What is disk error?

Some (not all) of my desktop icons will not start the application and I consistently get this error msg: "windows cannot access the specific device, path or filename. You may not have appropriate permission". I get the same result for hotkey (Ctrl-Alt-x) commands trying to start the same applications. If I delete and rebuild the failing shortcuts, I get the same results.

But all programs start from the "Start" -"all programs" menu.

This all started after I upgraded to "Netscape 7.2" (which I have uninstalled) and Earthlinks "Total Access 2005" Earthlink claims their upgrade will not cause these errors.

This question was answered on November 6, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Detecting and repairing disk errorsYou can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk.

Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check

On the File menu, click Properties

On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now

Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box

Notes

To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer

All files must be closed for this process to run If the volume is currently in use, a message box will appear prompting you to indicate whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time you restart your system Then, the next time you restart your system, disk checking will run Your volume will not be available to perform other tasks while this process is running

If your volume is formatted as NTFS, Windows automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters, and stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume

About the author

Posted by christopher of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on November 6, 2004

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