How to Defrag Your Hard Drive (Windows 7)

If your computer is running slow, an easy fix may be to defrag your hard drive. Sometimes fragments of files get scattered throughout different places on your hard drive, which means it takes longer for your hard drive to find things. If you are running Mac OS 10.3 or later, then lucky you, because your operating system is programmed to constantly defragment files. Windows users, however, need to do it themselves every once in a while. It is very easy to do, though.

• Close all programs
• Click on the Start button (lower left-hand corner) and go to Control Panel
• Click on System and Security
• Under Administrative Tools (yes, must be logged in as the administrator to defrag), click Defragment your Hard Drive
• Select the drive you wish to defrag (usually C:) and click Defragment Disk

I recommend you defrag every couple months or so to keep your hard drive running nice and efficiently. The defrag program includes a scheduling option that is available for you to use.

Earlier versions of Windows do also include their own defrag program somewhere inside Control Panel. It shouldn't be too hard to find and the steps should be similar.