2020-09-01 PCWorld

the feature debuted early in the

Windows lifecycle. Our

previous Storage Sense how-to

(go.pcworld.com/stor) is still in

effect, but Windows has added

controls to optionally delete

files in your Downloads folder. I

never want that to happen, and

you might not want that to

In File Explorer, files stored on your local hard drive (on your PC) are happen, either.
shown with a green checkmark next to them. OneDrive files stored Note that Storage Sense
only in the cloud have a cloud icon. What Windows can do is delete
local files that are already backed up in the cloud, saving space. triggers only when you’re low
on disk space. If you’re

even selecting the Show More Categories link downloading a massive game like Flight

at the bottom simply opens up folders like Simulator, it might trip Windows up—there’s

Documents and Music that you may want to too much empty space to run Storage Sense,

leave intact. but not enough to download the game. You

HOW TO USE STORAGE can always go way down to the bottom of the
SENSE, YOUR DIGITAL Storage Sense configuration page and kick off
HOUSEKEEPER Storage Sense manually.

Remember how Temporary Files was such an WINDIRSTAT: THE TOOL
FOR STEAM GAMERS
ideal location to find files that you can get rid of?

Why not let Windows do it for you? That’s the The one key limitation I’ve noticed about

reasoning behind Storage Sense, the toggle at Windows’ own Storage settings is that they

the top of the Settings’ Storage page. Toggle it have blinders on where other app stores are

on, and it will automatically

delete files in the Recycle Bin

after 30 days, and eliminate other

temporary files, too.

Do yourself a favor, though,

and open up the Storage Sense

configuration/options page,

which has been tweaked since

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 95

HERE’S HOW HOW TO CLEAN UP YOUR PC

concerned. If you’ve downloaded a few graphical UI, so you may need to dig through
games via Steam, for example, Windows can’t and find any hidden Steam games, for
recognize how much space they take up. example, that may have escaped your notice.

As my colleague Brad Chacos explains The combination of Windows’ own
(go.pcworld.com/chcs), WinDirStat solves Storage settings and WinDirStat might not
this problem by offering a top-down view of magically clean up your hard drive, but they’ll
your hard drive, with a graphical help you make an informed decision on what
representation of the size and type of your to keep and what to delete. And if you still
files. Want to find out how much space is don’t have enough storage space, perhaps
consumed by .MP4 video files? WinDirStat you’d like to refer to our roundup of best
can tell you. It presents this information to you external hard drives (go.pcworld.com/exdr)
in a File Explorer-like interface coupled with a to find some more?

WinDirStat is powerful, though intimidating.

96 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

How to check and monitor your
hard drive’s health

No hard drive lives forever. BY IAN PAUL

F ew PC components require more refuses to boot one morning.
care and attention than a hard Whatever way your hard drive meets its
drive. We’ve all heard the
admonishments to defragment end, it’s a certainty you’ll see it happen if you
drives, and clean up junk files to keep all our use a PC long enough. Hard drives are
1s and 0s sparkling. No matter how well you complicated little devices. The primary
care for it, however, at some point that drive is components are the magnetic platters that
going to fail. Sometimes you can hear it contain the data, as well as the head that
coming, sometimes it happens suddenly in reads and writes the data.
the middle of a project, and other times it just
Those moving parts are the great benefit
and big flaw of your hard drive. One ill-timed

IMAGE: THINKSTOCK SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 97

HERE’S HOW CHECK YOUR HARD DRIVE’S HEALTH

drop of a laptop, or a sudden move of a own approaches to SMART, but they
desktop tower, and the drive can be generally measure similar performance
irreparably damaged. Wait long enough, points such as read error rates, mechanical
however, and the drive will just fail on its own. shock, hard-disk temperature, seek time
performance, and so on.
That’s why hard drives need closer
monitoring than a solid state drive, which has Most of the time the SMART system works
no moving parts. They die too, but usually not in the background, but you can bring it to the
under the same conditions. If you’re thinking fore in a number of ways.
about using an SSD as your primary boot
drive, check out our roundup of the best The simplest way is to use the Windows
SSDs (go.pcworld.com/bsds). command line utility WMIC, which stands for
Windows Management Instrumentation
While you can’t always predict when or Command-line (utility). This basic tool is a
how your hard drive will bite the dust, you can simple yay/nay health result based on the
take a few steps to see it coming. SMART statistics. Open a Windows command
prompt and enter the following: wmic
GET SMART diskdrive get model,status.

The first tool for keeping tabs on a hard The results should look something like in
drive is its Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and the image below. It’s preferable to ask for the
Reporting Technology, or SMART, feature. model as well as status so that you can
This system is built into most modern hard determine more quickly which drive is failing
drives and SSDs, and it’s designed to report if a problem is reported. This is not so much
when your drive is failing or encountering an issue for laptops, but it’s helpful for
issues. Drive manufacturers can take their desktops with multiple drives.

An example of WMIC in action.

98 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

CRYSTALDISKINFO

If you’d like something with a little

more detail, then another option

is to use CrystalDiskInfo (go.

pcworld.com/crys). CDI is a free

desktop program that can display

a lot of information about your

disks, but the top area is probably

enough for most people.

Here, CDI displays a status for

each drive, using a color-coding

system: Good (blue), Caution

(yellow), Bad (red), and Unknown

(gray). Most of the time you

should just see a Good status, but

if you see one of the others it’s

time to keep an eye on that drive.

But here’s the thing about CrystalDiskInfo 8.6.2 showing the status of a WD hard drive.

checking the SMART status: It’s not 100 report issues before failing, or it might not.

percent reliable. Consider a Google study SMART is also a part of SSDs, but it has the

published in 2007 (go.pcworld.com/st07): same drawbacks and limitations as hard

The authors found that 36 percent of the drives. The best solution right now for SSDs is

drives monitored for the study reported no to use monitoring tools provided by the drive

SMART issues at all before failing. maker such as Crucial’s Storage Executive,

Things haven’t changed much either. In WD’s SSD Dashboard, or Samsung’s

2016, Backblaze reported that it was seeing Magician Software (for EVO 860 and up).

23.3 percent of its data center drives failing BEYOND SMART
(go.pcworld.com/23pc) without reporting

issues from the five SMART attributes it tracks. While SMART is a useful tool for monitoring

Statistically speaking, the majority of discs your drive’s health, you should also keep an

do report SMART issues before failing; eye on how your drive behaves and sounds. If

however, statistics become less reliable when you start to hear a grinding noise emanating

trying to predict the fate of a single drive. In from your PC (go.pcworld.com/grns), for

other words, your particular drive might example, that is most likely the hard drive.

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 99

HERE’S HOW CHECK YOUR HARD DRIVE’S HEALTH

Either its end is near, or it’s going to start encountering issues.
malfunctioning soon. If a driver update doesn’t help, run

Even if you don’t hear a funny noise, your Windows’ built-in ‘chkdsk’ (check disk)
drive can cause odd things such as frequent command-line utility. For those looking to
crashes, a high number or error messages, take extra care, run it every few months, at the
folder or filenames that have odd characters in start of each quarter, for example.
them, very sluggish performance, or
documents suddenly filled with garbage. ’Chkdsk’ runs only with elevated
Most of these issues are a pretty clear sign privileges. To do this, search for command
your drives are about to end, but not always. prompt in the Windows 10 search box, and
then select Run As Administrator from the
First, check to see if your storage device options as pictured at right.
drivers are up to date. This is a good basic
step for any component, and it may improve To just check the status of all your drives,
your storage drive’s performance if you’re type chkdsk for a read-only status of your
drives. If you want it to fix problems you need

HDD interiors almost resemble a high-tech record player.

100 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

to run the check disk program with
the /F or /R options. The /F

option focuses on fixing filesystem
errors, while the /R option also

checks for bad physical sectors on
the drive—don’t use the /R option

on an SSD as this option is not built
for solid state drives. The /R

option can take a very long time to

complete, and needs to work on a

reboot so only run that when you
have the time. The /F option also

needs a reboot to run but requires

less time.

An example command might Run the command prompt as an administrator to use ‘chkdsk.’
be chkdsk d: /r. That

command tells the utility to check only your Windows backup software (go.pcworld.

D: drive. In this scenario the C: drive is an com/bksf), as well as our roundup of the best

NvME SSD and D: is the higher-capacity hard external drives to store your backups (go.

drive that requires servicing. pcworld.com/exdr).

Windows 10 is set to run chkdsk It’s also a good idea to use a cloud

automatically, so you may be alerted to issues backup service so you have a third copy of

before you do a manual run of this utility. your data that’s offsite. An alternative would

LIFE AFTER DEATH be to have two hard drives doing File
History backups, and keeping one offsite,

To avoid the worst effects of dying storage with regular swaps to keep each drive as

drives, make sure you’re doing regular current as possible.

backups. The best option is to use something Once you start seeing serious hard-drive

that saves multiple historical states of your errors that can’t be fixed with check disk, it’s

data such as Windows’ built-in File History. time to replace the drive as soon as possible.

That way if a recent backup has the same If the errors can be fixed, you can probably

garbage drives, you can go back in time to eke a little more life out of the drive, but it’s

retrieve earlier versions of them. If you don’t still a good idea to replace it and avoid further

like File History, check out our tour of the best heartache.

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 101

HERE’S HOW

How to use Microsoft Rewards
to get Xbox Game Pass for PC
(and more!) for free

Microsoft Rewards is an easy way to pick up the equivalent of a little free cash
on the side without any extra effort. BY MARK HACHMAN

M icrosoft Rewards is basically Microsoft’s incentive program for using its
free money, and not enough consumer services. Using Bing earns you
of you know how to use it. points. Playing Xbox games can earn you
We’re going to show you points. Playing PC games can earn you
how to use Microsoft Rewards to help buy all points. You can “chase points” as much as
the things you want—an Xbox Series X! you’d like, and earn more and more. Or you
Starbucks! Amazon gift cards!—beginning can chill, go about your daily activities as you
with the awesome Game Pass for PC normally would, and still earn points. All of
subscription. these points can be traded in for stuff you’ll
actually want.
Like the name says, Microsoft Rewards is

102 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020 IMAGE: MARK HACHMAN

We’ll use the

awesome Xbox

Game Pass for PC

(go.pcworld.com/

xbps), which costs

$4.99 per month, as

our target. Game

Pass for PC is part of

Xbox Game Pass

Ultimate’s “Netflix-

for-games”

subscription, which Xbox Game Pass Ultimate bundles Microsoft’s Netflix-esque Xbox Game Pass
we’ve already shown and Xbox Game Pass for PC subscriptions with its Xbox Live Gold service.

can be purchased

for peanuts (go.pcworld.com/pnut) if you UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub. You can

know the trick. But why pay at all? Microsoft even donate your points (and their cash value)

Rewards is the answer to that. to the World Wildlife Foundation, Girls Who

WHAT CAN YOU EARN WITH Code, the American Red Cross, The Trevor
MICROSOFT REWARDS? Project, and more. Microsoft will often “pay”
you points to double your donation.

As we go through our tutorial, keep your eye Here’s a small, representative sample:

on the prize: a one-month Game Pass for PC • $5 Amazon gift card: 5,250 points

subscription is 7,000 points. You can pay • $10 Microsoft gift card: 10,000 points

5,000 points for a $5 Microsoft gift card, • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (1 mo):

though that can only be applied to games, 12,000 points

apps, movies/TV shows, or devices like a • $15 DoorDash gift card: 19,500 points

Surface or Xbox—not Game Pass. You can even gamble points, with games

But the Microsoft Rewards redemption such as Select Three or Whack-a-Piñata

page (go.pcworld.com/rdpg) offers all sorts offering the chance at $250,000, 500 Xbox

of possibilities: Microsoft gift cards and Game One S consoles or other prizes for 300 points

Pass subscriptions, including Game Pass a pop.

Ultimate; gift cards to retailers like Amazon, Microsoft has an odd tiering system,

Target, REI, Sephora, and Walmart; food which offers discounts after progressing from

offers at Starbucks, Burger King, Dominos, Level 1 (at 500 points or less) to Level 2. That

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 103

HERE’S HOW USE MICROSOFT REWARDS TO GET XBOX GAME PASS

Just some of the things you can redeem for Microsoft Rewards points.

means you’ll spend even less to “buy” what pcworld.com/rdpg; the image at the top of
you want with Rewards points as you earn this story) to open the door to your free stuff. If
more throughout the month. you’re signed up and logged in, Microsoft
Rewards points will automatically accumulate—
USING MICROSOFT there’s nothing more you need to do.
REWARDS FOR PC (AND
MOBILE) There are two big ways to earn Microsoft
Rewards on the PC: searching via Bing, and
There’s one prerequisite: Microsoft Rewards doing fun quizzes. Each day, Microsoft will
requires a Microsoft account. You’ll probably “pay” you up to 150 points for searching with
have to sign in to your account when you visit Bing on your PC, up to 5 points per search. If
the Microsoft Rewards introductory page (go. you search with Bing on your smartphone,
pcworld.com/rdpg). Quickly click through to you can receive 100 points more (5 points per
the Microsoft Rewards Dashboard page (go. search). Using the solid Microsoft Edge

104 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

Microsoft awards you Rewards points for browser (go.pcworld.com/msbr) nets you a
searching on desktop and mobile... bonus of up to 20 points, too.

(“But that means I have to use Bing,” some of
you may whine. I’m a habitual Bing user; I
switched to Bing in 2017 (go.pcworld.com/
bn17), back to Chrome when Bing fell down (go.
pcworld.com/fldn), hard; and back to Bing over
the past year or so after Microsoft fixed Bing’s
issues. You could still use Google in a pinch.)

In effect, doing nothing more than using
Edge and Bing to search on your PC (30 days x
150 points, plus 30 days x 20 points = 5,100
points) will earn you the equivalent of $5 per
month without any extra effort on your part.

...and by completing quizzes.

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 105

HERE’S HOW USE MICROSOFT REWARDS TO GET XBOX GAME PASS

If you’d like, you can also gamify the the Xbox is all about playing games. Initially,
process. Every day Microsoft offers you three Microsoft Rewards was primarily a PC-only
choices: a “daily set” of a quiz, a poll, and a fact. undertaking. Now, there are arguably more
Clicking each of them will generally earn you an ways to accumulate Rewards points on
additional 50 points a day. Microsoft will also Microsoft’s console than anywhere else.
add bonus points for three successive days that
you perform daily sets, such as 45 points per While there’s no Microsoft Rewards app
three-day streak. If you miss a day, your daily-set for the PC or Android, there is one for the
streak resets. But don’t feel too bad, as some of Xbox. Go to the Microsoft Store app to
the quizzes will automatically archive down download it. Once there, you’ll need to make
lower in the dashboard. sure you’re logged in after you open it up.

If you keep up with your Not surprisingly, Microsoft
“daily sets,” the 1,500 points makes playing games itself a
you’ll receive plus the 5,100 game. Every week, you’ll have
points from searching gets you the opportunity to do the
close to our target of 7,000 Rewards Weekly Set, with three
points. Add that to the bonuses tasks: you might simply have to
should put you at, or very near, log in on three successive days,
that 7,000 figure. Victory! But why stop there? or watch a trailer for an
upcoming game, or accumulate three Xbox
If there’s one area Microsoft Rewards has Achievements in any game. Keep doing this,
neglected, it’s earning points for playing PC and you’ll earn points, plus big 1,000-point
games—something we’ll talk about in the next and even 2,500-point bonuses once you hit
section. But you can also earn Rewards points for milestones like the ten-week mark. Note that
buying them, using actual cash. In August 2020, you can still earn Achievements from playing
for example, Microsoft was offering 5,000 points PC games, but they have to be downloaded
alone for spending $50 on game purchases. And via the Windows 10 Xbox app, and the
if you rent or bought any three movies in August, developer has to have Achievements
you could earn another 2,500. It’s something to enabled.
keep in mind if you’re considering renting a But wait, there’s more!
movie online. Way down at the bottom of the Microsoft
Rewards app, there’s something called Other
USING MICROSOFT Ways To Earn. While that section serves as a
REWARDS ON XBOX summary of your PC searches on your PC and
mobile, it also leads to another section called
Accumulating Microsoft Rewards points on

106 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

logging in to an

app, or require

more complex

accomplishments

like surviving for 50

days in Cities:

Skylines. However,

there’s generally a

fairly large reward

(1,000 points) for

completing a

succession of

weekly and daily

The Rewards dashboard on Xbox has numerous ways for you to earn points. quests.

There’s one

Game Pass Quests, where even more catch: Unlike every other Rewards task, you

Rewards points lurk. must redeem Game Pass Quests manually.

In general, Game Pass Quests are chump Other Microsoft Rewards points that you earn

change. You’ll receive a handful of points for are automatically added to your total. You

playing a game in Game Pass (for PC or Xbox) don’t need to log on to your Xbox to do this,

and earning

achievements in

Game Pass

games. Quests

can be achieved

daily (like logging

in to the Game

Pass app for

Android) or

weekly, and

constantly change.

They can be as

simple as 50

points just for Microsoft constantly adds fun little tasks for you to do to earn Rewards points.

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 107

HERE’S HOW USE MICROSOFT REWARDS TO GET XBOX GAME PASS

however, as the
Xbox Game Pass
app for Android
allows you to
redeem Quest
points, too.

OTHER
WAYS
TO WIN
REWARDS
POINTS

Until recently, Don’t forget to turn in your Quests for extra points.
Microsoft

would send you a weekly email with the amount of Rewards points available is

opportunity to win Rewards points by constantly changing. Sharp-eyed Rewards

clicking through links, as well as the hawks keep an eye out for discounts on

occasional “hidden link” which awarded gift cards, stretching your Rewards even

even more. That seems to have gone away further. Special promotions constantly

in favor of the expanded Xbox pop up.

opportunities. With that said, one member of Reddit

There are occasional crumbs hidden calculated (go.pcworld.com/rclc) that

away, too. Microsoft Rewards extension for you can earn up to 18,000 points per

Chrome promises some additional points, month, or about $22.50. At that point,

and the Bing app for Android used to (that the amount of effort required to chase

implementation has been broken on my every Rewards point wouldn’t seem to be

phone for months). worth your time.

HOW MANY POINTS Smart Rewards users, then, balance
CAN YOU EARN FROM their time against their potential rewards.
MICROSOFT REWARDS Sure, you can probably afford an extra $5
PER MONTH? per month for Microsoft’s Game Pass for
PC. But there’s something oddly rewarding

Microsoft Rewards is always in flux, so the about just “getting it for free”—and

value of individual tasks and the total Microsoft Rewards scratches that itch.

108 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020

prevent
wildfires,
for the
love of the
outdoors.