To guarantee the correct functioning of our equipment, it is important to perform some maintenance tasks from time to time. Luckily, Windows has numerous diagnostic tools to verify that our hardware is working as it should.
In this article we are going to show you three simple tools that you can access for free from Windows and without downloading any program to check the operation of your RAM and your storage system. We will also show you another additional tool that Windows includes and that will help us scan our computer for malware.
As we have mentioned, the three tools that we are going to show you They are integrated into Windowsso regardless of whether you use Windows 10 or 11, you will be able to access them very easily and quickly check if there is any problem in your system.
A tool to check your RAM memory in Windows
The first of them is a specific integrated Windows tool for check the status of your RAM memory. This way, you will be able to easily know if there is a problem with these components of your equipment.
To access the tool, simply press the key combination Windows + R and in the box we must write ‘mdsched.exe‘ (without the quotes). When we have done so, a window will appear asking us if we want to restart the computer now and carry out the check or do it the next time we turn on the computer.
Whatever your decision, when your computer restarts, Windows will run the memory check tool. It is characterized by a blue screen and a very classic interface. The system will advance the tests and offer us a detailed diagnosis when the check is finished. The process is somewhat slow, so we recommend that you be patient, although there are times when the progress bar does not move.
The classic ‘chkdsk’ never hurts to check your disks
On the other hand, we have another tool that will allow us to check the status of our hard drives or solid state drives (SSD). At Genbeta we have talked about her on previous occasions, so perhaps you know her. We are referring to the ‘CHKDSK’ command, which we can access from the Windows Command Prompt application.
To access this tool, all we have to do is open the Command Prompt in Windows (CMD) with administrator privileges and type the following: ‘chkdsk‘ (without the quotes). When we press the Enter key, the system will begin to check the status of our disks, and apply the appropriate corrections if necessary.
If you want to directly fix the drive after checking, you can also use the ‘ commandchkdsk c: /f‘ (without quotes and changing ‘c’ in case you want to fix another drive on your PC). In this way, the system will be responsible for correcting disk errors.
A malware removal tool built into Windows
Finally, if what you want is check your PC for malware, luckily Windows also has a specific tool for this. And no, we are not talking about Windows Defender, but about the ‘Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool’.
While it is true that the work of Windows Defender is enough for us, you can also run this tool to perform real-time analysis in search of malware and thus have peace of mind. To access this tool you must press the Windows + R key combination and in the text box write ‘mrt’ (without the quotes).
Once you press Enter, the malware removal tool will open. Here you can run a quick scan, where the system will search for areas where malware is most likely to exist, or a full scan, which will scan our entire drive. We also have the option to perform a personalized analysis, being able to analyze the contents of a specific folder.
For much more severe problems, these tools may not be enough, however, they are a very valuable resource to be able to quickly analyze your equipment without the need for third-party programs.
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