Disk Defragmenter is a useful tool in improving the performance of your PC, specifically the time it takes for you to access the files and folders on your PC.
Have you ever noticed after you have used your PC frequently (especially a couple of years) the time it takes for you to search, browse and load up files takes longer.
This is because the files on your hard drive or hard disk become fragmented after frequent usage. This means that gaps of free space can occur when you have installed and removed various programs on your PC. Where these programs once were a gap is created, and when you install new programs Windows needs to decide whether to fill the gap or continue on into free space. What can eventually happen is that you end up with a certain set of files for a purpose being installed in multiple areas of the disk, and you are also left with empty unused spaces. The more you use your PC the more fragmented the disks becomes.
Therefore Windows has introduced 'Disk Defragmenter' to help reduce fragmentation on the drive by reorganising these files so that they are in one place, therefore increasing file access time.
In Windows Vista this is normally set to automatically run on a schedule. However in Windows XP it is not, it is good practice to defrag you PC on a monthly or quarterly basis but it depends how often and what you use your PC for. If you are using your PC to just browse the Internet, then defragmentation isn't required to be used on a frequent basis. But if you are using your PC to play games, whereby you install a lot of applications and remove them frequently, then defragmentation would be worth doing.
To access the 'Disk Defragmenter' click on 'Start', 'All Programs', 'Accessories', 'System Tools' and then 'Disk Defragmenter'.
Once you have opened 'Disk Defragmenter', the process is fairly simple. Select the drive you wish to fragment and then click the 'Analyze' button. Windows will then report if defragmentation is necessary. After that then click on 'Defragment', to start defragmenting the drive.Warning: Defragmenting the drive can, more often than not, take a long time. The time it takes (usually hours) depends on several factors, such as the capacity (GB) of your disk, the number of files you have and the amount of fragmented files. Therefore you need to perform defragmentation when your PC is not needed in a while.