Defragging is no fun but necessary

RIVER BENDER - May, 2008

It's too bad we have to spend so much time on routine maintenance of personal computers and defragging is no exception. It takes an awful long time (sometimes hours or overnight) to defrag a hard drive, especially if it’s many gigabytes. Some people ignore defragging until their PC becomes sluggish but it's necessary if one wants their computer to run efficiently. Also if done more often it doesn't take as long.

The Microsoft Disk Defragmenter is a tool that puts all your files back in place. When your operating system and programs are first installed in your computer, they are written mostly in one contiguous block on the hard drive without any gaps. Exceptions are system files that must be stored in specific locations. Over time, as you create and delete documents or uninstall programs, once-filled locations are left empty and you end up with pieces of files dotted all over the hard drive. For example, when you install a 40-megabyte program and the biggest free space is 30-megabytes, Windows writes the first part of the file and then looks for other places to store the rest. Over time your computer become slower as it attempts to find all the pieces of files to run a program. Defragging not only attempts to make files contiguous again; it puts segments of free space back together so new programs can be installed in one location.

Defragging can be run in several ways: (1) Click on Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter/Select drive or (2) Click on My Computer/Right-click on drive letter/Properties/Tools/Defragment Now or (3) Click Start/Run and type Dfrg.msc.

Before you Defrag:

There’s no sense defragging a lot of junk so get rid of it before you start. You can use Microsoft's Disk Cleanup at Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup or go to Start/Run and type cleanmgr. But a better way to delete more junk faster is to download and run free CCleaner at http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10315544.html.

Next you should check your hard drive for errors before defragging or otherwise the defrag process may not be able to complete. To do this in Windows XP click on My Computer and right-click on the drive letter/Properties/Tools/Error Checking.When running this you will probably be given instructions that it will check your hard drive only upon restarting your computer. For Windows 95/98/ME use ScanDisk in Accessories/System Tools.

Before you defrag you should always restart your computer first then turn off any programs that you are running, including those running in the background like firewalls and anti-virus programs. If you try to defrag when these programs are running, the defrag process may constantly stop. A better alternative is to defrag in the safe mode where only the operating system and drivers are loaded. To start your computer in the safe mode press or repeatedly tap the F8 function key when your computer begins to start and select Safe Mode from the menu. You may have to try this several times as some computers respond flakey to the F8 key.

Defragging requires a lot of free space on the hard drive for the process to work and it will tell you if you're short on space. I ran into this once and to free up space on the hard drive I deleted many folders at C:\Windows containing uninstall files for past Windows updates. The folders are all recognizable as starting with $ and ending in $ such as $NtUninstallKB886185$. I can't imagine anyone wanting to uninstall a Windows update but if it worries you to delete them then copy them to a CD or a USB memory stick. You'll be surprised how much space they take up on your hard drive. I got rid of all of mine except $hf_mig$ which Microsoft says to retain.

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