Defraging your Computer - or defragging your Computer
Katherine Start Page Computer tips sponsored by Garry
at Computer Sales NT - Katherine Northern Territory

See here for other Computer Tips on Free Antivirus & Free Firewalls

It gets to the stage in your PC's life where things just don't seem to go as fast as they used to. Everyone else you know is getting bigger & better, faster computers. Do you need to get a new PC at this stage when you don't have a digital camera or really do a great deal on your PC, probably not.

But what everyone should be doing is giving their PC a little shake up of the information on their hard drive & let it settle back in place again. This is called defragging and it is good for your computer.

When you save information like, programs, photos, emails (& your PC is doing it automatically every day with temporary internet files) the information is stored as best as it can be in the same area, but over time you delete stuff & it leaves gaps where some new information fills up the space but still has a bit left over & is broken up & stored "way over there" (bit like filling a huge ice cube tray, you rarely have it all filled evenly). Or like putting your 3 piece suit in the cupboard (I don't own one), but the pants are put with your other pants over time at the end of the rack & the rest of it with your tops. Each time you go to wear it you have to scratch your head & search for the whole suit all over the place. This is what your PC ends up doing, with a groan & more time added in completing a simple task when in reality it should all be in the one spot. Have I really confused you now?

A defrag is like having your fairy god mother come along, sort out your cupboards and put everything in its place for you.

 I defrag my PC sometimes monthly, depending on what I am doing with it & I have several hundred Gigabyte of Hard disk (but I play with video footage & photos).

So what to do!

WINDOWS 95/98 DEFRAG Click Start  Click Run and type defrag in the run box Click ok Within the defrag window, select the drive that you wish to be checked and click ok.

Windows XP / 2000 A lot more visual than windows 98 so don't be alarmed if you do not see this. Double-click My Computer Highlight a hard disk drive by clicking on it once. Right click the highlighted drive Click properties Click the tools tab (as pictured) and click the defragment now button.

Here is the defrag screen.
In this instance it is my "C" Drive that is in need of a defrag as I have recently been uninstalling old programs that I no longer need.

Click on the defragment button and make a cup of tea and watch the colours change.
For some of you that have never done this before & have older machines, make two cups of tea & a cake.

Also note on my "F" drive there is only 5% space available, I cannot defrag until I move files over to another drive as you need 15% free space for the files to be dragged all over the place during defrag.

Even when it says a defrag is not needed, I usually do it. So give it a try.

As for Vista, defragging is an automated process usually happening weekly on a schedule that you had no control over unless you hunt down & modify the schedule. (Mine was set to1.00Am each week & I always turn my PC off)
You don't even get a pretty picture to see the change like in XP.

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in the Main street of Katherine opposite the Com Bank & in between the Pharmacy & Travelworld.