Maintaining you system!

If you use your system like most of us the files and sectors on your harddisk becoming corrupted and fragmented. There is something we can do about this. On the Start button under Programs..Accessories...Systems Tools, you will find Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter.

       Scandisk      

  Scandisk goes through your drive (s) and finds problems and corrects them. If you have Windows 98 or a later release of WIn95 you probably have run it whether you knew it or not. If you close your computer by just turning it off, or used Ctrl ALt Del, your computer, (when restarting) automatically runs Scandisk. This was a change that Microsoft wrote into the software because of the problems that are caused to the disk when just shutting off the computer..not using the Start-Shutdown procedure that we all should use.

So...run scandisk every once in a while to keep your harddisk in order! And....don't forget to use the Start Shutdown procedure!

Disk Defragmenter

  Disk Defragmenter is a process where the information on your Harddisk is placed contiguously. Well what does that mean you ask! Let's start from the beginning.

  When you use your machine the information is gathered from the Harddisk. When saving the information it is sometimes placed out of order. After many hours of use, opening, saving, and reopening, and resaving the information, the data becomes fragmented, or ....out of order. Since the information  is gathered each and every time we open files, files will take longer to open if the pieces are spread across the hard-drive. That's where Disk Defragmenter comes in. It does just what it says..it defragments the disk!  I run it every month..

So..now that you know what they do..when and how should they be used..

Well here's what I do..

Every month or so in the late night..before bedtime..I start Scandisk and set it to run on all drives using the Thorough parameter. It takes quit a while to run, especially if you have 4 drives. I turn off the monitor and just leave it run overnight. In the morning I turn on the monitor to find all my disks Scanned!

I then run Defragmenter that next night...which also takes a while. I do the same thing, turning off the monitor and finding my disk Defragmented in the morning..all clean and reading for the next months work!

I want my machine to run at its peak. If you do too..run Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter!

Back to the square