(About 2,135 words)

To defrag, or not to defrag? If you're looking for ways to speed WinXP
machines, then the answer is Not. 
By Carey Holzman, freelance writer; co-host of the nationally syndicated
talk show Computer America; instructor at Glendale Community College in Arizona; owner of a computer-repair business, and author of The Healthy PC. He
enjoys sleeping in his free time.  www.careyholzman.com / Carey@CareyHolzman.com

Defragmenting, of course, is the process of reorganizing all data on a hard
disk drive so that each file is arranged into a single uninterrupted, or
contiguous, location on the disk. Many system builders and technicians have
been taught, and still believe, that defragmenting hard disk drives on a
regular basis keeps PCs operating at peak performance. But that idea is
behind the times. 

While it was true that defragmenting helped older PCs, it no longer applies.
Today we have 7200-RPM (rotations per minute) hard disk drives with improved
seek and latency times; many also contain an 8 or 16 MB cache buffer. Let's
not forget Windows XP's ultra-efficient New Technology File System (NTFS).
For PCs, servers, and workstations equipped with these innovations,
defragmenting no longer makes much improvement, if any, to system
performance. 

This is even more of an issue with the new Serial ATA hard disk drives,
which are quickly becoming the new standard. Examples of SATA drives include
the Seagate Barracuda line <http://www.seagate.com/cda/newsinfo/newsroom/releases/article/0%2C%2C2733%2C00.html > and new 10,000-RPM IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) hard-disk drives, such as the Western Digital <http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=40> Raptor. 

Still, defragmenting remains an important task. Why? For one, power
consumption and heat can be directly related to an excessively fragmented
hard drive. When the computer's operating system requests data, if a file is
not contiguous, then extra seeking on the disk may be required. But a more
important consideration is disk failure. Should a hard drive fail, the
likelihood of successfully recovering data from the dead or damaged drive
improves significantly if the data is contiguous rather than randomly
scattered about the drive platters. 

The software companies that create defragmentation software would like you
to believe that their software does improve system performance. But my own
in-house testing refutes that, as do recent findings from Steve Gibson, PC
World and other system testers.

So What Works? 

Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance,
here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the computer's
performance and reliability. Best of all, most of them will cost you
nothing. 

1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use
the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in
Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with
an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8 or 16MB cache buffer. 

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a
relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system
performance. 

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not
sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon,
right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File
System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click
Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT
C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's
important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system
used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend
NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk
drives. 

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from
documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable
keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any
system. 

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside
a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know
the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search
functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing
service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of
the request to find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in
a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at
least one server. If you have no need for this search feature, I recommend
disabling it. Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next,
right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing
Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to
"C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message
appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and
configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS
properly, see this article on my site. <www.careyholzman.com/bios/index.html>

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP
can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently.
This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user.
That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with
references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens,
Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading
them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe
to delete. It will automatically rebuild itself with current frequently
used applications in no time.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My
Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click
the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph
-- and delete all temporary files. 

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to
the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary
IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode
is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then, repeat
this process with the Secondary IDE Channel. 

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard drive technology improves, the cabling
requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent.
Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the
connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard
sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a
single drive to the middle connector on this type of ribbon cable will cause
signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems
will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also,
because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each
drive on the cable is VERY important. For these reasons, the cable is
designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear. 

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware
by Lavasoft www.lavasoft.com or SpyBot Search & Destroy www.safer-networking.org.
Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if you really want the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. The applications mentioned above are great for removing
Spyware once it's been installed. To prevent the installation of 80% or more of future Spyware, download and install Microsoft's FREE anti-spyware utility <wwwlmicrosoft.com> and installing JavaCoolSoftware's SpywareBlaster www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html  For more information about
what Spyware is and how you unknowingly get infected with it, visit this Web
<http://www.tuglet.com/URLMRecordsTheURLThing.asp?nID=162957&f=www.webpronews.com/it/operatingsystems/wpn-22-20030610RemovingSpyware.html> Pro News
page. 

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup
routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click
Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any
items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items
are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library at www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/.    It contains
known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and
explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using
Google or another Web search engine. 

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs
section of the Control Panel. 

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active
desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows
XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First
click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced
tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play
around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter
the reliability of the computer, only its responsiveness. 

14.) If you are an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry,
try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP <www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx>

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion. 

16.) Update your anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make
sure you have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing
anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and
reliability. 

17.) Make sure you have fewer than 500 fonts installed on their computer.
The more fonts you have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP
handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of
Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax
the system. 

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs
more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate
partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating
system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a
folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D:
drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same
organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the
degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by
the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the
entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever.
That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data. 

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend
using a free program called MemTest86 www.memtest86.com/  The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you
have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be
repaired, only replaced. 

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web
site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the
recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free. 

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that
your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can
disable, visit the Black Viper site <http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12>
for Windows XP configurations. 

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then
taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My
Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab.
Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable
this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take
effect. 

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the
dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning
properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For
more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous
articles on my site. 

Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements
to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you
still want to defrag a disk, that's okay, just remember that the main
benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed
drive.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author.  The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.