How often should I Defrag

How often should I Defrag?

"Defrag" is a program that Microsoft purchased from Norton and began to include with DOS version 6.x. It reorganizes the hard drive and allows your computer to find the files faster. You should run Defrag on a regular basis. If you run your computer every day, then the "full" defrag should be run at least once a week. Always run the standard Scandisk before you run Defrag because if you don't and there is a small imperfection in your drive, Defrag will stop and tell you to run Scandisk which will waste time. Always run the "full" defrag because while defragging "files only" is usually recommended and takes less time, it also won't do very much to increase speed.

Danger: If you have a very old drive (more than 4-5 years old), or if you have too many "bad spots" Defrag may "push it over the edge" and cause it to fail.

If you buy the Windows 95 Plus! Pak, there is a program in it called System Agent, which will offer to automatically schedule a defrag every day. This is something to consider.

Defragging works the machine pretty very hard and you should schedule these sessions either after hours or during lunchtime, since you won't be able to use your machine while it is running. Defragging time depends on how long it has been since you last did it, how full your drive is, how powerful your CPU is and how much RAM you have. Defragging times can run from 5 or ten minutes to 6 hours. Since the time is unpredictable, the first time you do this you might want to set it up and run it before you go home from work or before you go to bed and let it run while you are gone. The six hour defrag I mentioned here was on a machine that had not been defragged in 5 years and was 65% fragmented. Most don't run that long.

How do I run Defrag and what should I watch for?

How do I run Scandisk and what should I watch for?

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