Wired In
A little housekeeping keeps your PC happier

By Greg Wright
Gannett News Service

You regularly change the oil in your car, water the houseplants and take the dog for a walk. Why not "defrag" your computer's hard drive too?

Think of defragging, or defragmentation, as spring cleaning for your home computer.

As you create and delete files or load or uninstall software, things can get messy on the drive. Computers tend to store data in the first available free space they find. As a result, files needed to run a single program might be scattered all over the hard drive.

It's probably time to defrag if it's taking longer than normal for your computer to start up, the hard drive indicator light seems to be running almost non-stop and your computer is operating sluggishly. These slowdowns are a sign that your computer is working harder to find all the pieces of a program or file you are using.

Defragging software clears up the clutter, putting all files needed to run a program closer together so the PC does not have to work so hard.

"A machine that is regularly defragged can improve performance from 20 to 25 percent," said Jerry Mixon, vice president of marketing at Winternals Software LP (www.winternals.com), maker of the popular Defrag Commander software.

Products are available to make defragging convenient and easy.

Microsoft Windows 98 and Millennium come equipped with a defragging tool. Here's how to activate it:

• Click "Start."
• Point to "Programs."
• Point to "System Tools."
• Click "Disk Defragmenter."
• Select Drive you want defragged and click Start.

Unfortunately defragging the computer using built-in Windows tools can take hours depending on how disorganized the hard disk has become and how many programs and files are on the drive. That's why it's often best to defrag overnight. No other programs can be running when you defrag. Otherwise, you'll disrupt the process.

"If you sneeze, the computer has to start (defragging) all over," joked Greg Hayes, spokesman for Raxco Software, makers of PerfectDisk 2000 defragmenting software.

Macintosh computers usually do not need need defragging until the hard disk is almost full. Macintosh computers also do not come with already-installed defragging tools, Apple Computer Inc. spokesman Bill Evans said.

Evans said Mac users should install third-party software if they want to regularly defrag their computers. Still, Mac users can do routine maintenance to improve performance.

Macintosh computers have a Desktop File in the main level of the hard disk. The Desktop File manages all the documents and applications stored on the disk.

Sometimes this file can become too large, slowing down computer performance. Or custom icons on the Mac turn into generic icons, a sure sign the Desktop File is becoming unusable.

To get things running smoothly again, Mac users can manually hold down the Option and Command (Apple) key while the system is starting up. A message will ask if the Desktop file should be rebuilt. By clicking OK, the Mac will automatically relink documents to the correct applications and rewrite the Desktop File.

This should get the Mac running smoothly again.

Macs also include a program called Disk First Aid that can repair some hard disk problems.

Other commercial defrag programs

Power Defrag 2.0

• Maker: E-Technik (www.e-technik.com)
• Price: Free
• Features: Power Defrag 2.0 perks up the built-in Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 98 SE and Millennium defragmenting tool, cutting the time it takes to reorganize the hard drive from 40 minutes to 20 minutes, a company example claims. For $20 download Power Defrag 2.0 Pro that also can check drives for damage.

Diskeeper 6.0

• Maker: Executive Software International (www.execsoft.com)
• Price: $49.95. A free trial is available for download.
• Features: Diskeeper 6.0 analyzes fragmentation and schedules defragmentation accordingly. The software also features faster defragging than built-in tools and can defrag in the background while computer users do other tasks. The program runs on Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Millennium, NT and 2000.

Defrag Commander

• Maker: Winternal Software (www.winternal.com)
• Price: $19
• Features: Users can schedule regular defragging sessions. Commander also defrags in one pass, so users do not have to repeat the process to get better results. Defrag Commander works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Millennium, NT and 2000.

PerfectDisk 2000

• Maker: Raxco Software (www.raxco.com)
• Price: $44
• Features: PerfectDisk schedules regular defragging and defrags drives in one pass. It also can defrag drives that have almost no free space. It reorganizes drives, giving priority to files used the most. As a result, the computer can load frequently used files more quickly. PerfectDisk works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Millennium, NT and 2000.

Norton Utilities

• Maker: Symantec (www.symantec.com)
• Price: $49.95 for Windows, $99.95 for Macintosh
• Features: Norton Utilities comes equipped with Speed Disk defragmenter, which should do the job faster than defragmenting tools that come with Windows. It's also loaded with many other maintenance tools, including Disk Doctor to fix disk errors and hardware configuration problems. Norton Utilities also lets your computer access frequently used files more rapidly. It works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Millennium, NT and 2000 and Mac OS 8.1 and later.