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Defragging in Windows

In addiiton to the procedure below, check out the HighTechies Free Software page to see the link to Smart Defrag, a free program that lets you schedule disk defragging so you never have to remember to do it.

Here's how to defrag a hard disk in Windows XP. (There are several ways to get there. Just use the one you find easiest to remember.)

• From the "Start" menu in the lower left, click on "My Computer." (Or on the desktop click "My Computer.")
• Find the hard drive you wish to defrag. Most often it is drive C:, called "Boot" or "Local Disk."
• Right click on Drive C:
• Click on "Properties."
• Click the "Tools" tab.
• Click the "Defragment Now" button.
• Click the "Defragment" button.
• This will take a while. You can use your computer while it's working or you can do something else for a while. Sometimes if the drive has been very fragmented, it's worth running a second time.

Note that in virtually every view of Windows Explorer (the program that runs when you click My Documents for instance) if you can see Drive C:, you can right click it and follow the same list of steps.