Computer Truths (Tips & Tricks)

Smooth Out the Defrag

• Many people have problems running the Windows defragmentation program. The program seems to start perfectly fine, but after it reaches 10 percent or even 20 percent, it keeps restarting itself, telling you the "Drive contents have changed."
• This happens because there are all sorts of "invisible" programs running in the background that keep changing the information on your hard drive. This makes the defrag process think it has to start all over again, when it really doesn't need to.
• To run the defrag successfully:
• Go to Start, Run and type "msconfig" in the Open: box. Here is what you will see:

• Under the General tab, uncheck all the items listed under the
  Selective startup area (make sure that Selective startup is selected).
• Hit Apply and OK and then restart your computer.
• This will start Windows with only the basics running, so it ensures that nothing will interfere with the completion of the defrag.
• Now, go ahead and run defrag. When you're done, follow the same directions and go back into "msconfig" and select the Normal startup. You will then have to restart your computer again and everything will be back to normal.
• Just a reminder from yesterday's article, you can get to the defrag by going to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Defrag.

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