[antoniette]

My computer is only about two months old and I want to know, when I should run a disk defragmenter? If I run it now, when will it run again? Will it warn me that it will run, so I can leave my computer on, as I normally shut it down overnight. Please advise...tks...Antoniette

[LadyLisa]

You should probably run defrag about once a month. It won't warn you when to run it again but you can schedule it yourself by using the maintenance wizard, which you will find under Programs,Accessories,System tools. You should also run Scandisc on a regular basis as well. These two programs will help prevent any problems on your computer.

[antoniette]

thanks for the information. I just ran the maintenace wizard. I scheduled my next maintenance in a month's time, if I forget to leave on my computer, what happens? Does it run the following day, or will it just skip that maintenance, until I schedule for next time.

[LadyLisa]

If you forget to leave on your computer you can just run it yourself manually the next day or whenever. It will only run on the schedule if your computer is turned on.

[antoniette]

Thanks

[Winger]

Here is what I did and it works great!
Run the Maintenance wizard and configure it as custom setting all the options the way you want them such as how to defrag and arrange the files and whether or not to do a normal or thorough scan and automatically fix errors. Once this is done you get a task scheduler icon next to the time icon in the task bar. Open the scheduler, delete the tasks and go to "ADVANCED" and click on stop using the scheduler. Now create a shortcut on your desktop for the scheduler in "Start-Programs-Accessories-system tools" and run it whenever you go to dinner or you know won't be using the computer for however long it will be busy doing its maintenance.

[bd]

Hi Antoniette,

Defragmenting the hard disc is a good thing but the need for defragging and the gain from doing it is determined by the amount of fragmentation that exsists .
Depending on how the computer is used , It may not get over a few percent of fragmentation in a year.
Unless you work with programs and applications that move a lot of files and your hard disc is using a large per cent of it's capacity I would bet your 2 month old system has less than 1% fragmentation and does not need or gain benefit from defragging.

Bob

[antoniette]

Thanks for the reply. I basically just use my computer for email and surfing the net. How often would you suggest I defragment. Every couple of months? tks

[bd]

Hi ,

W95 would tell you the percent of fragmentation when you chose the disc to defragment and then tell you whether it needed it and you had the option to do it or not.
I don't know if W98 and ME kept that feature or not. I would think if you use your system the way you do [and many people do] defragging is not necessary or beneficial more than once or twice a year. I don't know of any harm it would do to do it oftener but it doesn't do much good if it isn't needed.

Bob