Have you ever defragmented?

[Mr.MouseFan]

Hi all.

Last night before I went to bed, I started the defragmentation on my C drive. Admittedly, this was the first time I've ever done so on this PC. I've had it for a year and a half.

Well, I went to bed and 8 or 9 hours later returned to my PC. Lo and behold, not even 1% was finished! So my question to anyone who has ever defragmented, how long does it take!?

Thanks!

 

[SPAGo 98]

you have to disconnect from the internet, turn your screensaver off, and shut down every single program running on your comp by using Ctrl+Alt+Del (everything except for Systray, Explorer and Defrag). If you don't do these, the process will restart every couple minutes.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Are you positive you have absolutely nothing running in the background (anti-virus, screensaver, etc) as anything like that will keep making it start over (not so with XP)?

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

Ah....I suppose that would help to shut everything down. I never knew that was necessary! Spago, Dan, thanks!

 

[KimRaye]

Hmmm, and I'm currently having trouble doing the same thing myself. I've done it before, every couple months actually but, for some reason, after deleting about a 1/3 of my 'junk' last night, I'm having trouble getting past 10% completed. Keeps telling me Drive's Contents Changed: Restarting. I'm not very happy.

Mr.MouseFan, it used to take me a really long time at first but, I guess when it's done more regularly, it speeds up a bit. Last time I did it, right before the deletion process, it took about 1-1/2 hrs.

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

KimRaye, thanks for the time frame. One of the reasons I've never done a defrag is because I heard it took forever to do and I just didn't want to devote the time to it. 1 1/2 hours isn't bad. Thanks!

 

[mickey65]

I jsut did a defrag the other day too, and was running into the same problem. When I turned off all the programs including the screen saver it finally completed the job in about 2 hours. My last defrag was about 2 years ago.

 

[DVC-Don]

I defrag once a week right after "scan disk". Scan disk takes about 2 1/2 hours and then the defrag takes maybe 10 minutes. I do the scan disk overnight and then the defrag frist thing that morning (while I'm making coffee). I shut down the cable modem and any other programs running first.

 

[MarkRG]

I run it monthly, and it takes about 15 minutes. The longer you put it off, the longer it will take to do its job.

And yes, you ABSOLUTELY have to have NOTHING running, including:

• Screensavers
• Anti-Virus software
• MS Office Find Fast
• Anything in Start Button/Programs/Start Up
• Any of the Power Saving features under the Start Button/Control Panel/Power Management - all should be set to 'Never' turn off.

 

[KimRaye]

I just finished defrag'ing again! It took just under 1-1/2 hrs. and, I was restarted 8 times!! Once I got past 10%, I was restarted at 13, 17, 26, 64, 76, 84, 90 & 96%!! UGH!! It better go faster the next times I do this! Remember tho, I just deleted more than 1/3 of a bunch of junk (space) on my 'puter so, I'm happy about that!

WooHoo, fast as lightning I better be, next time!

Don't wait 2 years to do this and, don't be afraid of it! piratesmate & JimC gave me VERY good advice and, word for word instructions on how to delete stuff so, when you're ready, go for it!! Even this 'puter idiot figured it out (enough to make a difference for now, anyway)! DO IT!! If you're at all cautious, like I am, you won't delete anything you even THINK is important! Err on the side of caution, so to speak! You can always delete it later! Best Wishes Friends!!!

Kim

 

[imgoingtodisney]

how do you shut off the screensaver?

 

[KimRaye]

Originally posted by imgoingtodisney
how do you shut off the screensaver?

Don't know myself but, I can set it to 60 minutes..... Start, settings, control panel, display, screensaver, 60 mins. Don't see where or how to disable it but, I'm sure it's possible. SOMEONE here will know!

 

[helenabear]

To shut off your screen saver, just go into your Properties (quickest way is to Right Click on your background on your desktop) and then click on "Properties" Click on your "Screen Saver" tab and then set the Screen Saver to "None"

Also make sure you do what Spago said with the Ctrl+Alt+Delete (although if you haven't started the Defraging you won't have that one listed). And make sure that you are unplugged from your internet connection. I also (just to make sure) go to my Start button then "Run" and type in "winipcfg" and then click on "Release All" that way you can be sure that your computer won't be checking for a connection all the time too.

If all else fails, restarting in Safe Mode and doing the defraging from there works too.

 

[Mskanga]

I do a complete clean up on my pc weekly, it doesn't take me long because I have a program that cleans up all the junk when I logg off but defrag on the registry and the hard drives is done weekly, I find that if I let it go longer then I have problems.
I didn't know a thing about computers when I got one...man have I come a long way since then!!!

 

[JimC]

The best way to defrag is to restart your computer, hit the F8 key at the restart and then select safe mode to boot up Windows. You can tell you are in safe mode as your screen will look very different and "safe mode" is shown in each corner. That opens the minimal windows functions so that you are not going to have conflicts. Now use scan disk, then defrag. After you are done, reboot again and let the system open up as normal.

 

[Tiggeroo]

If I start my pc in safe mode, will anything be running? Will I still have to shut things down. What I worry about is if I shut something down, I won't remember how to turn it back on. I have probably never done a real defrag on any of the pc's in our house.

 

[newmousecateer]

I am going to have to print all this out so I remember how to do all this. I know this will sound stupid, but I can have Norton running since that is where my deframentation is, right?

Can I just fly one of you in to do this for me?

 

[damo]

If you've got Norton's Utilities, it asks you if you would like it to shut everything down while the defragging (speed disk) is going on. Say yes, and then Norton's will take care of the rest.

 

[coqui]

Originally posted by JimC
The best way to defrag is to restart your computer, hit the F8 key at the restart and then select safe mode to boot up Windows. You can tell you are in safe mode as your screen will look very different and "safe mode" is shown in each corner. That opens the minimal windows functions so that you are not going to have conflicts. Now use scan disk, then defrag. After you are done, reboot again and let the system open up as normal.

This is assuming you are running windows 9x.

Not NT, 2000, or XP.

 

[Serena]

Norton takes care of it nicely for me. I do it about once a month.