Defragmentation

Time taken: your time, a few minutes - computer time, depends on how fragmented the disk is and how fast your computer is, from 15 minutes to several hours. For the first time it’s best to do this when you don’t intend to use the computer for a while.

Menu selections are similar to the ‘Disk Cleanup’ task.

  1. Click on the ‘Start’ button at the bottom left of the screen and select ‘My Computer’ from the menu.

    Screenshot of my computer button

     

  2. This opens another window that shows various devices, including the disks on your computer. Right click with the mouse on the C: drive and select ‘Properties’ from the menu that appears, (see the ‘Disk Cleanup’ screenshot - if you have other ‘Local Disks’ they can be done later). When the popup menu appears click on the ‘Tools’ tab.

    Screenchot of Disk properties - tools

    Click on the ‘Defragment Now’ button

  3. The following appears.

    Screenshot of defrag window

    You now have a choice of ‘Analyze’ or ‘Defragment’. Analyze will calculate how fragmented the disk is and give you a visual representation of this.

    Screenshot of second defrag window

    The above disk has recently been defragmented and needs no further action. If there is a reasonable amount of ‘Red’ showing, then hit the ‘Defragment’ button and let the computer get on with the task. (sometimes a window will pop up saying ‘This volume does not need defragmenting’, but it may well be worth doing anyway). You will hear a lot of disk activity whilst the process is taking place.

    Job done!

Pages: 1 2