Using Disk Defragmenter

Hard disks can become fragmented over time. This simply means that files are not stored in contiguous blocks of space; instead, parts of them are stored all over the drive. When this happens, it takes much longer to access files because the drive head has to move around to different places to pull the data into memory. Windows 7 ships with a defragmentation utility you can work with via both GUI and Command Prompt. This section explains how to use it and also introduces a freeware defragmentation utility that provides extra features.

Working with the Defragmenter GUI

The GUI tool for defragmenting your hard drives is located in the System Tools group on the Start menu. The tool, shown in Figure 13.3, is simple to use. You click the drive you want to defragment and then click the Defragment Disk button.