Defragging Your Disk

It seems like everyone knows that you should Defrag your disk on a normal basis.  Heck, even my grandma knows that.  She does it on a daily basis, as she sits and watches the entire process very closely. But do you know why? Hard drives are basically thick disks, with many moving parts inside of them.  As you save files and programs to the hard drive, your operating system keeps track of the location on the actual disk those files are saved.  But eventually, this process begins to break down, and the files are scattered all over the disk.  This can lead to crashes, slow startups and freezing. It is a good idea to perform a Disk Defragment once in a while.  Not every day, like grandma does, but maybe once every couple of months.  The defrag process can take a long time, so it is a good idea to run defrag when you will not be using the computer.  The steps below illustrate how to run this utility for Windows users: Click Start–All Programs–Accessories–System Tools–Disk Defragmenter. Highlight the (C): drive and click Analyze. The Analyze tool will determine if the drive should be defragmented.  A window will appear stating that the drive should or should not be defragmented. Click the Defragment button to start the process. The process can take many hours, and it is not recommended to use your computer while the program is running.  Once the process is complete, reboot the computer before you start using it again. Fret not Mac users.  You can also resolve many issues with a good old fashioned defrag.  Mac users may be affected by more issues when your drive starts getting 60% full or higher.  There is a great software program that can make the defrag process easy enough for grandma to use, called iDefrag.