Speed Up Your PC Tip # 2

A computer's OS stores files on the hard drive using a method called a file system. Rather than looking for a block of free space big enough for the whole file, the OS will break up the file and store it in pieces. When this happens, the file is said to be fragmented. Along the way, your files will be spread out over so many small pieces that accessing them becomes very slow.

To speed up your PC, you need to join your hard drive fragments together into a tight cluster. Although Windows has a built-in utility that can defrag your file system and I can detail to you the step by step process, here's something better. Freeware, Auslogics Disk Defrag.

Choose a hard drive from an easy-to-read pull-down menu, and it instantly displays the drive's size, used space and free space. One click starts the defragmentation process. The program's defrag process screen displays a visual. A sector map makes it easy to see how much of the drive is fragmented, allocated, or free. As the program runs, the defragged sectors are displayed in blue.

A summary displays the total files and folders defragged, while the detail section lists the defrag outcome for each file. Its interface couldn't be any cleaner and easier to utilize. I love this easy-to-use hard drive defrag program and I'm sure you will.