Q The defragment utility cannot finish its work on my computer. An error message appears that says: ‘Defrag of (C:) has been aborted due to inconsistencies that were detected in the file system. Please run CHKDSK or SCANDISK on C to repair and then run defrag again’. I have tried typing these commands in the Run box but nothing happens.
Karl

A The defrag utility checks for these kind of errors because not doing so could lead to lost files. Left-click on the Start button and then on My Computer. Right-click on Local Disk (C:) and select Properties from the menu that appears. Click on the Tools tab and then on Check Now in the top section. Click in the two option boxes ‘Automatically fix file system errors’ and ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’ so that a tick appears in each and then click on Start.

A message will appear saying that the check could not be completed because the utility needs exclusive access to some files. This is quite normal. Click on Yes to schedule a disk check when Windows next starts. Restart the computer to run the test. After the first Windows screen a light-blue screen will appear warning that the check is about to take place. Don’t press any keys and the hard disk will be scanned and fixed. When it has finished Windows will start automatically and you should be able to defragment the disk.