Defragging your hard drive will improve the performance of your computer. Defragmentation on a hard drive happens over time. Before going forward, what is defragmentation? As it sounds, files are scattered all over the place on the hard drive with no organizational fashion.
Defragging your hard drives places all of your priority files towards the top of the drive so they are accessible fast. Older or less used files are placed at the back of the drive to make room for priority files. For instance, if you use Outlook for email all the time, your Outlook .pst and Microsoft Outlook software will be stored at the front of the drive so every time you launch Outlook, it pops up fast. In contrast, any occasional excel spreadsheets will be stored at the back for archive use only.
Here’s how to defrag your Windows 7 computer:
- Click on Start
- Go to All Programs
- Click Accessories
- Then, System Tools
- Finally, select Disk Defragmenter and the Defragment disk button
You should run the disk defragmenter at the end of the day since it typically takes a few hours to run. Plus, you cannot work on your computer at the same time or else it will start the defrag process all over again. A defrag should be run every 6 months to a year as a form of computer maintenance. You can even set a defrag schedule within the Disk Defragmenter window if you feel you’ll forget to do this. Overall, defragging your hard drive will speed up the computer and optimize your hard drive space.
