How to Stop a Corrupt Vista Defrag

Poorly timed maintenance activity can slow computer performance to a crawl.

The Microsoft Windows Vista operating system is designed to automatically perform many common administrative tasks such as file system defragmentation. However, if corrupt sectors exist on the hard drive, defrag may continue to run indefinitely, consuming computer CPU and memory resources. Stop the defrag process when it is not running correctly using either the Task Scheduler or Task Manager utilities in Vista.

Instructions

Stop an Automatic Defrag Using Task Scheduler

1. Log in to the Windows Vista computer with the user name and password of an account that has administrator permissions on the computer. Click the "Start" button on the Windows Vista taskbar, and click "Control Panel" in the menu that appears.

2. Click "System and Maintenance" in the "Control Panel" window, and then click "Administrative Tools." Double-click "Task Scheduler" and the "Task Scheduler" window appears.

3. View the "ManualDefrag" and "ScheduledDefrag" tasks in the list, and click on the one that displays a running status. Click the "Actions" menu item, and then click "End."

4. Click "Yes" to confirm that you wish to stop the task.

Stop an Automatic Defrag Using Task Manager

1. Log in using the credentials of an account that has administrator access to the Windows Vista computer. Right-click on the desktop taskbar, and click "Task Manager." The "Task Manager" window appears.

2. Click the "Processes" tab. Scroll down and locate the "Dfrgntfs.exe" process in the list.

3. Right-click on the "Dfrgntfs.exe" process, and click "End Process" in the menu that appears. Click "Yes" or "End Now" to confirm that you wish to end the process.

References

• Microsoft Support: Features of the Windows Vista Hard Disk Defragmentation Utility
• Windows Vista User Guide: Disk Defragmenter
• Windows Vista User Guide: Task Scheduler
• Microsoft Windows: End a Process
• Addictive Tips: Use Task Scheduler to Tweak Automatic Disk Defragmentation in Windows 7/Vista
• Microsoft Support: Description of the Scheduled Tasks in Windows Vista