Issues with my Dell Inspiron 15

Hey everyone,
I picked up a new Dell Inspiron 15 just over a week ago. Right after I got Windows 8.1 installed, I started hearing this weird noise coming from the machine. It’s like a faint scratching sound. When I’m just browsing the web, reading a PDF, or messing around with some PowerPoint slides, the noise picks up and becomes totally unbearable. It isn't booming loud, but in a quiet room, it’s incredibly grating and frustrating. I did a bit of digging online and my gut tells me it’s probably the Hard Disk. Most people I see talking about this don't have it happening this early; usually, they don't run into issues for months or even years. Hopefully, someone here has some insight on this.

I wouldn't say it's a massive issue, honestly—if things were truly breaking down, your Event Viewer would be absolutely flooded with error messages everywhere you look. You should really take a peek under the System section just to be sure. On my Dell Inspiron 15, I actually have that same buzzing sound happening, but it turns out it’s just the processor fan acting up!

In my Event Viewer custom Views/Administrative Events, I’m looking at 949 events—half are Errors and the other half are Warnings. Meanwhile, under Windows logs / system, there are about 2,681 events total, with roughly 1,000 of them being errors. What does this actually mean, and what am I supposed to do about it?

Wait, what does it say exactly?

Did you drop the laptop or just slam it on the desk? You probably killed the Hard Disk.
If not, then it’s a miracle the Hard Disk died like that. Maybe try a warranty claim.

My laptop was basically untouched—nothing installed yet. One time, while it was just sitting in my bag against a wall, it tipped over and hit the floor. It wasn't some massive drop, but hey, you never know. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but anything can happen.
Regarding the error, the source usually points to Distributed COM (stating the machine default permission settings don't allow local activation for the COM server activation for the CLSID), though sometimes it lists the Service Control Manager or Windows Update.
By the way, there's this sound coming from near the fan area. When the fan kicks into high gear to cool things down, the noise seems fine, but you can still hear this faint scratching sound... I'm not quite sure how to describe it.
Edit: I'm starting to suspect it's actual mechanical damage to the Hard Disk. Besides that scratching sound when I listen closely, there's also this slight skipping sensation... or sound? It's hard to tell if it's actually the fan or something else.

If you have errors on the Hard Disk, run a scan on the C: drive via This PC for a full repair. It takes some time; the more errors there are, the longer it will take.
Maybe you should just upgrade to an SSD. You won't hear anything except the fan.
Hard Disks haven't been loud for years, but if the noise bothers you, get an SSD. It's like a thumb drive—total silence.