When your hard drive is beginning to go..does your computer act like it has a virus? I have done multiple scans/defrags etc. and my computer still freezes and acts odd at times..I know that I have no infections...could I need a new hard drive?
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ANSWERS: 6
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It's possible, but the more likely explanation is problems with software or memory. Windows is notorious for needing to be "repaved" periodically -- i.e. reinstalled from scratch. As time goes by, you download and install more software which hooks itself into low levels of the operating system, and that software accumulates "state" (files, registry settings, etc), and eventually the whole thing starts to become unstable. My own experience is that 2 years is about the limit for a machine I use actively for personal use. Repave every 18 months and I'm good.
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Computers over time will slow down as windows gets clogged up. Before I would do something as drastic as buying a new hard drive (though they are cheap now days newegg.com) I would format your drive first. Personally I format all of my systems every 6-8 months but I also use them very heavily and average user could probably go once every year. You should also blow the dust out your boxes at least once a year as well. A video card or cpu overheating could cause your freezes as well.
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I would make sure everything important was backed up if my computer was acting weird just in case.
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Memory problems can produce the symptoms you are describing. A good memory test will tell you if you have problems. I'd recommend MEMTEST 2.0 it takes ages but it's very thorough. You can download it at http://home.earthlink.net/~alegr/
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If you really want to explore the hard drive possibility, do an error check (scandisk) with 'scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' enabled. Without this checked, scandisk only checks the file system, not the disk itself.
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thanks
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