Need a Windows XP tuneup?

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Defrag your hard drive


The more you use your computer, the more the files become fragmented and spread around your hard drive in bits and pieces.  The more fragmented your hard drive is, the slower the performance.  Defragging your hard drive consolidates the pieces into single contiguous sections or blocks for faster access.

Windows has a free Disk Defragmenter.  You might want to run the defragmenter before you go to bed as it takes a long time to complete.  You should be logged on as an Administrator.

Go to START, then ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, DISK DEFRAGMENTER.  Highlight the hard drive you want to Defrag, usually the C: drive.   If you have more than one drive, you can defrag them all, but only one at a time.   Press the Analyze button and Defrag will tell you whether or not the drive needs to be defragged.  Click on the Defrag button to begin the  Defrag process.

You should do this at least once a month.  More, if you are a heavy pc user.

For alternate methods of using Disk Defragmenter, check the Microsoft Knowledge Base below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848

Related articles

• Preventing Fragmentation Strengthens a Computer's Weakest Link (eon.businesswire.com)
• The Incredible Performance from Preventing Fragmentation (eon.businesswire.com)
• Virtual Machines Need Defragging Too (nytimes.com)

Check your hard drive for errors

It is smart to do a thorough check of your hard drives once in a while.   Click on My Computer.  Next, right click on your drive (probably the C: drive).  Click Properties.  Then, click on Error-Checking.  Next, Click the Check Now button.

You must be logged in as an Administrator.  All files must be closed, so you might receive a message from XP stating that the chkdsk will run the next time Windows starts.

Chkdsk could take a long time to run depending on how large your hard drive is, so it is best to schedule it accordingly, like before you go to bed.

For more information on Chkdsk, see the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265