Windows XP for Home Users, Service Pack 2 Edition

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

Any time you run an application or when you edit, move, copy, or delete a file, you create file fragments on your hard drive. This type of file frag men tation makes your hard drive work harder to find specific files, and slows down the operation of your entire system.

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. So if you notice your system takes longer and longer to open and close files or run applications, you probably need to defragment your drive in effect, putting all the pieces of each puzzle in its own box.

Windows XP's Disk Defragmenter not only defragments your hard drive, it also rearranges files on the drive according to how often you use them. In essence, Disk Defragmenter places those files you use most frequently together near the front of your hard drive, so that they can be accessed more quickly.

CAUTION

You should close all applications and stop working on your system while Disk Defragmenter is running. This includes disabling your screen saver, deactivating your antivirus program, and turning off power management's standby mode.

To defragment your hard drive, click the Start button, and then select All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. When the Disk Defragmenter utility opens (as shown in Figure 24.2), choose the drive you want to defragment and then click the Defragment button.

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're at lunch or overnight.