cache Size to size x)
sysdm.cpl	System Properties
Taskmgr	Task Manager
nusrmgr.cpl	User Account Management
utilman	Utility Manager
explorer	Windows Explorer
firewall.cpl	Windows Firewall
magnify	Windows Magnifier
wmimgmt.msc	Windows Management lnfrastructure (WMI)
syskey	Windows System Security Tool
wupdmgr	Windows Update Launches
winver	Windows Version
tourstart	Windows XP Tour Wizard
Write	Wordpad

Which commands did I miss? Let us know in the comments.

If you’re somewhat familiar with the Windows Registry, you’ve no doubt seen references to HKCR, HKCU, HKLM, HKU, and HKCC. These abbreviations represent the five root keys in the Windows Registry:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR)
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU)
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM)
• HKEY_USERS (HKU)
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (HKCC)

This guide explains the basics on what each root key represents and what settings you can expect to find under each. I wrote this guide to help clarify the fundamentals of the registry and provide insight into what each root key does.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT or HKCR is an alias (i.e. a reference) to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. A separate root key is added mainly so software developers have direct access to this data without dipping in to HKLM. HKCR contains data related to applications, shortcuts, and file extension associations. When we open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, we see:

The Shell subkey stores actions for each file type.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKCU is built from %UserProfile%\ntuser.dat (to view this file, you’ll need to enable viewing of protected system files.) HKCU contains data specific to each user with a log on account on your PC. Here’s what we see when we expand HKCU:

A little digging through this key yields data like application events (i.e. program sounds), keyboard layout, mapped network drives, application preferences (Software), and other user-specific settings.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKLM hardware and software configuration data that is “global” or pertinent to the PC regardless of which user is logged on. Here’s what HKLM looks like:

System Contains subkeys and settings related to Windows startup.

HKEY_USERS

HKEY_USERS or HKU is the home of group policy settings. Any Group Policy based rules are stored under this root key. When you log on, these settings are copied over to HKCU.

When you expand HKU, you’ll see a .DEFAULT folder as well as entries for each user/log on ID. The .DEFAULT folder contains the base settings for new users when they first logon, S-1-5-21- folders contain settings for user IDs:

You can cross reference these IDs with HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ where you’ll find the same list of SIDs. Click on one of the S-1-5-21- folders, and check out the ProfileImagePath key’s data value to see the owner of the profile.

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG or HKCC contains the current hardware profile settings. Like HKCR, HKCC is an alias to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001 (Note: If your PC has multiple hardware profiles, they are numbered ControlSet002, ControlSet003 etc.)

Well that’s about it for the basics of the Windows Registry; now you know the foundation of the root keys, I’m hoping the registry seems a little less daunting?

What did I miss? Let us know in the comments.

Note: You’ll need to set passwords for your accounts before hiding usernames. So set Windows account passwords on your PC, follow this guide: Set or change your Windows password.

Pictured above is similar to how your logon screen looks now. To hide user names, you’ll either need to use Group Policy or the Registry Editor. Group Policy is available only with Windows Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. If you are using a Starter, Home, or Home Premium edition, please follow the Registry Editor method.

Disable User Name Display Using Windows Registry Editor

Note: If you are unfamiliar with making changes to the Windows Registry, please read this guide.

1. Click Start, type regedit, and press Enter to pen the Windows Registry Editor
2. Navigate to key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
3. Modify (or add) DWORD DontDisplayLastUserName and set the value to 1
4. Log off to see changes

Disable User Name Display Using Group Policy

Note: If you are unfamiliar with making changes via Group Policy, please read this guide.

1. Click Start, type local, and click Local Security Policy
2. In the left-hand pane, click on Local Policies > Security Options
3. In the right-hand pane, double-click Interactive Logon: Do Not Display Last User Name (or right click and select Properties)
4. Select Enabled and click OK
5. Log off to see changes

If there’s a piece of equipment that works hard in your PC, it’s your hard disk drive (HDD.) HDDs operate at anywhere between 4200 and 15000 RPM (perhaps higher) while in use. In other words, these things spin anywhere between 70 and 250 times a second—sometimes for days on end! While the information in this guide mostly applies to both HDDs and Solid State Drives (SSD), SSDs have no moving parts so some of the information will not apply.

With high speeds and enormous data transfers on a daily basis hard drive file systems, used to store and access all your data, are prone to corruption and failure. Thankfully, all versions of Windows come with a nifty, free tool called “Check Disk” (chkdsk.) In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Check Disk and explain a little about common errors to which hard drives are prone.

How Do Hard Drives Get Corrupted?

All storage media is prone to corruption; however HDDs are a little more exposed as they have moving parts. Included in these moving parts are read/write heads that, when jolted mid read/write (i.e. when you put your laptop down on a table) can crash into the hard disk platters and ruin data. Technically, a jolted head can wipe out a whole HDD if it hits the right area and I’ve seen this happen with a coworker’s laptop. Presumably, that won’t happen to you if you’re careful; however, you may have already lost/scrambled data without realizing it.

Even you’re careful with your PC (or it’s a desktop and you don’t move it while it’s powered on), there are other ways to corrupt data. Common ways in which data is corrupted include: power surges, malware, turning your PC off without a clean shut down (Windows may label your drive as a “dirty” disk), and even flipped bits resulting from non-ECC protected memory. These corruption issues affect both HDD and SSD users. Often, HDDs will take care of bad sectors with self-detection mechanisms; however, corrupted file systems are dealt with using chkdsk.

What Does chkdsk Do?

chkdsk scans your hard drive, identifies problems, and attempts to fix these problems. Specifically, chkdsk:

• Searches for invalid file names and dates
• Identifies and attempts to fix bad compression structures, sectors, and invalid clusters
• Finds lost clusters (orphaned) and fixes cross-linked clusters
• Fixes file-system cycles (e.g. folders referring to themselves as their parent folder)
• Marks unrecoverable sectors as bad so they cannot be used again to store (and lose) data

What is a Sector? What is a Cluster?

Hard disks are made up of millions of tiny storage areas referred to as sectors; these sectors are a physical section of a hard disk platter in which data (usually up to 512 bytes) is stored. As hard drives increase in size, addressing so many sectors (a 1TB drive has up to approximately 2,147,483,648 sectors) becomes difficult. Thus, sectors are grouped, by Windows, into clusters. A cluster size is determined by the size of your hard disk partition.

What Happens to these Clusters?

Clusters can become orphaned (disassociated with their original data), incorrectly marked (unused put part of a cluster chain), invalid (incorrectly valued), or cross-linked (assigned to two files or twice for one file.) Another way to think of this is to take a look at your food pantry/storage/cupboard. Without regular upkeep, food expires; ingredients, purchased specifically for meals get forgotten; and labels may even fall off so you’re left guessing what spice concoction you have.

There are many reasons why this may happen and while you may be able to prevent much of this through proper hardware care, sometimes data just gets out of line without you realizing. Thankfully, chkdsk can often convert these broken clusters to files that you can copy somewhere safe.

How Do I Use chkdsk?

You can access chkdsk in two ways: through the graphical user interface (GUI) or through the command line interface (CLI.)

Note: chkdsk requires admin privileges. If you are unable to run chkdsk, please check with your systems administrator. If you run chkdsk on a disk from which files are in use (i.e. your “C” drive), you will need to allow Windows to run chkdsk next time you boot your PC (using autochk settings stored in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute.)

To run the chkdsk GUI:

1. Click the Start button and click Computer
2. Right click on any drive and click Properties
3. Click the Tools tab and click Check Now
   Caution: Check Disk may run for many hours (a full check on a 1.5TB drive once took 28 hours) so please be patient and don’t schedule a disk check  when you require access to your PC
4. Select Automatically fix file system errors and click Start
   Note: I’d use “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” sparingly as many drives do this, for the most part, themselves

To run the chkdsk CLI:

• Bring up the command line and run chkdsk /F C: to fix file system errors only (on drive C)
• or run chkdsk /R G: to fix system errors and attempt recovery of bad sectors (on drive G)

How Often Should I Run chkdsk?

Your PC works better when there’s organization and data is both referenced and stored in the same place. Thus, I recommend you run chkdsk 4-12 times/year depending on your PC usage. Running it more often than once a month is probably a waste of time.

Note: If your computer is infected with a virus or if your hard drive is seriously damaged, chkdsk may fail mid operation. If you opted for a boot-time check, you may not be able to get into Windows to do much else with your PC (if it still boots into Windows.) Diagnosis and explanation of such an issue is out of the scope of this basic guide. If you’re stuck and need assistance, we can help at Windows Forums.