How to Defragment (Defrag) My Computer

Clean up your hard drive by periodically defragmenting it.

Files written on your hard drive ideally are written contiguously. Over time as you install, create, move or delete files, gaps are made between the files. This causes your hard drive file to work harder and look more for the files that it needs, slowing it down. Gaps in a file is fragmentation. Defragmenting your hard drive reduces the gaps in your files, thus making your hard drive work more efficiently, speeding up your computer. You should periodically defragment your computer's hard drive, a process that you could do in a few steps.

Instructions

1. Navigate to the "Start" menu. Type "disk defragmenter" (without quotes) in the Search field.

2. Click the "Disk Defragmenter" link that appears.The Disk Defragmenter dialog appears.

3. Under Current Status, select the hard drive or partition that you want to defragment. Click "Analyze disk" to determine whether you should defragment the hard drive or partition. If the User Account Control appears, type an administrator password and click "Yes."

4. If Windows determines that you should defragment your hard drive or partition, click the "Defragment disk" button. If the User Account Control appears, type an administrator password and click "Yes." The defragmentation process begins.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not install or do anything on the computer while you defrag. Doing so could cause major problems.

References

• Microsoft at Work: How to Make a Computer Faster: 6 Ways to Speed Up Your PC