Sep 27
A “fragmented” hard disk, in which large files are stored in discontiguous sectors, makes read and write heads work overtime and puts a drag on performance. Fortunately, Windows Vista, by default, performs disk defragmentation for you as a weekly scheduled task, so you shouldn’t have to worry about fragmentation. The “defrag” utility (defrag.exe) runs as a background task, silently shifting the furniture while your system is idle. (The default schedule has defrag running at 1 am. If your machine is turned off at that hour, the task runs as soon as possible after you come back online. It always runs as a low-priority background task, however, so you shouldn’t find it obtrusive.)
