Absolute Beginners Guide to Computer Basics (2nd Edition)

If you think that your computer is taking longer than usual to open files or notice that your hard drive light stays on longer than usual, you might need to defragment your hard drive.

File fragmentation is sort of like taking the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and storing them in different boxes along with pieces from other puzzles. The more dispersed the pieces are, the longer it takes to put the puzzle together. Spreading the bits and pieces of a file around your hard disk occurs whenever you install, delete, or run an application or when you edit, move, copy, or delete a file.

If you notice that your system takes longer and longer to open and close files or run applications, it's because these file fragments are spread all over the place. You fix the problem when you put all the pieces of the puzzle back in the right boxes which you do by defragmenting your hard disk.

You use Windows XP's Disk Defragmenter utility to defragment your hard drive. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button to display the Start menu.

2. Select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter to open the Disk Defragmenter utility, shown in Figure 9.2.

   Figure 9.2. Use Windows XP's Disk Defragmenter to make your hard drive run faster.

3. Select the drive you want to defragment, typically drive C:.

4. Click the Defragment button.

caution

Defragmenting your drive can take awhile, especially if you have a large hard drive or your drive is really fragmented. So, you might want to start the utility and let it run while you are at lunch.