In one of my previous posts I listed 10 third party defragmenting programs and I mentioned that Windows includes its own defragmenter. One reader complained that I didn’t describe how and where this Windows tool can be found. So here it is:

In Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter can be found in Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Disk Defragmenter. You can analyze your disk first and based on the report, you can decide if you need to defragment or not.

Windows Vista comes with an automatic disk defragmenter tool that is enabled by default. It is set to run at 1am every Wednesday but you can disable or change this. To access Disk Defragmenter, click the Start button, Control Panel and then System and Maintenance. Choose Defragment your hard drive under Administrative Tools.

A quicker way: Press the Windows button on your keyboard or click the Windows logo (Start) on the screen, type Disk Defrag in the Search field and press Enter. Once you see the defragmenting options in the next window, you can decide if you want to schedule regular defragmenting or just do it immediately. I prefer the second option, because I don’t keep my PC on all the time and I want to choose when the defragmenting is done.

Please check my other post to read why defragmenting is important.