What utility can be used to check hard disk for errors?

There are two ways to scan a hard drive for errors: the normal way or the old-fashioned way.

The normal way: Go to My Computer (it might be called just Computer if you've got Windows Vista or 7) and right-click the drive you want to scan. Click Properties in the drop-down menu and then go to the Tools tab. There should be a button labeled "Check Now". You can click this to open the Check Disk utility.

The old-fashioned way: Click Start, Programs or All Programs, depending on your OS, then Accessories, Command Prompt. In the command prompt, type in chkdsk c: and press enter. If you don't want to scan your C drive, replace the c with the drive letter that you want to scan. If that doesn't work, try replacing chkdsk with scandisk. If the scan finds errors, try the same thing, only add -f after the c:, for fix errors.