How to Use Regular Defragmentation to Increase Computer Performance

Many computer owners neglect the easiest way to keep their pc up and running. Defragmentation. Basically, the disk defrag tool allows you to compress fragmented files and better utilize hard drive space. With files growing larger every day, this is very important. Defragmenting files can also help to process items faster. If the file is all together instead of in several sectors on your hard drive, then the processor can locate and load the file quicker. For Windows users, this feature is built in. You can manually run the tool or schedule it to run at a convenient time for you.

To manually run the disk defrag tool on Windows machines, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter. This will open a screen showing any all hard drives and flash drives. You can see the available or free space for each drive. This screen also shows you the total available space. There is a legend at the bottom of the screen to help explain what the colors mean. If you begin to defragment your hard drive and you see quite a bit of red, you should notice a significant difference in performance after the program is finished.

To get started, simply click Defragment. You can see the percentage complete and also the before and after image of your files. Sadly, you are not given an estimated time. The more red or fragments that appear; the longer the process takes. The more often you defrag, the shorter the wait is. It is strongly recommended not to run other applications while running the defragmenter. If the tool is moving or compressing files that you are trying to use, you could potentially crash your computer or corrupt your file. Neither will create a very happy user. It is much easier to simply walk away and the let the program run than to risk any pc problems.