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General discussion

Help! Windows 10 system slowed down to a crawl over time

May 17, 2019 4:40PM PDT

I know this has been done to death on the forum. When I searched for “slow computer” or “slow windows”, there were thousands of responses.

I’ve had my Acer Aspire for a couple of years now and have the latest, most up-to-date version of Windows 10 (64-bit). Granted, I use a lot of software, particularly Google Chrome with loads of tabs open, and software like Skype (two instances) and Office 365 and various background processes like Malwarebytes, McAfee Security, f.lux, DropBox, OneDrive, etc. But I have a fast computer configuration: 256GB SSD drive for Windows and all the installed software and my “working data” with an extra 1TB regular hard drive for archiving and backup – and 16GB RAM.

And I have BoostSpeed and CCleaner and have tweaked Windows in various ways to optimize performance, and I tend to close apps I’m not using to reduce the RAM load (but I shouldn’t have thought that would make a difference as they’re probably not running in the background, or at least are sitting in virtual RAM on the SSD, so shouldn’t be a drag on the system).

And yet my computer seems to have become gradually slower and slower with time. It was blindingly fast in the beginning, but now it can take half a minute just to launch File Explorer or the app I could be working (e.g. Excel or Google Chrome) displays “not responsive” for about 20-30 seconds before continuing with its operation.


Surely, it also doesn’t matter that I’ve installed loads of apps? It’s only if I run a lot of them together that they actually have a load on the computer, right?

Or could the delay be that the registry is now so huge that it takes ages to work through the database for any regular operation. I heard that many apps use the registry to store data (rather than a private database of their own). Is this normal? I scan the registry regularly and have followed all the main tweaks suggested in the various discussions, on CNET and elsewhere. And yet my computer is still slow.

The only thing I haven’t tried is to make a clean install. However, this is a huge job. Just re-installing all the apps can take several days, plus I have to reconfigure hundreds of settings in Outlook and the antivirus software, the firewall and other utilities (and reset all the File Explorer library and default view settings and backup protocols), and tweak Windows all over again from scratch, etc. etc.

Are there some useful utilities that can identify what’s really happening under the hood or some software that will really and truly optimize the computer (BoostSpeed and CCleaner don’t seem to make all the much of a difference, and of course as I had an SSD there’s no need for defragmenting either)?

I will be grateful for any ideas or pointers (or even a link to an up-to-date discussion that deals thoroughly with this subject). Many thanks in advance.

--Submitted by Gary O.

Discussion is locked

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very similar symptoms but....
May 17, 2019 6:20PM PDT

My Asus laptop has an almost identical problem BUT it's somehow related to the monthly Microsoft updates. It begins to slow down about two weeks after an update and the week prior to the update (2nd Tuesday of the month) it's almost unusable. My workaround is to uninstall the most recent update, reboot and then install the update again and reboot. This "fix" attacks the symptoms but not the cause. By the way, I've always had the updating of other PC's disabled in my settings.

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Where To Begin?
May 17, 2019 8:23PM PDT

Your question is simple, but the answer might be a little more complicated. I would suggest the least desirable solution from your point of view - a fresh install of Windows 10!

Here's why:
1. You should not have McAfee Security and MalwareBytes both running at the same time, not even in the background. Pick one, probably McAfee, and only run a MalwareBytes scan if you believe malware may have gotten past the protection of McAfee, Chrome browser, etc. (I gave up on McAfee because it hogged memory and cpu power, and I changed to Avast instead. However, McAfee has probably improved since then.)

2. Your 256GB SSD slows down as it fills up. If it's two-thirds full or more it is definitely less responsive than when it's one-third full. If you're contemplating a fresh intall of Windows 10, you might consider replacing the SSD with a larger capacity model at the same time. Recently, SSDs prices have dropped considerably. A very good quality 500GB SSD can be had for $55 - $65. Crucial, WD or Sandisk, Intel, and Samsung all have good reputations for reliability. Alternatively, consider moving some less speed-sensitive programs or apps to the 1TB data drive. This would involve uninstalling the app from the SSD (C: Drive) and installing it instead on the data drive (maybe D: or E: drive?). Maybe Dropbox and Onedrive and others would be candidates for this, thus freeing up some space on the SSD? Otherwise, get a larger capacity SSD.

3. Regarding Boostspeed and CCleaner. They are both good apps, BUT they are best used minimally. Auslogics is a good company, but there's little or no need for the tweaking/tuning that Boostspeed involves. As for CCleaner, definitely run the basic "cleanup" routine now and then, but DON'T run the Registry cleaner. Even though it's one of the most conservative and careful Registry cleaners, you still shouldn't do it except in rare circumstances. I do suggest looking at CCleaner's "Startup" tab, and see how many apps you can Disable when Windows boots up. Mainly, you can disable things you use occasionally, and keep the most frequently used items enabled. Data is NOT stored in the Registry; it only stores instructions for how Windows interacts/uses software & hardware.

4. Consider adding more RAM memory. I suggest this because you told us you're running lots of apps and lots of browser tabs. If your Aspire is a laptop it has two memory "slots". It may have 2 x 8GB modules occupying those slots. If so, you would need to replace them both with a new 2 x 16GB kit (total=32GB). Alternatively, it may have 1 x 16GB module occupying a single slot. If so, you can add a second 16GB module of exactly the same type
. The extra memory will facilitate running lots of apps and browser tabs without slowdown, as will having more space on your SSD.

5. Don't tweak anything to "improve" your SSD. In earlier times (back in Windows 7 days), when SSDs were mostly smaller capacity and there were concerns regarding longevity, there were many suggested tweaks. Forget all that. Windows 10 handles it very well. You don't need to disable Indexing, or move/disable the PageFile, or any other such tweaks (there are several more, also redundant).

Let us know if you have more questions.

Post was last edited on May 24, 2019 9:47 AM PDT

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Almost Forgot
May 17, 2019 8:30PM PDT

The big twice-a-year updates from Windows 10 tend to clutter up your system. That's another reason to consider putting in the effort to do a clean/freah install of Windows 10. Do NOT restore Windows to ow it came when new. That will provoke another huge update and clutter (maybe). Do the totally fresh install of the latest version of Win 10. Then, go to ACER website and download & install any of the actual ACER apps that you have found a use for. (my Aspire laptop has 6 ACER apps, but I've only ever used 2 of them. After 2 years, there's not much you'll need from them ...)

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Eeh!
May 24, 2019 7:18PM PDT

Not sure about that!

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Excellent Answer, I would like to add..
May 19, 2019 9:30AM PDT

Missing a bit of info (cpu, connection)

Many of the apps mentioned are interactive, meaning that they are in constant communication. (Dropbox, Skype, OneDrive, etc.). If you are connecting wirelessly, that could be a culprit, throughput and latency. It's possible the monitoring all of these apps can slow you down.

As already mentioned as great as ccleaner is. running it too often can slow you down (ex. clearing the prefetch).

My 2 cents on software culprits.. not a fan of McAfee (fixed too many computers from their AV). Skype can cause issues as well (clean install of it is almost impossible).

Good Luck!

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Skype Works in Outlook.com
May 19, 2019 4:31PM PDT

At Outlook.com (Microsoft's free webmail which has had several names including Hotmail) look at the right end of the blue Menu bar. The "S" icon is for Skype. It works OK.
There are plenty of other video chat apps, too. We've used Facebook Messenger a few times and it works OK on our PC, laptop, and Android phone.

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Sort of agree!
May 24, 2019 5:43PM PDT

All good advice!I Will only say, would reverse the McAfee MalwareBytes suggestion! MalwareBytes is great and does a more than excellent job (at a much better price point...). McAfee, while around a long time (intel only bought it as a business loss/right off, IMHO (and 35 years in the business. McAfee has never been able to clean an infection from systems i have worked on (admit it does find them many times, but thats only about 20% of what anyone needs... Time is money!)).
MalwareBytes has blocked infections of all types and stopped Ransomware in it's tracks for a number of our clients (even the free version...).

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Experience Counts
May 26, 2019 9:31AM PDT

Your experience with these security apps is more recent than mine. I bow to your superior knowledge. MalwareBytes is indeed a good cleaner, and I see that their premium version offers a lot of protection the basic scan-on-demand. McAfee has had its ups and downs, and I see here (and elsewhere) that many users have dumped it for its shortcomings. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

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Solid State Drives do not need Defrag
May 25, 2019 1:43PM PDT

Check on Defragmentation. Before you do another thing, go to defrag and turn off "auto defrag" for your internal solid state drive. It might even need replaced if it is damaged beyond repair.

External 'spinning' drives will need to be defraged occasionally by manual means occasionally.

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consider linux mint 19
May 17, 2019 10:09PM PDT

A lot of that software bogging the computer down, such as CCleaner, the two AV programs mentioned, gain control over all updates and choose the time for them. Firefox and Chrome work in it. One Drive and Microsoft 365 can be used with it. It's fast too.

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Love Linux!!!
May 24, 2019 6:05PM PDT

But, not an easy answer for all...
There are many great, free apps like Libre Office (great replacement for MS Office, for many, but different) and many more apps/programs).
But Linux calls for, a lot, of terminal (like windows command prompt, also known as DOS, in the old days) to install, update and fix issues. Installing apps/programs can be daunting, and many times the terminal commands can crash the system (pretty permanently, as far as only fix is wiping and reloading everything (but always quicker and easier than Windows... Like anything at that point hopefully you have good data backups!?!). Linux would have a hard fit in a business environment, foe now!!!

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not totally true
May 25, 2019 9:48AM PDT

A lot of users would never need to use the terminal. most programs can be installed from repositories (similar to google play store) and updates are automatic and depending on the distro, would not even need reboot.

as far as an office environment, it really depends if any specialized programs are needed since most are written to work with windows.

back to win10, win10 has the same problem with most operating systems. it gets bogged down with utilities running in the background, connecting to external networks (on and off line), older computers, and more. how bad it gets really depends on how the computer is used. I have a computer at work that takes almost five minutes to boot because of what it does. and there is no way around it. sometimes you just got to live with it.

Post was last edited on May 25, 2019 9:59 AM PDT

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Terminal...
May 25, 2019 11:24AM PDT

Mostly you do NOT have to use the terminal for anything, anymore. Most distros have very good GUI tools for installing programs and tweaking the OS. There might be a custom setting or two that you'd want to do ONCE when you first install, such as wider scrollbars as default, or something like that. Actually that's a bad example, nope that's in a text file, not in terminal. I haven't used terminal in so long I've pretty much forgotten how to use it! That's with a *buntu OS from 2016, and I see that it's even easier on the 2018 version...

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16 gig of ram not much
May 17, 2019 10:14PM PDT

i have a friend who told me that windows 10 takes a ton of ram - about 20 gigs or so not leaving much for your computer to use for other programs - if possible see if u can install more ram - ck with ms to see how much ram windows 10 uses - the reason i found this out was my granddaughter got her sister a little notebook with 30 gig of ram and she could not even download any programs let alone window updates and he told her window 10 was taking up almost all the ram and she could not download any programs or even do updates

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I would advise the mem command first to check ram usage
May 17, 2019 10:27PM PDT
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Re: 16 gig of RAM
May 18, 2019 1:14AM PDT

You're confusing RAM and HDD/SSD space.
16 GB of RAM is enough for 99% of the PC users. Nowadays 8 GB is standard and enough for most. 4 GB still is good for basic users.

32 GB HDD/SSD space isn't enough. The OP has 256 GB and that seems enough for him.

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A Misunderstanding
May 19, 2019 8:34PM PDT

1. Windows 10 by itself uses approximately 2GB of RAM memory. The more apps/games/internet pages you have open, the more RAM memory you'll be using.
2. The little notebook with "30 gig of ram" is different. The notebook actually has 30GB (gigs, if you prefer) of storage space. Windows 10 takes up about half of that space all by itself. Then, sometime Windows 10 will do a big update, and it will keep/store the old setup just in case you need to undo the update. So, now there's even less free space to install apps and games. You can delete the old backup files. Also, most notebooks have a card reader slot. If you plug in an SDXC card or microSDXC card with "A1" or "A2" (faster) rating then you can install apps and games on that card instead of installing them on the limited built-in storage space. They are not expensive, either:
https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-64gb-microsdxc/p/N82E16820175006

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So wrong...
May 24, 2019 5:55PM PDT

Don't let your friend work on your systems!!!
My only advice...
Ram is good, no doubt!
Win10 actually runs well on 4gb (much better than previous versions), but 8gb is better. After 8gb, while always better, you see very little increase in system performance! Sadly time, mainly heat of components puts a heavy wear on systems. I find many do not ever blow the dust out of the cooling vents/fans! Like a car engine, once it over heats, there are components that go into failure mode. With PCs, most usually power control capacitors on the motherboard (have seen soooo many swollen, leaking capacitors on hundreds of systems)!

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free space
May 17, 2019 10:59PM PDT

how much free space is on the drive. if the drive is full, then it will slow down. someone mentioned you cannot have malwarebytes and mcafees installed at the same time. they are wrong. you cannot have two antiviruses installed at the same time. malwarebytes is for malware, not viruses. it is generally used as a companion utility for antivirus utilities.

boot to safemode and see if the computer runs a lot faster. if it does, then you have some program that is causing the problem. if you have any shortcuts on your screen to different online services and external drives, it could also slow you down.

finally see the following for some more help

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-find-out-programs-slowing-down-windows-10-boot/

https://gizmodo.com/how-to-figure-out-whats-slowing-your-computer-down-1792424394

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Coment about MalwareBytes and McAfee
May 20, 2019 11:07PM PDT

It has been a long time (back in the 98 2000 days) that I installed the free McAfee from the internet carrier and kept having to reinstall the OS. Found it was McAfee seeing normal things as virus including its self. So to this day I don't trust McAfee.

Running MalwareBytes and Virus same time. I had both MalwareBytes and Norton Security running same time with no problem. Seemed to complement each other. Then came a semi annual W10 update and installed Defender and uninstalled Norton and disabled MalwareBytes.
Cannot uninstall Defender and W10 wont allow two antivirus installed. Even with Defender disabled and when disabled W10 throws a warning every time I open anything that searches the internet.
So. As suggested by others MalwareBytes runs when I want to scan only.
Gary O.
You mentioned lots of tabs opened all the time. If those tabs are programs then each program uses some to a lot of ram. As ram availability decreases the processor then puts processing on the C drive. That takes time to access and store. Making your computer go slower with every function you add.

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A clean install of Windows system files only is possible
May 18, 2019 3:22AM PDT

without losing your current apps and desktop programs, and their settings, as long as your system is still up and running.

Use the Media Creation Tool ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 ) to create a USB installation drive then plug it in with the system running, open the drive in File Explorer and run the file setup.exe. You will now be able to select the option to re-install only the system files, leaving everything else intact.

This works because what effectively happens is that the upgrade process that installed the current version of Windows 10 (October 2018 Update/18H2 in this case) is re-run, leaving everything of yours intact, including leaving a windows.old folder of anything left behind in the process.

You may have to redo some system settings afterwards and any system registry values you have edited will revert to default but any new keys you created will remain in place.

Post was last edited on May 18, 2019 4:27 AM PDT

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Windows 10 system slowed down
May 18, 2019 6:59AM PDT

Mine was slowing as well. This November it will be 10 years old. HP dv7-3085dx
I maxed out my RAM with new cards and next will install a 2TB SSD. But the best thing I did was to finally give PC Matic a try. I wish I had done it sooner. It cleaned all the BS from my laptop and it screams. I do not use any other software for protection.

Hope this helps.

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A couple of things...
May 18, 2019 7:22AM PDT

Some of the previous suggestions run counter to my experience.

I have not noticed that SSDs slow down as they approach capacity. Mine have operated without any decline in performance when filled as high as 93%.

I have not noticed that SSDs slow down as they approach capacity. Mine have operated without any decline in performance when filled as high as 93%.

I do agree that you should rely on just one anti-malware application. I would stick with McAfee and use Malwarebytes only when you suspect you may have a problem McAfee didn't catch.

From what you describe, the chief symptom you are experiencing is slowness when displaying folder listings using File Explorer. This can often be remedied by turning off indexing.

From what you describe to be the capacity of and the uses to which you put the computer, you should not be putting any strain whatsoever on either your RAM or your processor.

Nor should your slowdown be related to any Microsoft update. But you can get rid of the remnants left by previous upgrades by right-clicking on your C: drive, selecting Properties (this is where you can also turn off indexing, but that is more relevant to your data drive than your C: drive), then clicking on Disk Cleanup. In the Disk Cleanup window, click on "Clean Up System Files."

You might also check out defragmenting your data drive (but NOT your C: drive!).

I have never seen even a badly maintained registry cause any significant slowdown, although I do clean mine with CCleaner on occasion, particularly when I want to get rid of vestiges of apps I have deleted.

I do agree that the only guaranteed cure here is a clean reinstallation of Windows 10. If you copy off to other media your Users/[user]/appdata folder, you should be able to restore your application settings, bookmarks/favorites and email records after you reinstall the applications.

I might suggest running something like Spybot Search and Destroy to scan for any adware -- that stuff can really slow you down. I would also suggest running sfc /scannow to see if your O/S has in any way become corrupted.

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Windows 10 Defrag will only run TRIM on an ssd.
May 25, 2019 11:58PM PDT

If you run the built in defragmenter in windows 10 on an SSD, it does not de-frag the drive but runs TRIM on the empty parts of the drive, which cleans up any unused space improving the SSD performance. Any good de-fragmentation program should detect it is an ssd and run trim instead of de-fragmentation.

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Some SSDs Slow Down
May 26, 2019 10:19AM PDT

In recent years some budget-price (almost an oxymoron) entry-level SSDs have TLC NAND rather than MLC, and fewer of them. TLC is inherently slower for some Writes, and fewer NAND chips means reduced simultaneous parallel Writes. Added to that, they have cheaper (usually 4-channel) off-the-shelf controller circuitry, little or no overprovisioning, and no DRAM cache. Instead, they use a portion of the NAND as an SLC cache which accumulates a bunch of Writes temporarily then completes the tasks later when the drive is idle. As these drives fill up the allocated amount used as SLC cache gradually diminishes, and Write speed diminishes with it. These compromises are all made in order to keep prices low and to gain market share. It should be mentioned that the SSD's Read speed is not affected as dramatically as the Write speed, so they can be up to about 75% full before the speed of opening/loading apps, data, and internet browsers begins to slow.
At home, our 5 year-old Sandisk Extreme Pro 960GB (10-year warranty) and 240GB Samsung 840 EVO 240GB (5-year warranty) have never shown any slowdowns in system responsiveness, even though they have become rather full at times with games, or videos waiting to be edited or viewed. I'm writing this post on a WD Blue 3D 500GB M.2 SATA SSD in a laptop that originally came with a 128GB Lite-on SSD (plus 1TB HDD, as usual). The little Lite-on with its few NAND chips could never match the Sequential Write speed of a larger capacity SSD, but it's small file performance was every bit as good as the larger WD Blue. After a couple of years' use the laptop begin to slow a little, just enough to make me look and discover it was about 82% full. I offloaded a bunch of data to the HDD and reclaimed some space on the little SSD. After another year of accumulating apps and data, I spotted the WD Blue 3D on sale and replaced the Lite-on. Think we'll keep the Lite-on in the WD box as a backup .... just in case we ever need it!

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Windows 10
May 21, 2019 6:52AM PDT

True

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ahhhhh that new computer smell
May 24, 2019 5:51PM PDT

you get that all decked out system out of the box and it is blazing fast in the first two months and then by the 6th month your cursing about how crappy of a computer you got. its called putting you on the back burner. computer companies want you to go out and buy a new system every 6 mnths to a year.

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W10 Slowdown
May 24, 2019 6:08PM PDT

I have an HP W10 Desktop with a 512 gig SSD, and i7-6700 Processor and 24 gig of ram and a separate hard drive of the data and it runs just as good as the day I took it out the box. I also have Cox Cable with a typical Speed of 130 Gbs of data input and output of 12 to 15 Gbs Everything loads quickly and I use Waterfox as my Browser and Mozilla as my email reader. This is the fast Computer that I have ever had. The W10 is version 1809 which I installed recently. I also have a boot time of about 10 seconds. The computer originally came with a 128 gig SSD, but I updated to 512 Gig a few months ago. The fact that the data comes from a different HD seems to be a big part of it's speed. The SSD is for the O/S and Programs that the HD is for data. That is the way it came from HP, and liked the combination. I also use McAfee for Anti Virus and also have Malwarebytes for use but it does not run with the computer. I clean my computer up to 2 times a day with CCleaner. 
I purposelessly picked this configuration for the speed it would give and it has not disappointed.

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Maybe yes, defrag
May 24, 2019 6:58PM PDT

I know pretty much "everybody" says, "You should never defrag an SSD."

But I was surprised when I ran across an article (no, I don't remember where) which says that Microsoft determined that SSD's do need to be defragged, about once a month.

However, in that regard, it said that starting with Win 7 MS built that into Windows. So install something like Defraggler and see if your SSD is severely fragmented, and if so, try doing a defrag.

By the way, the reason I had looked into that is that our server at work is running Windows Server 2008 Standard (not R2).  Standard is actually Vista Server; R2 is Win7 Server. About a year ago I moved our data to mirrored SSD's, and I do defrag them about once a month.

Also, here's something from Raxco.com, makers of PerfectDisk:

What does [Raxco PerfectDisk] SSD Optimize do?

Solid State Drives are not affected by file fragmentation like traditional electromechanical disk drives, so we do not recommend any of the defrag methods for SSDs. However, free space consolidation can improve SSD write performance. The [PerfectDisk] SSD Optimize method is a special type of  optimization for SSD drives that focuses solely on free space consolidation without defragmentation of files. As such, it will leave files in a fragmented state while consolidating free space into large pieces, resulting in more efficient TRIM operations, reducing write amplification and extending the life of the drive.

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Backing up?
May 24, 2019 8:00PM PDT

I still hear, Do Not Defrag SSDs (will shorting life!?!) They are only good for so many writes, normally more than our lifetime, supposedly. But defragging does a High number of writes to move data around (and SSDs have algorithms coding in to them to help them run more efficiently, not to mention NO Moving Parts, so Naturally Faster).
So, if you do defrag your SSDs, please, do regular backups (and not to floppy disk! Had to throw that in, since you go against the industry standard...).