How i will know that my hard disk is defective and creating problems?

I am accessing internet through GPRS and of late my system (laptop) is shutting down automatically. some one suggested i must get hard disk checked as it is making some sound while active. But this problem (shutting down) does not occur while using laptop for other work (other than internet). I also had doubts about the the antivirus as well as if it is not causing the system to shut down. Also I am not get internet faster (not more than 2-3 KBPS) though internet provider indicates speed of 115kbps. I have IE 7 on my system downloaded from the MS site. kindly help.

How i will know that my hard disk is defective and creating problems?mcaffee

Download and install the following:

Ad-Aware ( www.lavasoft.com )

Spybot ( http://safer-networking.org/ )

AVG Antivirus ( free.grisoft.com/ )

If your problem doesnt stop after you run these then it is probably a disk problem and I would suggest getting Norton Disk Doctor.

How i will know that my hard disk is defective and creating problems?norton antivirus 2007

do a reinstallation of win and all other software. It will automatically rid of any problem causing undetected virus.
Most of the time if you are getting mysterious reboots, it is hardware related. The laptop is overheating, and so it shuts down to prevent damage to the processor and system board. Normally is NOT hard drive related.