Windows 7 - How do you defrag?

I decided it was time to defrag my Windows 7 computer, but I can't find out how. "Search" tells me that there is no listing. I have IObit's "Smartdefrag" but I have learned in the past not to use third party defraggers.

Anybody have any helpful suggestions?

If you don't want to use a third party defragger, go to My Computer > Right click the disk you want to defrag > Click Properties > Go along to Tools and hit Defragment.

Disk Defragmenter - Open and Use

You're right, jloc. The defrag was right where it has always been on older editions of Windows. I don't know why I couldn't find it. It works fine. Thank you.

Perhaps someone could explain why people use third party defraggers when the one that comes with Windows works fine.

After doing a search for your question I ran across this thread and posts.
the best defragment program?

Start with # 18 and read on...
Hope this helps.
THW

Thank you, Howling Wolves. I posted on that thread that ever since Windows 95, I have used Microsoft's built-in defragger and have never had a problem.

I bounce back and forth with some of the 3rd party ones but always come back to our built in one.
Thanks for getting back to us.
THW

Auslogics free defragger and Puran free defragger are two very good third party defraggers and free. Try out Puran.

After ten years using Auslogics superior Disk and Reg defraggers, I switched to Puran free to get the boot-time defrag which can get at System files. There is also on the Additional Operations tab an Intelligent Optimizer that moves most-used files to the outer edge of HD for faster reads, which can noticeably speed up an older HD.

The built-in defrag as well as the others mentioned in this thread are a reactive approach to fragmentation and provides a temporary solution to an on-going problem. Just because you defrag your PC, doesn’t mean the problem has been solved. The minute you finish running your defrag, your PC will once again start accumulating increasingly more fragmentation with each and every use, so you feel like you are fighting a losing battle.

It also means that your PC is wasting resources by first writing fragmented files to your hard drive, and then requiring the defrag engine (built-in or other defrag only solution) to go to work locating and consolidating your files so that they that they are contiguous. This reactive, after-the-fact approach to fragmentation still leaves you vulnerable to an unreliable and slow performing PC.
The ideal solution is fragmentation prevention. Implemented as a proactive solution it provided a more complete solution that keeps your disk performing at optimum speeds at all times. Diskeeper is unique as it combines the best of both worlds by automatically handling any fragmentation that is already hurting your disk performance, and combining that with a fragmentation prevention technology that stops future fragmentation before it happens.

When your files are written to the disk contiguously (without fragmentation) rather than scattered across your disk, your PC doesn’t have to work as hard to read or write your files. Plus as an added bonus, the reduction in disk activity actually extends the life of your hard drive by an additional 1-3 years - saving you money in replacement costs.
Send me a private message for further information.
Thanks,
Howard

have never defragged any of my win 7 machines -- yet...i always read (was told ? lol ) as not necessary with win 7.