Throughout the course of a day, your computer saves and deletes sometime hundreds or thousands of files. If you use your system all day long, that number could be staggering. 
With all that file activity going on, your hard drive takes a ponding trying to keep all those files organized. Unfortunately when files are deleted and added the files that remain on the drive begin to get scattered all over the place.
In other words, when you click on a link to open a program, your arm on the hard drive has to move all over the platter in order to find all the parts of the file that you are trying to open. All that searching can not only put a strain on your hard drive but also wastes your valuable time while opening the app. This is all because your drive is fragmented. A fragmented drive will not only slow down your system but it will cause premature wear on your hard drive as well.
Every version of Windows has some form of defragging software included with it. The one that was in the earlier versions of Windows worked but it was extremely slow and sometimes would not completely finish. Windows 7 made a huge improvement in the included software but still in my tests, I was not happy with it. With that said, there are tons of free third party programs out there that claim to do a better job of defragging your computer then the one that is included with Windows. I have tested them all.
There is only one that stands out and works in tandem with your existing built in defrag program. Diskeeper is the best of the best when it comes to maintaining a fast computer. I usually do not recommend third party utilities since many of them actually slow down your computer and not speed it up regardless of their claims. This utility is the exception. It is the only one that is certified by Microsoft since it works so closely with the existing software.
Before I talk about the program, lets look at how a file gets fragmented. Lets say for example you are installing Microsoft Office on your computer. This is quite a large program and uses a good chunk of real estate on your hard drive. As the program goes through the installation process it is going to load the files wherever it can find free space on your drive. That free space might not be all in the same location. As a result, your single program might be scattered all over your drive. When the program has to be accessed, your drive will have to go from location to location just to simply open the file. This can create a lot of lost productivity.
When you run a program such as Diskeeper, the program will find all the parts of a program and put them together in one place. In addition, the program will condense all your files so that they reside all in one location instead of all over the drive.
With the new versions of Diskeeper, the program keeps your system 100% fragment free in real time without slowing down the computer. The program will only use resources that are available at any given time and when the computer is busy, the program will pause. In addition, this program will also keep system and paging files defraggmented as well. Once you install the program and do a few simple settings, you are ready to go. You will never have to touch the program again. It is 100% automatic. I have been using Diskeeper for almost 9 years now and I would not be without it. It runs on every computer I own including my Windows 7 machines. From version 2011 and up, Diskeeper has a feature called Intelliwrite. This amazing feature predicts and acts on files before they even become fragmented. This substantially reduces the amount of disk activity that is needed to keep your drive in order.
Diskeeper versions 2011 and up also have a feature called I-Fast which moves your most frequently used programs to the front of the drive where they can be accessed much faster. The less your hard drive has to work the longer it will last. I have had drives running 24/7 under almost constant loads running with Diskeeper that have been going strong for 8 years or more.
The program has a user-friendly dashboard that makes it easy to get all your settings just the way you want them. Once it is all set up, you will never have to open the dashboard again unless you want to do a check on the statistics that the program generates.
The only time we do not recommend using a defrag program is if you are using a solid-state drive. These types of drives do not require defragging. In fact, it can actually be harmful to a solid-state drive. All other mechanical drives should be defraggmented.
Hopefully this tutorial has helped answer some of the questions about defraggmenting and how important it is to use a good quality program like Diskeeper. Not only will you have a faster computer, you will have a long lasting hard drive as well!
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