Tech Tip Thursday - How do I speed up my computer?

If you have an old computer and it has been getting slower and slower, a defragmentation of your hard drive could improve its performance. 

What does it mean to have a fragmented hard drive? 
Well, when you install programs on your computer, it takes up certain blocks on your hard drive.  When they are removed these blocks become free again, allowing them to be overwritten by the next program or file that you write to your computer.  That can cause these blocks to become out of place and it can take longer for your computer to find certain files or parts of a program when your hard drive seeks for the data.  This is a normal process and over several months or years of this occurring, it can slow down your computer significantly.


How do I defrag my hard drive?
If you have a Windows computer, it can be found under Start-> All Programs-> Accessories-> System Tools-> Disk Defragmenter

After it opens, just click Defragment and let it run.  Sometimes, this can take up to a few hours.



If you have an Apple computer, things are a little more difficult.  On some Mac's the hard drive defragments automatically (around 3 AM if the system is on and not asleep), but this is normally on smaller files (20 MB and under).  You have to use a third party program to do this for you, a recommended one is http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag.php (However, it is not free.)


Hope this helps!