One of the most important things you can do to keep your system running at peak performance is to regularly defragment your computer.
In the course of normal usage, files are regularly being read from and written to the disk, often in small chunks. As a result, pieces of files end up getting scattered around the disk, which compromises your computer's performance.
If your computer runs Microsoft Windows 95/98, you can run a utility program called a "disk defragmenter," to resolve this problem. The "disk defragmenter" finds the scattered pieces of files and reorganizes them into contiguous chunks on your hard disk, making them run more efficiently. It also moves the files that you use most often to the beginning of the hard disk where they'll load faster.
How do I use the disk defragmenter tool?
- Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
- Click the drive you want to defragment, click OK, and then click Yes.
Note: Some systems run other programs such as Diskeeper or Diskeeper Lite. Please follow instructions contained with these programs.
Can I use my pc while defragmenting?
Yes, however, the utility may take an hour or two to run and slows down other applications; so, you might want to defragment your hard drive when you are not using your PC.
How often should I do this?
How often you should defragment your files depends on the type of work you do. If most of your computer work is word processing, you'll need to defragment about four times a year. If you use programs that create several temporary files (Web browsers, scanning software, music programs, etc.) or if you work with large files (accounting files, imaging files, or complicated spreadsheets), you should defragment your hard drive more often.
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