#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER HOW TO#
#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER MAC OS X#
#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER INSTALL#
#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER SOFTWARE#

These programs are optional, but if you're the type of person who wants to squeeze every bit of performance out of your system, an advanced defragger is highly recommended. Apple recommends a program called Drive Genius which will defrag, repair, repartition and do other maintenance tasks on your Mac.

#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER MAC OS X#

It'll use fewer resources throughout the times when you use the computer more.Īnd Mac OS X users, I haven't forgotten you. It runs its disk defragmenter throughout the day, plus it'll learn when your slow times are, so it can adjust. This eliminates the need to actually go in and run the program, taking minutes or hours out of your day to run the program.ĭiskMagik is another good choice. So when you delete a program or file, it readjusts your hard drive right then. The newest version scans and fixes your computer in real time. Some of these programs do a more thorough job of defragmenting your drive, and offer advanced features you might like.ĭiskeeper is a popular commercial defragmenter.

#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER SOFTWARE#

There are other defrag software programs available besides the one built into Windows. If you have Windows Vista, the Disk Defragmenter offers you the option to run the program on a regular schedule. Once a month should be enough, though do it more if you're a very active user, or you regularly deal with large (multi-megabyte) files such as music, video or graphics. I recommend that you defragment your computer regularly. Mac users, keep reading - there's some defrag love in the next section for you. Defrag will show you the before and after snapshots of the defrag process. If it has been a long time since you've last used it, or if you have a large hard drive with lots of files, it could take several minutes (or even hours) to complete. Click the Defragment button to begin the defrag process. When most of the colored bars are over on the left side of the graph, that's good. Lots of colored bars scattered all over the graph usually means you need to defrag. Press the Analyze button after selecting the drive, and Defrag will tell you if the drive needs to be defragmented. Typically that's the C: drive, but if you have multiple drives, you can do them all. In System Tools, you'll find something called Disk Defragmenter.įrom this program, you can select the hard drive that you want to defrag. You might want to run your Defragmenting program in the evening, when you are finished with other work.Ĭlick on the Start button, which is over on the bottom left part of your screen. To begin, start by closing all your Windows programs. Windows Defragmenter is provided with your Windows operating system.

#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER HOW TO#

How To Defragment Your Hard Drive If you run Windows, your computer already has a free defragmenting program on it. This is why defragmenting your hard drive is important. After drefagging, your computer has less work to do in order to open files and load programs. When you defragment your hard drive, the program will move those scattered chunks of data so that files are stored contiguously, and create larger areas of free space to store files in the future. In order to fix this, there are programs available called defragmenters. This will result in extra time required to open files and launch applications, because everything is scattered (or fragmented) around your hard drive.

#WHY SHOULD I DEFRAG MY COMPUTER INSTALL#

Eventually you have a hard drive that looks like swiss cheese, and when you want to install a new program, or create a new file, your computer has to put chunks of your file all over the disk, instead of storing it in one contiguous block. Over time, this churn leaves areas of empty space on your hard drive. So what does it mean to defrag your hard drive? As you work with your computer, you will create and delete thousands of files on your hard drive. Defragment Your Hard Drive For Improved Performance

Why should i defrag my computer