Disk Defragmentation - Is It Necessary?

By Handel Streete

Hard disk defragmentation is an important step in keeping your laptop or PC working like new for years. Most people don’t think about maintenance until something bad happens, but fortunately you are ahead of the game by reading this article. One part of the maintenance process is keeping your computer running at maximum speed.

There are several reasons that computers start to run slowly. The common ones are.... Malware (viruses, spyware, adware), not enough memory, junk file build up and too many applications loading when the computer starts.

Many things are going in the background when your computer is running. While you surf the net, your computer might be allowing “cookie” files to be stored on your computer so it can remember where you’ve been. When you download anything from the internet temporary files are created for some of your downloaded items and these file accumulate over time slowing you down.

Eventually, the hard drive becomes "fragmented." With the defrag process, the computer consolidates and reorganizes the data on your hard drive so it is easier to find. This process will ensure optimal performance from your computer, as long as everything else is working normally.

Defragmenting your hard drive is a good first step when performance is not at its best.

This is not something that you need to do every day. Performing the operation once a week is good for those who use their computer every day and create a lot of documents and files. The best thing about Windows is that these maintenance operations can be set up on a schedule so that they work automatically. It's best to schedule maintenance operations at odd times like early in the morning or in the middle of the night, when you are not at work on your computer in order to keep them from slowing down your PC while you are working.

To defragment windows xp, click the start button then click my Computer then right-click on the local disk(c:) a menu will pop up allowing you to click on "Properties". After you click on
"Properties" the Disk properties box will open. In the Disk Properties box look for the "Tools" tab and click on it. When the Tools tab is open you see a button saying "defrag now." Click on the defragment now button and defragmentation will start. It will take quite a while to finish defragmentation especially if this your first time doing it. Dont worry just let it run.

There is another method of going to Windows defrag. Just go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter. The Disk defragmenter dialog box will open. Choose the Disk Drive you want to defrag from the top pane. There are two buttons, "Analyze" and "Defrag".

In second pane below, Just click Defrag. Then Defragmentation will start.

So yes, disk defragmentation is an important maintenance task for all PC users. Scheduling the operation leaves you free to do other things.

After this process, your computer will work much smoother for you.

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Source: http://www.isnare.com