Just open disk defragmenter (search it in the start bar) then click on your hard drive (your computer) and click the first button analyse then it will look for any fragmented files (doubles) and if the percentage is more than 0.0% then click defragment!
If using a 3rd party defrag program, make sure the Windows buit in is not scheduled to defrag during the time the 3rd party app is running. My first surprise with Vista was running MyDefrag only to have the system start running the buit in defrag in the middle of the MyDefrag processing. That's the only time I remember MyDefrag crashing on me!!
I too like Puran btw. :)
edit: as far as the OP's question of what to do... try various things until you develop a personal preference. Nearly all defrag programs these days use the Widows defrag API calls. Those should be relatively safe. From there it's a matter of how thorough or "light" a defrag you want etc... My personal preference is to have the partition at 70% free space or higher and do a very "light" defrag, often. But that's my prefernce. You'll develop your own with experience.
Different defraggers might give different estimates of fragmentation because some ignore files larger than a certain size (perhaps > 10's of Mb) as defragging them is slow and doesn't offer performance benefits.
The Windows defragger is good at organising Windows files for good boot times but it does nothing to organise data and programs, it just defrags. 3rd party defraggers usually attempt to improve performance accessing these files.
The purpose of removing junk files with a utility like CCleaner is to free up space. If an optimized type of defrag is ran, system and program files can be placed in the outer regions of the disk drive where the junk files were removed. I setup computers to run a weekly maintenance routine - - CCleaner, defrag, antivirus scan, Malwarebyte's scan. By removing the junk files first, the subsequent steps run quicker.
When analyzing the extent of fragmentation, it is important to note if the measurement is based upon size or number of files. It really depends on the program because some report size and some report files and some like Puran report both. Generally, the number of files is much more important than size. The size may be quite large but only be a few fragments which would not noticeably affect performance. Once optimized, most of the system files should not fragment again because they are read only - - until the program is updated or Windows Update runs.
Before using CCleaner, it is important to become educated on it. It can/does cause problems if some things are checked such as MS Search, most security programs, etc..
If you are posting to me I'm completely aware what Ccleaner can and can not do. To me defragging once a week is excessive but each to their own.
Layback Bear:
One of the posters mentioned an understanding that if CCleaner was ran then the drive should be defragged. Later, you said "One has nothing to do with the other". Well, there is a relationship of tasks though both are separate standalone programs. So I was simply explaining that relationship and why a junk file cleaner is often ran before a defrag. The cleaner could be CCleaner, TFC, BleachBit, etc.. I did assume that you (a senior member) understood how CCleaner works.
A simple defrag every day will not hurt anything or cause any additional wear on a disk drive because it only moves file segments that would require multiple searches anyway. Optimizing the folder/file order on a disk drive is another matter as it will move many files that are not fragmented.
I saw several posts mentioning Puran and Chkdsk. Four of the six Boot Time Defrag routines include running chkdsk.
I recommend NOT checking the box for "Fill Gaps to Avoid Frequent Fragmentation" found under the Additional Operations tab. When this option is checked, Puran will freeze during Boot Time scans on some disk drives. I believe this problem was first reported in version 4 and still persists in version 7.6. I saw it yesterday on a system with a WDC disk drive but I do not know if the error is caused by the disk drive, the HDD controller, motherboard chipset, or a combination. This system froze at Filling Gaps 38% for several hours. It is a rare problem but can be avoided by not using the Filling Gaps option.
As for Windows 7 defrag utility, is it not still DiskKeeper Lite? I believe it was Windows 2000 that Microsoft incorporated DiskKeeper Lite as their integrated defrag program and has been using it ever since. I am sure one of the W7 gurus can correct me if W7 has a different defrag utility.
I've been reinstalling os to make a new up to date slipstreamed ghost image. Came accross puran in another post. Just did a boot time defeats and blew windows boot defrag out of the water. I noticed my computer on first boot afterwords acted like it didn't have any prefetch or superfetch data even though the 6 traces and folder were there from before. On the second restart after defrag got to desktop twice as fast vs windows ever did. Both windows and puran boot were a done a day apart. So my opinion there are better programs then what windows offers. Gets old hearing ppl say don't use anything other then windows default. Your missing in that way of thinking. This is a keeper for sure. Even better then ultimate defrag IMO.
Thanx all, I think my best bet is to stick with the built in defrag since I don't know much about computers & wouldn't know what to do if I caused myself a problem by trying a 3rd party one. Heck, I don't even know what you mean by "boot defrag".
Will go ahead & mark as solved.
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