Why We Defragment

Defragmenting is an essential part of regular computer maintenence. It can help speed up your computer by placing files back in order. Whenever you delete or move a file, gaps occur. Then, when you install a new file onto your computer, if the file is larger than the old gaps,  part of this new file will fill in the these gaps. This is the "fragmenting", a file that has been split into multiple parts.
A fragmented hard drive slows down because it has to work harder to find all the pieces of one particular file before it can use the file. It is a lot faster to look at a completed puzzle, than to put the puzzle together!
Now, if you use your PC mainly for the internet and a few documents, you don't need to worry about defragmenting your hard drive more than once a month. However, if you play games, music, movies, etc. on your PC, it might be helpful to defragment about twice a month. Basically, the more often you take away from and add things to your PC, the more often you will need to defragment.
Using the Windows defragmenter is very simple. I reccomend defragmenting at night, as it can take quite a bit of time depending on the amount of fragmentation on your hard drive and other variables. I would also reccomend deleting any unnecassary files before hand. CCleaner, which I reviewed here,  is a great program for doing that. To defragment either Windows XP or Windows Vista, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter. With Windows XP, to schedule a regular time for your PC to defragment itself, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks>Add Scheduled Task. With Windows Vista, follow the path Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Task Scheduler.
If you have any questions, about this or any other of my posts, feel free to ask in the comments or click on the "Contact" button at the very top of this page.

CCleaner: Your PC Wants It

CCleaner is an amazing little program (about 2.7 Mbs installed) that helps keep your computer fresh and clean. It is simple to use, and Piriform (the company that makes it) works hard to keep CCleaner up to date.  I have personally been using CCleaner for well over a year. It has helped keep my PC running like new.
CCleaner cleans out your browsers cookies, history, temporary files and more. You are able to customize what you would like cleaned and what you would like left alone by placing checkmarks in boxes next to the cleaning options.

CCleaner also has a registry cleaning feature. You are able to scan for issues and then fix selected issues. You can save a backup of your registry before fixing, as well. CCleaner has many other useful features, such as add/remove programs, and the ability to view and delete old restore points.

Piriform supports CCleaner and its other applications through donations and the inclusions of the Yahoo toolbar in its installers. If you do not need the Yahoo toolbar, be sure to uncheck the option when installing CCleaner.

All in all, I highly recommend CCleaner. It is a versatile, highly customizable, and easy to use program with many helpful features. Plus you can't beat the free price tag!