How to Defragment your Computer's Hard Drive

Member

By jlee82
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (3 Ratings)

Speed up your Computer Today

If your computer is really running slowly these days, try defragmenting your hard drive. It is very easy and very free. Before you spend a dime on software to speed up your computer, try this. This is safe to do at home or at the office. If you have never done this before, it could drastically increase your processing speed.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Your computer... home or office

Step 1

In Windows, Click on the START button at the bottom left corner of your desktop.
Step 2

Find and select the Control Panel button on your Start Menu.
Step 3

Select the Performance and Maintenance button or Defragment from the Control Panel Menu.
Step 4

On the Performance and Maintenance Menu, select the button labeled Rearrange Items on your Hard Disk...
Step 5

Select the Analyze button from the Disk Defragmenter screen. This will determine whether or not your computer should be defragmented. This step can be skipped by selecting Defragment instead of Analyze.
Step 6

Select Defragment and your computer will reorganize your hard drive for quicker processing.

Tips & Warnings

Defragmenting should be done frequently to keep your computer running more efficiently.
This can be done at home or work and will not have any negative effects on your computer.
Make Disk Defragmenter a desktop icon.
Defragmenting can be a lengthy process if not done regularly. Start the process when leaving the computer for a few hours. The more often this is performed, the faster the process will be.