Defragment your hard drive now. April 2014. Windows XP and Windows 7

If you are reading this, then you probably don't know what "defrag" means.
Read at Ask Leo about "defragging", then get to work.
http://askleo.com/what_is_defragging_and_why_should_i_do_it/

Over time as your load up new programs and delete others, your files will become sprawling and bloated. You computer will start storing large file over many areas, not just in the one spot.

De-fragmenting a hard drive puts all these files in the one spot and makes it much quicker to load and find files. It's good basic maintenance.

Start at "My Computer."



Right click on the C Drive to open up this box.



Click on Properties of the C Drive.
You can start by using the Disc Cleanup utility, or use CCleaner.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Read that bit again ! Clean up first before you defrag'.



At least you will not be de-fragmenting all your junk files.
Then click on that Tools tab to open up this box.



Then click on Defragment. It opens up like this.


Then click that Analyze button to see this...


Here's my report. I don't need to Defragment my C Drive.
But you can see the blue line of files, red lines of fragmented files, and the white spots of empty space. If you see a lot of red lines, it's time to Defrag.

** As you can imagine, it will take a LONG time to defrag all those files. Do it before you go to bed and let it run for the night.
Check it now and then. Once every few months.
Cheers. Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. Still valid for Windows XP and Windows 7