can some 1 plz telll me what a disk defragmenter does?

Question

lately i got dis virus called downloader-awx took me a long time to ged rid. my computer is pretty good by has been running a bit slower from when i got it. i heard a disk defragmetner speeds it up but i need more info about it.

Answer 1

All of these explanations about defragmentation are good, it's interesting to see the different perspectives and explanations. So I will answer your question slightly differently to (hopefully) put a practical spin on your question of how to speed up your computer.

1) uninstall any applications you don't want or need (then reboot)
2) run msconfig.exe (start / run / msconfig ), go to the startup tab and uncheck any applications you know you don't need in the startup stack. (For example, if you install QuickTime and/or iTunes and do not have an iPod, you can uncheck "iPodService". Other candidates include "qttask.exe" for QuickTime in the system tray ... there are many and much junk that collects.)
3) Disable services from running automatically that you don't need. You can run services.msc (Start / Run / services.msc) and for any services that are running (with Automatic or Manual startup mode) you can either stop them (temporarily) or Disable them. [JUST BE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE AND DON'T NEED THEM, SOMETIMES IT TAKES A LITTLE RESEARCH.] For example, if you have a desktop PC without a wireless card you can definitely disable the "Wireless Zero Configuration" service. I personally also disable the "Error Reporting Service" which I believe helps report errors back to Microsoft. It's a good idea to check the dependencies on a service if you're not 100% sure what it does and whether you need it. Just double-click on the item then select the "Dependencies" tab.
4) Clear out the junk - the simplest way to do this is to run the Disk Cleanup wizard [ Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools ]
5) Then defrag the hard drive where your operating system and applications run (usually drive C:). If you have other drives with data you frequently access you may want to defrag them too, though perhaps less frequently. You can run the GUI defrag tool from the System Tools directory referenced above, or run it from the command line using the following command (this syntax is from Windows XP Home Edition, other OS may vary or may not support command line defrag):
> defrag c:

To see the "verbose" output of the command run:
> defrag c: -v

The more frequently you do this type of maintenance the better your computer will perform generally. One way to do this is to write a simple batch file to do all of the above step-by-step, but that's probably too much for most people. (I did that to simplify maintenance of my wife's machine and like it ... but that's another story.)

To run defrag every day at 5am (assuming your PC is on all the time and doesn't go into standby or hibernation mode) using the "at" scheduler command, do the following:

- open a command prompt :: start / run / cmd
> at 05:00 /every: defrag c:
- type "at" then to verify the setting
- type "at /?" then to view the syntax; this will show you how to delete the scheduled item(s) also if you need to
- type "exit" then to exit the command prompt

Following these best practices will definitely help your computer perform better.

You mentioned that you got a virus on your computer. Securing your computer properly including anti-virus software, anti-malware tools (such as Windows Defender, Ad-Aware, Spybot, et cetera) and a firewall software (even the built-in Windows one is better than nothing) should be pre-requisite. If you are downloading from file-sharing sites frequently you should consider using something like VMWare (free Windows version available at www.vmware.com) to create an isolated Windows instance on your PC so it doesn't infect the rest of your machine. Or use a separate machine and rebuild it every 6 months.

Good luck!

Answer 2

A disk defragmenter is a computer program designed to increase access speed (and sometimes increase the amount of usable space) by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations. Disk defragmenters are available for many platforms, the most common being those included with operating systems (i.e. Microsoft Windows), utility packages (like Norton Utilities), or other standalone defragmenters (like PerfectDisk or Diskeeper). Many offer advanced options, such as sorting by last access or modification date to decrease access time for most commonly accessed files.

Answer 3

Defrag comes with windows. What happens, is that when you use your computer, it writes to your hard drive. Then you delete things. So, now it writes, where the things were deleted. Many times, the files don't fit in that spot, so a pointer is written, this tells the computer where the file is continued. Then the file is written at that spot. If there is not enough space at that spot, another pointer is written, telling where the rest of the file is.

As time goes on, the more this happens. Now you have bits and pieces of files all over the place. This is called fragmentation. So it takes longer for the disk drive to read them all.

The defrag program, reorganizes your hard drive, so that each file is written in one place, and next to each other. (contiguously). Now your hard drive runs more efficiently and your computer runs faster.

Answer 4

It helps to reorganize the files and programs on your hard drive. If you are using Windows select Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools. You will see two utilities that you should run about once a month. The Disk Cleanup and Defrag. Click on one, follow the prompts and run. Either could take a long time to run, especially if you've never used them before. But your computer will work more efficiently after cleaning and defrag.

Answer 5

When you use your files and then save them or close them, you computer does the equivalent of dropping a stack of papers on the floor..you can still access the information, but it takes longer for your computer to shuffle thru all the papers, get them in the right order and bring up the file for you...When you defrag, your computer puts all the little pieces of paper in their correct place, so that the next time you want to retrieve the file, it goes directly to the spot and quickly opens the file.

Answer 6

when you install any program, it is not compulsory that the entire data of that program is stored in the consecutive memory locations. because of which, there may be some empty spaces between the data. defragmentation tries to group all the empty spaces and bring that space to the last memory locations in the disk, because of which, CPU can use more virtual memory and the computer's speed also increases a bit.

Answer 7

If you want, think about a bag of M&Ms. The colors are all mixed up, but after you do a disk defragmentation, they are all sorted by color. In other words, it organizes your files and makes them more easily to access, which speeds up your overall system.

Answer 8

In Simple language Disk Defragmentor does manage ur disk space, collect all data on disk n put it in sequencial manner so that Access speed wil get increased and disk space gets free.

Answer 9

Defragmenter arranges the bad sectors together and the good(used or unused) together and so it makes u r PC run faster.And bad sector arises if you turn off ur PC wihtout a proper method.

Answer 10

Over time, as files are added and deleted from a drive, they get fragmented (stored as fragments in lots of different places). Your drive has to access the file from several locations before it can load... taking time.
Defrag does just that. It defragments the files... putting them all together in one location, making it faster to access.