Defrag

Everything You Need to Know
About Running Defrag

Defrag is one of the built in computer programs that can be used to reorganize your hard disk to make your computer run more efficiently.

What is Defrag? Simply put, defrag is a program that picks up data stored in your computer and moves it to another place for better efficiency.

Think of your computer's hard disk as being like a checkerboard. As you create files and save them, they are stored in the spaces of this check board (think of one file per block). Then as you delete files, a hoe (or empty space) is left on the checkerboard.When you create a new file and save it, it doesn't necessarily fill that hole.

Over time, you end up with files scattered everywhere on the hard disk, which makes the computer have to work harder (and slower) to retrieve them for you.

Defrag picks up all these files and moves them back into a contiguous stream of data. This makes it easier on your computer to find and retrieve files. It can greatly improve performance.

It can take up to an hour to run this program and you don't want to be doing anything else on the computer while it's running. Like Scan Disk, you should also run this program once a month.

To increase efficiency, you should also run Disk Cleanup before running Defrag.

Close all programs on your computer and follow the steps below to run Defrag.

Windows XP

1. Double LEFT click MY COMPUTER to open it.

2. RIGHT click on the "C" drive and select PROPERTIES.

3. Click on the Tools Tab.

4. Click on the button that reads, Defragment Now next to Defragmentation.

5. A new windows will pop up. Click Defragment button to start the process.

It can take about an hour to run the program. You should not be working on the computer while it's working.

Related Documents

Scan Disk

Disk Cleanup