4 best tools to repair corrupt files on your Windows PC

Shaant Minhas

windows laptop

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Like every other day you fire up your PC to get started, but instead of your standard boot-up screen, you find that your PC simply won’t boot. Or, even if you didn’t face an error during your PC’s boot-up, it’s possible that you might encounter an error when running a program.

While you can’t use a tool to fix booting errors of the first sort, there exist many tools that can work when you face some file corruption or an error pop-ups while you are running your PC. So let’s dive in and check out the best tools for the job.

1. SFC

While you can always turn to third-party apps, you should first try out the in-built methods given to you down by Windows and thus save your time and effort.

The Command prompt on Windows offers many such tools and tricks. One of those tools is the SFC scan, a command line tool designed to look for and repair any corrupted or missing files from your computer. To get started with SFC, follow the steps below:

  1. Head to the Start menu search bar, type in ‘sfc’, and select the best match.
  2. Type in ‘sfc /scannow’ and hit Enter.

As soon as you put in the above commands, the tool will be launched, and from there it will start looking up any problems with your PC. If the SFC tool finds any issues, it will fix them immediately.

2. DSIM

If the SFC fails to do the job, your next fallback option will be DSIM, a free Windows tool that will scan your hard drive for any corruption or faults. Here’s how you can get started with the DSIM:

Once you have launched the Command prompt as an administrator, type in the following command and hit Enter:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Give a few seconds for the scan to complete, and DSIM will look for and fix any errors on your PC as soon as it find them. If the tool doesn’t throw up any errors or problems at you after the scan, then you need try out yet another command. Type in the following command:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

If this tool reports any errors to you after it’s scan, run the following command to fix them:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

When the repair is completed, restart your PC quickly, and you will be back in action in no time.

3. PassFab FixUWin

 

If you have dabbled with ChatGPT for even a short while, the new AI chatbot phenomenon from Microsoft, you will be shocked by its varied and handy use cases.

Similarly, when it comes to repairing tools on Windows, PassFab FixUWin offers something of the like. You can try out the free version of the app, and it will fix just about any problem of corruption or errors that it encounters.

It offers three distinct modes for repairing your app:

  • Smart System Repair
  • System Bot Repair
  • Ultimate Repair

So, depending on what you requirements are at any given point, pick the method that’s most suitable for you, and you will be done with fixing your computer errors in no time.

Download: PassFab FixUWin

4. DSIM ++

Don’t fancy the command line? Then you can try out DSIM++, which uses a graphical user interface instead of the complicated command line with it’s (sometimes) complicated commands.

The app has a simple-enough interface that will let you perform anything from a disk clean-up, system optimization, and so on, to your system and help you run it for the long term. 

You can, of course, try and use out the app for free.

Download: DSIM++

The Best tools to fix corrupt files on Windows

Although encountering errors and corruptions is not something completely unexpected in using Windows—especially if you have been using your computer for a while—they don’t have to stop your work in it’s tracks.

Any tool from the above list is enough to get your work back on track and help you quickly eliminate problematic errors.