Should I defragment my PC? Most PC owners have heard of defragmenting their hard drive, but what does it actually do and is it necessary?
Think of your hard drive as a huge file cabinet. The more files you have, the more you add, and the more they are accessed the more disorganized they can become. So, the computer will take longer to find the file you are looking for. Defragmenting goes through and organizes the files in an efficient way so the computer can access them faster.
If you own an older computer that runs Windows XP, then yes, you should run a disk defrag once per month (or more if your so inclined). To do this click Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. Select the C: drive and click the Defrag button to start. The process can take a while if it has never been done before. Remember, you need at least 15% free space or Disk Defragmenter will not run.
For you Windows Vista / 7 users, disk defragmenter is already scheduled for you by default to run once per week. You do not need to do anything further.
Happy computing!

