This is part 2 of a 10 part series on tuning up your PC.

When you get a new PC you marvel at how fast it runs and handles all your tasks and applications. However, as time rolls on, your PC may start to gradually become slower and slower. Your PC also may bog down abruptly. Either way, there are a few easy steps the average computer user can take to get that PC back to its peak performance.

Defrag a Fragmented Disk

As you use your computer, the files on the hard drive are divided up over different sectors on the hard drive disk. This dispersion of file parts is amplified when you save new files and delete files from the hard drive. This dispersion is called fragmentation in computer speak.

Disk fragmentation can slow down the computer dramatically. This slow down happens incrementally and may not be noticed until the computer becomes painfully slow.

When the hard drive becomes fragmented, the hard drive must work hard to find all the parts of a file. After you start an application or try to open a file, the computer’s hard drive light is on and you can hear the hard drive spinning, but nothing is happening. This is a symptom of a fragmented drive.

This cure for fragmentation is run a disk defragmentation process. The disk defragmenter is part of most operating systems and is easy to run.

Here is how to run the disk defragmentation tool:

1. Go to Start→ Accessories→ System Tools, and click Disk Defragmenter.

2. The tool will open.

3. Highlight the drive that you want to defrag, usually the C: drive and click the Analyze button. Note: you can click the Defragment button and the analysis will be done automatically.

4. Once the analysis is complete, and the drive needs to be Defragmented, you will see a dialog box like the one below. The red areas represent fragmented files. The drive in the example is severally fragmented.

4. You may receive a warning before the deframenter begins. If the volume or disk has less than 15% free space, a warning appears. See below image below. You need to delete some files until ther is at least 15% free space. The tool will allow you to start the defrag process without deleting files, however, the process will take much longer to complete if it ever does. Take the time to clean up the hard drive of unneeded files, it will save a lot of time.

5. Thats it, when the tool completes the defragmentation process just close the tool and you’re done. You should now see an improvement in your computer’s performance.

Remember, you do not have to wait until your computer slows down to run the Disk Defragmenter. You should run this utility on a regular schedule, maybe once every three months or so depending on much use your computer sees.

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