DAWN Canada: DisAbled Women's Network Canada
Expanding our Horizons: Tech 3 Project

Questions & Answers (Q & A)

ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter

Question:
"What can I do to help me prevent computer breakdowns and failures? I use Windows 98."

Answer:

The tools are provided to you right in your computer! Two of these tools that are very effective are ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter.

Both are located in the same place, for Windows users, by going to your <Start> button, then choosing <Program Files>, then <System Tools>, and finally either <ScanDisk> or <Disk Defragmenter>. You should see both of these tools in the menu that appears.

A couple of items before using these optimization tools:

1. Make sure you have an updated backup copy of your system before using either of these tools.

2. My recommendation would be to run ScanDisk on a weekly basis and the Disk Defrag on a monthly basis.

3. The easiest way to set these tools up is to use what is called the Maintenance Wizard. This is found in the exact same menu as ScanDisk and Disk Defrag. It sets your computer up so that these will tasks will happen automatically, hopefully late at night when you are sleeping! The Wizard will walk you through the setup process - it's pretty easy.

Go To: Questions & Answers (Q & A) index page

back to Technology Content Index