by Tammy Lewis

Created on: August 04, 2009   Last Updated: August 05, 2009

Defragmenting a computer's hard drive is one of the easiest ways to quickly enhance computer performance. As files and programs are added and removed from the computer's hard drive, bits and pieces of files are put in non-adjacent areas on the hard drive. This causes a decrease in access speed by the computer when you call for a file or program to open-the hard drive simply has to access more areas on the disk which are further apart. This doesn't sound like a large thing, but little things add up, and almost everything you do on your computer requires disk access.

For most Windows based systems, you can access the defragment utility through the Start button. For Windows XP, you would go to Start>Programs> Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter. Although the name and location may change slightly from Windows 95 to 98 to NT, the utility itself usually isn't difficult to find.

One important thing to do before defragmenting your PC, especially if it is the first time you have ever defragmented, is to change your page file size. The page file is the "space" on the hard drive that the computer uses as "memory." It is a designated area on the hard drive that the computer uses in addition to the normal computer "memory" or RAM-it acts much the same as a temporary holding location while files are being accessed.

Because it is a reserved area on the hard drive, the defragment utility will not defragment this area. Consequently, the pagefile may be scattered across the disk in many various areas, just like any other file on a fragmented disk.

In order to maximize the benefit of your defragmentation, you can change the page file size to 0 (or as low as your operating system will let you-this varies.) This can usually be done by doing a left click on My Computer, selecting Properties, then clicking the Advanced tab. From there, look for Performance, then click the Settings button. Click Advanced, then look for Virtual Memory and click the Change button. These instructions are for Windows XP, but the process on most Windows operating systems is quite similar.

Change the page file size to 0 or as low as your operating system will allow on both the initial and maximum sizes, click the Set button, then click the OK buttons until you have backed completely out of these windows. You must restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Once you have restarted your computer, you will want to immediately run the defrag utility. You can do this by accessing

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