Perform system disk maintenance

Improving performance:
Over time, you might notice your computer running slower. One of the main causes for this is Disk Fragmentation. Fragmentation occurs when data is stored in an unorganized manner on your hard drive. Eventually this can slow down your system because the hard drive has to look all over for different parts of one file.

To clean up the hard drive and put the files back together you can use the Windows XP Defragmentation Utility. We recommend running this at least every six months.

To use the Windows XP Defragmentation Utility:

1. Double click on My Computer
2. Right click on the C: drive (or any other drive letter to you would like to defrag.)
3. Select Properties
   
4. Click on the Tools tab
   
5. Click on Defragment Now…
6. Click on Defragment at the bottom of the Disk Defragmenter window

Note: Defragmentation or “defragging” can take a long time. You can use your machine while the system is defragging your hard drive, but it will not perform well while defragmentation is running.

Checking and fixing disk errors:
You can use Check Disk to scan for and fix errors on your hard drive. It is a good idea to run this around the same time you use the disk defragmenter.

To use Check Disk utility Utility:

1. Double click on My Computer
2. Right click on the C: drive (or any other drive you would like to check)
3. Select Properties
4. Click on the Tools tab
   
5. Under Error-checking click on Check Now
6. Check both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
7. Click on Start to begin. If you you run this on the C: drive, you will need to restart the computer before it can begin.
   

DO NOT run either Check Disk or Disk Defragmenter on the N:, S: and W: drives on campus computers. These are network drives.