Scandisk/formatting

[SpitefulKitty]

I hope I have the right forum for this.... I apologize in advance if I don't!

I just have a general question. I've had this computer for over 2 years now, and I've never ran a scandisk nor have I formatted (I think that's the right word...) the harddrive. Is this a really vital thing? If I don't do it, will my computer's life be shortened? I've noticed lately it's been running a little slow than usual when it starts up (but I know there are no viruses or spyware on it that is causing this).

Perhaps it's just the computer's age showing, or do you think I should run the things I mentioned above?

Thanks in advance.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I don't think it's necessary to format your hard drive. Although it might freshen it up a bit and make it a tiny bit faster, you will have to reinstall everything and copy everything.
Formatting basically cleans your HD (deleting everything including your OS)

If you want to make your computer faster, you could try defragmenting it but I wouldn't recommend formatting it.

[Deerpark]

Doing a scandisk wouldn't hurt either but there's no reason to do a format if your computer is functioning fine.

[SpitefulKitty]

Oh! Defragmenting is the word I was looking for!

Do you guys think it's quite neccessary to defragment? Is it a neccessity?

Thank you for the responses! 

[Deerpark]

Well it's not like your computer will break if you don't defrag. But by doing it you can reduce load times so the computer will feel more responsive. You can just set your computer to defrag over night or at some other time when you don't use it.