- 1). Check the integrity of your hard drive, and repair any minor hard drive faults with the "CHKDSK" utility. Open the "Start" menu, and then select "Computer." Right-click the hard drive, select "Properties," and then select the "Tools" tab. Locate the "Error Checking" section, and click "Check Now." Select both of the disk-checking options, and click "Start." A prompt will appear asking you to schedule a disk check upon restart. Click "Yes," and restart the computer. Upon reboot, Windows will run the "CHKDSK" utility.
- 2). Perform an anti-virus scan with your existing anti-virus software. Use a third-party anti-spyware program to remove any lingering traces of viruses or malware left behind after being hacked (see Resources).
- 3). Access the "Disk Cleanup" program on your computer to remove unused files and applications from your hard drive. Enter "cleanmgr.exe" into the search bar in the "Start" menu, and press "Enter" to start the program.
- 4). Defragment the hard drive. Disk defragmentation rearranges the data on the hard drive, speeding up the computer's overall response time. To access the built-in defragmenting utility, enter "dfrgui.exe" into the search bar in the "Start" menu, and press "Enter."
- 5). Reinstall the computer's operating system. This task should be done only if there is extensive damage to the existing operating system's important files. Remember to back-up your documents and other files, and then erase the contents of the hard drive with the "Format" tool prior to the reinstallation. When using the Windows installation disk, the "Format" option will appear shortly before the installation process begins.
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