[Adama]

Ok, I don't really know if this question goes in this forum, but here it goes anyway.

When I first got my laptop, I was reading a couple of magazines about computers. There is where I learned the word "Defrag" (for Disk Defragmentation.) In that article it said that if you have Vista, you should defrag more often, and they suggested defragging every week.

Well, like a good girl, I found the thing and dutifully defragged once a week, for about 3 weeks. Then while reading Help and Support, I found out that M$ automatically defrags your Disk every Wednesday morning in the a.m. I didn't want to leave my laptop on at night, so I decided to call for help.

Talked to an IT (friend of a friend) who said since this is a new computer, it really doesn't need to be defragged that often and that defragging is hard on your Disk. So he helped me set up a scheduled Defrag, for once a month only. Well, the thing wouldn't work the way he set it up. After two months of "freakouts" because the defrag wasn't working the way we set it up, I decided to call the IT again.

This time I got connected with someone else, who told me I probably didn't even need to Defrag. The first thing he did was check to see if the Disk needed defragging, and indeed it did not need it!

Now what I do is, first I check to see if the Disk needs to be Defragged. If it does, then I do it manually. If it doesn't need it, then I schedule it on my calendar to check it again next month.... yey!

How about you? How often do you Defrag?

[techie4fun]

About once a month - it depends on how much use I put my computer through per a week basis. If I've done significant changes to my OS, like updated graphics drivers or installed multiple programs on a daily basis, I try do to more than one disk defragmentation during that one month. It keeps Windows running smoothly.

[jbking]

I think this depends to some extent on how much work with the disk you do. If you use a program that does a lot of disk activity, e.g. Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Visual Studio, then you may need to defrag regularly like once a week while others may not need to do so that frequently. I think I tend to check every few months on my computers though I tend to not do a lot of disk activity on my home machine. If my machine is acting particularly slow in loading something or I just moved a bunch of files then I may run an analysis on the drive to clean it up though those are somewhat rare.

Just to add a little more on the rationale here, the logic behind defragging is to help keep the disk organized and files all together generally. Imagine a very large bookcase and lots of books and putting them into and out of the bookcase. This is kind of what happens with the files on the disk. The operating system finds enough room to store the file and may use multiple chunks to store the file, kind of like if you broke a book into a few parts and placed them at different parts on the bookshelf.

JB

[mjd420nova]

I presently do a disk cleanup, spyware sweep, spybot sweep and virus check weekly, the system usually only says a defrag is needed every other month or so.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Adama. I concur with everything everyone else has said. I personally Defrag once a month; however, if I feel the need to Defrag during the month, so be it. The one thing that I would suggest, and I am not sure if anyone else mentioned this, but it is best not to do any other activities while the Defragmentation is in process.

I normally schedule Defragmentations for overnight or when I am away from my computer for an extended period of time.

[Adama]

Thanks jbking. To further clarify Disk Defragmentation: It is the process of consolidating fragmented files on your computer's Hard Disk.

Fragmentation happens to a hard Disk over time as you save, change, delete files, surf the web, etc. The changes that you save to a file are often stored at a location on the hard disk that's different from the original file. Other changes are saved to even more locations. Over time both the file and the Hard Disk itself become fragmented, and your computer slows down because it has to look in many different places to open a file.

Disk Defragmenter is a tool that rearranges the data on your hard disk and reunites the fragmented files so your computer can run more efficiently.

[Adama]

Hi, mph. :D I absolutely agree with you. The IT guy that helped me also pointed out that it's really important not to do anything else on the computer, while you are Defragging the Hard Drive. Thanks for the reminder.

[mphenterprises]

Adama said:

Then while reading Help and Support, I found out that M$ automatically defrags your Disk every Wednesday morning in the a.m. I didn't want to leave my laptop on at night, so I decided to call for help.

HI Adama. I am completely unaware of any indication that Microsoft automatically defragments a person's hard disk drive(s) every week. This could have serious ramifications for a few reasons:

- How would Microsoft access an individual's computer to start this process?

- How would Microsoft know how many partitions (hard drives) an individual would have?

- The conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this one if this were true...






Do you have a link to this information?

[art209]

I defragment my primary hard drive once a year without fail. It's part of spring cleaning. The benefits are overrated unless there has been a major revamp of programs and files.

[smax013]

[quote name='mphenterprises']
>

Adama said:

> Then while reading Help and Support, I found out that M$ automatically defrags your Disk every Wednesday morning in the a.m. I didn't want to leave my laptop on at night, so I decided to call for help.
>
>
>



HI Adama. I am completely unaware of any indication that Microsoft automatically defragments a person's hard disk drive(s) every week. This could have serious ramifications for a few reasons:


* How would Microsoft access an individual's computer to start this process?

* How would Microsoft know how many partitions (hard drives) an individual would have?

* The conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this one if this were true...







Do you have a link to this information?

My guess is that Micro$oft does not access anything, but rather the OS might be setup to auto-defrag. I believe the Mac OS is designed to do this...auto-defrag as you go. Maybe Micro$oft did something similar in Vista.

[Adama]

Hi, mph. I'm looking at the Help and Support page that I printed to help me with the info on this post and it does say: "In this version of Windows, (Vista) Disk Defragmenter runs on a schedule so you don't have to remember to run it, although you can still run it manually or change the schedule it uses." And also, on another page it says: "Disk Defragmenter runs at regular intervals when your computer is turned on."



I also went to the magazine (from another publication) where I first learned about Defragging and it does say: "It is important that Vista users defragment frequently to preserve their computers' performance. To help Vista users in this task, Microsoft automatically schedules a defragmentation to occur every Wednesday at 1 a.m. This will only occur if the computer is turned on.... " etc.

I hope I do not cause a War of the Worlds about this one.... !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1! jeeez...

[art209]

AAAAK! I don't believe it. After reading your post, I checked the defrag settings on my computer and found that it was indeed set to defrag at 1 am every Wednesday. Since my computer wasn't on then, it did it today at 3:22 PM while I was away from the house. I feel violated.:(

[mphenterprises]

Wow....well, I am sure this feature can be disabled, hopefully.




LOL I can think of several of our current forum members that will have a field day with this one....

[Adama]

You can go to Disk Defragmenter, click on Modify Schedule dialog box, and choose how often, what day and at what time of the day you want the defragmentation to happen, then click OK.

You can also modify it so you can do it manually. Also, the system will let you know whether your Disk needs to be Defragged or not.

Depending on how old and how badly fragmented your Hard Disk is, it may take quite a while, from 1 to several hours.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Art. I can definitely imagine how you are feeling right now. However, don't fret. Follow these steps taken from this site to disable Automatic Defragmentation:

- Click the Start button

- From the Start Menu, click Control Panel

- In Control Panel, click the System and Maintenance option

- In the System and Maintenance window, click the Performance Information and Tools option

- In the Performance Information and Tools window, click the Advanced Tools option situated on the menu to the left of the main window

- In the Advanced Tools Window, click on the Open Disk Defragmenter option

- The User Account Control will now appear asking for permission to complete this task

- In the Disk Defragmeter window remove the tick from the Run on a Schedule (Recommended) option and then click OK

- Automatic defragmentation has now been disabled

[mphenterprises]

:D You're preaching to the choir, Adama LOL



This is one of those things that creeped in under the radar. This is the first time I have heard of anyone mention an automatic defragmentation within Vista...

[Adama]

Well, mph, I have the Best teachers here, at PCW. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1! LOL!

[techie4fun]

You and your emotes... I LOVE that two thumbs up one that you just posted.

Cmon.. PC World needs to get better smiley faces! :|

[mphenterprises]

:D



I created a Document in case anyone needs it. Once Kellie approves it, I will post the link.

[Adama]

Did you create a Document for the new War of the Worlds? or one about !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1! for the Community? LOLOLOL!!!!