While many Windows users have only heard of the Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter tools to optimize computer performance, there is still yet another tool built-in to the Windows operating system that you can use.

Microsoft’s Error Checking utility checks the integrity of the files stored on your hard drive and will attempt to automatically fix file system errors and recover bad drive sectors.

To explain, as you use your computer and hard drive, over time the drive can develop bad sectors (a section of the drive that can no longer be successfully accessed by Windows, usually due to permanent …