Over time your PC’s hard drive can become disorganised as you save and resave information. And, just like you’d spend longer finding anything in a messy room, your hard drive becomes inefficient at finding the files your PC requests.


How your hard drive saves information

When you save files in the same folder in Windows Explorer, they're not necessarily stored in the same area on your hard drive - they're generally put wherever there's space. And over time as you save and delete files, gaps constantly open and fill throughout your hard drive. What you're left with is a random mix of files.

But even though your PC still knows where to find everything, it needs to work harder to jump around to all of the different areas on your hard drive to recall and resave files. Over time, it'll seem to you like your PC is becoming slower and slower.


Defragmentation helps clean up your hard drive

Imagine a library where there’s no organised shelving. As the library grows, it’s going to become harder and harder to find related books. Defragmenting your hard drive brings all of the related files together, just like organising the library so the books you’re likely to need at the same time are located in the same sections – allowing you to work far more efficiently as a result.

A hard disk defragmenter utility assesses the content of your hard drive and rearranges it to make finding related information more efficient. It also groups the free space so saving information in the future is more effective. The best news is that the tool is free with Windows.


How to defragment your computer

The Disk Defragmenter utility can be accessed in Windows by selecting Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools and then Disk Defragmenter.

The program differs slightly depending on what version of Windows you’re using, but if you need support, it’s available in the Help menu.


How often to defragment your computer

When you open Disk Defragmenter, it’ll let you know whether you should run it or not. If you’re using your PC regularly, we recommend checking at least once a month.


Are you using a Mac? You probably don’t need to defrag your computer.

Macs use a more efficient system to save information to the hard disk. See About disk optimization with Mac OS X on the Mac web site for more information.