What is Cyclic Redundancy Check and can I still download?

Every time I try to Install a Computer Game it says Cyclic Redundancy check?

• How do I install my game, the "Cyclic Redundancy Check" stops the installation in both the games Oregon trail (5th edition) and the Sims. What do I do?

• Answer:

  Sounds like either the disc or the drive is bad. Considering both of the discs return CRC errors, that tells me that the drive itself is likely bad or has a dirty lens. CRC is a technology that computers use to verify that the data being copied from somewhere is being copied properly. It will copy a certain amount of data, and then go back a few bytes and test to be sure the data is the same. If the drive is bad, or the lens is dirty, the CRC check will return different values and you will get the error. Test the discs on another computer just to be sure. If they work, then you know it is your drive. You can get CD drive cleaners for rather cheap these days.