Is your computer responding slowing?, or it is hanging?
This tells you that it's time to run Defragmentor!
When you "defrag" your hard drive, you run a disk defragmentor program to optimize the placement of files on your hard drive. Here's what happens. As you use your computer, it writes to the first available spot on the hard drive. Over time, files tend to get rearranged on your hard disk, or fragmented.
If your disk is fragmented, when it tried to load a program, it may have to grab one file from the middle of the hard drive, one towards the outside, then back to the inside. The net result is that your computer runs slower.
When you run a defrag program, it puts the pieces back together, organizes them in similar groupings, so stuff loads faster. It's probably a good idea for the average user to defrag once every 1-2 months or so.
Warning - Be careful when running defrag. First off, it takes a long time (I usually run it at night) to defragment a large hard drive . Also, the defrag program takes files off your hard drive and sticks them into your system RAM while it's reorganizing your disk. If you lose power during a disk defragmentation, it can spell disaster for your computer. At best you'll mess up a program or two and at worst you may no longer be able to access your hard drive and Windows. Definitely not something to do during a thunderstorm!
First, you need to run Scandisk.
Windows 95/98/ME Users: Click on the Start Menu then select Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Scandisk . Select the drive you would like to check, then select the type of test you would like to run (standard or thorough). Finally, click Start .
Windows NT/2000/XP Users: Double click your My Computer icon. Right click on the C: drive. Select Properties then choose the Tools tab . Under Error Checking , click the Check Now button. A dialog box will pop up, check both check boxes and click Start
A dialog box will pop up telling you, "The disk check could not be performed because exclusive access to the drive could not be obtained. Do you want this disk check to be scheduled the next time you restart the computer?. There may be good reasons to back down now but I can't think of any. click the Yes button! Now, on to the Disk Defragmenter
Make sure all Antivirus software is disabled along with any background applications that may write to the hard drive, which you are defragmenting.
Click on the Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools , and select the Disk Defragmenter . Highlight the drive you want to defrag and click Defragment .
