defragmentation

As freeware system cleaners go, Magix PC Check & Tuning Free offers a good balance. Some such tools are designed to be as easy to use as possible and give you few options and not enough information about what they're doing to your system. Others overwhelm beginners with options and detailed scan reports, and they often make it too easy to delete the wrong things. The freeware version of PC Check is designed to be easy to use yet useful to people with widely varying skills, yet it also lets you perform cleaning and tune-up operations separately as well … Read more

Diskeeper 2011 automatically takes care of hard-disk fragmentation as it occurs, making the manual defragmenters we're all accustomed to a thing of the past. For any Windows users experiencing a lag in hard-disk performance, this hassle-free tool is a fantastic option.

Shortly after installation, Diskeeper analyzes all the volumes on your computer. The data it collects is used as a baseline for the Performance Reports it generates from that point on. These reports let you know how many fragments the program has eliminated as well as how, exactly, it has improved your PC's performance. While most users won'… Read more

Windows 7 automatically defragments your primary hard drive in a process that runs quietly in the background. However, if you'd like to have all new drives you plug in be defragmented as well, it's going to require a little input from you.

Step 1: Open the Disk Defragmenter from the Start menu by typing "disk defrag" in the Run box (shown below). You can always navigate to the actual program from Start by selecting All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.

Step 2: Click the "Configure Schedule" button to open up … Read more

LAS VEGAS--In its quest to keep your hard drive fully defragmented, Diskeeper plans to release a new program aiming to both prevent and instantly clear up fragmentation.

Being demoed at CES this week, Diskeeper 2011 will combine two features to handle disk fragmentation. First launched in Diskeeper 2010, IntelliWrite will stop up to 85 percent of most fragmentation before it happens by intelligently writing data to the disk, according to the company. And the new Instant Defrag will instantly and automatically defrag any remaining fragments, the company says.

The company sees Instant Defrag as a way to ensure continued system … Read more

It makes sense that having the files you access most often closest to your hard drive's read-write head will improve your system's performance. Unfortunately, programs tend to store files in various noncontiguous clusters spread across your drive (and occasionally other storage media).

To open or otherwise access a single file, Windows or one of your applications may have to retrieve data from several drive clusters. That's why you need to defragment your hard drive regularly to prevent your system from bogging down.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 claim to defragment your hard disk automatically in the background. … Read more

For whatever reason--maybe just nostalgia--people are hooked on the old Windows defragmenter cluster map, with the little colored squares rearranging themselves into their unfragmented positions. Ultra Defragmenter brings this interface back, and although it definitely kicks it old school as far as the visuals are concerned, we're not sure it works much better than the built-in Windows defragmenter.

The program's interface is plain, displaying the list of volumes, the cluster map, a progress bar, and a handful of buttons. We had the program analyze our hard drive and then started defragmenting. The program seemed to take about as … Read more

While there are a number of utilities that will perform drive defragmentation and optimization, this option is usually included as a small side-feature along with a slew of other drive-related functions. Conversely, iDefrag is a small utility with the single purpose of running drive defragmentation and optimization, and does this job quite well. Over the years it has become a reputable and complete option for people wanting to defragment and optimize their hard drives.… Read more

Ashampoo HDD Control is a multifeatured set of utilities that helps users maintain their hard drives and ensure optimal performance.

The program's interface is sleek and intuitive, with its features organized in tabs. With both monitoring features and maintenance utilities, Ashampoo HDD Control gives users ways to both keep an eye on and improve system performance. Although some of the information that the program provides is geared toward more advanced users, anyone can understand its basics, and the built-in Help file does a good job of explaining all of the features. The program's monitor tab gives users information … Read more

If it were up to me, I'd never defragment my PC's drives. I'm one of those people who prefers to have Windows' maintenance operations done in the background, without my direct intervention.

So it comes as no surprise that I'm a big fan of Vista's automatic-defrag setting. But I also know better than to put all my faith in Microsoft's ability to keep my system healthy. Last year, I started using Auslogics' free Disk Defrag utility, which works with Windows 2000 and up.

If you prefer to use Windows' defragger, you can open it … Read more