With Windows
2000 and XP you can analyze your hard drive first to see if it even needs defragmentation. With 98 and ME you cannot
(Windows NT does not include a built in defragmentation utility). If you are a 98, ME or NT user, here is
a free defragmentation tool: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1207
Sometimes
in Windows 95, 98 or ME Defragmention hangs, continuing to restart without ever reaching completion. Make sure you give
it plenty of time to get its job done. It's not unusual for defrag to seemingly hang around the 10% mark; what it's really
doing is figuring out how to reorganize your files and data clusters. If it really does hang, it will show you a message
like, "Defrag has been forced to restart 10 times or more, do you want to keep receiving this message..." and give
you the option to restart again or cancel. In Order for Defrag to finish, try stopping all other programs that are running
(except for Explorer and Systray).
-
First
you should disconnect your computer from the Internet or put your high speed cable modem in standy mode or turn it off since
you will be shutting down services and programs (like antivirus and firewalls).
-
Press
Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Close Program or Task Manager window, individually highlight each task (except for Explorer
and Systray) and click "End Task" for all unnecessary programs.
-
Disable
your screen saver. Go into Control Panel Display Properties, click Screen Saver tab and under Screen Saver drop down window
– select NONE, Apply, OK.
Following
the above steps should help Defragmenter work better and complete its task in a timely manner. If it doesn’t, try running
it in SAFE Mode (Press and HOLD down F8 at your at your computers startup HP, Compaq, Gateway, Dell etc logo
screen, and choose SAFE MODE with your arrow keys, press Enter).
If none
of this works, run ScanDisk in Thorough mode to ensure that the hard disk is in good
condition. You may need to close programs as above or run it from the DOS prompt if ScanDisk also hangs. Restart your
PC in DOS mode (Press and hold down F8 at your computers startup HP, Compaq, Gateway, Dell etc splash logo
screen, and choose SAFE MODE Command Prompt). Type SCANDISK at the C:\
prompt, then press Enter. (i.e. C:\scandisk then press Enter).
For future
defragmenting, clear out any old files on your hard drive. Look in C:\Temp, C:\Windows\Temp and Internet
Explorer Temporary Files. Defrag can work more efficiently without a drive full of uneccessary files. To keep your
hard drive running at its peak performance, run Defragmenter and or Scandisk every 40 - 50 hours of computer use, OR
use the free tool listed above to analyze your hard disk first to see if it needs defragmenting.
