So you finally want to defragment your Windows? We’d understand. Not only does a fragmented hard drive scatter your Windows files, it also bogs it down and makes it less efficient and, therefore, slows down the launching of your apps and files.
Hence, defragmenting your drive can bring things back to normal as the hard drive gets optimized. Let’s learn how and when you can defragment your Windows computer.
How to defragment your Windows 10 or Windows 11
Although the feature of defragmentation comes enabled by default, the Windows computer lets you get your handy dirty as well. To defragment your Windows disk manually, simply follow the steps below:
- Go to the Start menu search bar, type in ‘defrag,’ and select Defragment and Optimize Drives.
- Choose the drive you want to defragment, and click on Optimize.
And that’s all, folks. Do this and your Windows drive will be defragmented in a few minutes. Moreover, if you’re interested, you can also modify the cadence of your defragmentation and set the whole process on a regular schedule. Here’s how:
On the Scheduled optimization section in the Optimize drive, click on Change settings. From there, click on the Frequency drop-down list, and pick from the following options: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
You can also pick the specific drives you’d like to set up the schedule for by clicking on Choose tab in front of drive. Alternatively, you can disable the automatic optimization schedule altogether, if you’d like. Simply uncheck the Run on a schedule (recommended) radio box, and you’re done.
Defragment your Windows with a third-party app
The Windows operating system has no dearth of third-party apps to make your life easier. In fact, that’s one thing that makes Windows such a pleasure to work with. Stuck in a rut with your work? Just get that app, and it’ll take care of your problem.
Similarly, there are a host of different apps that can defragment your Windows drive. In this article, we’ve decided to pick IOBit Smart Defrag 7. As far as we know, there isn’t much difference in terms of how and what the different defrag apps do. So you’re free to look around and choose the one you’d like.
Getting back to IOBit Defragmenter. Head to the official IOBit website and download the free version of Smart Defrag 7 from there. Launch the app when the download is complete.
The first thing you’ll see when you log in to Disk Defrag is the Disk Defrag tab. From there, you can defrag your disk simply by clicking on the disk drive or the Windows apps. You can also switch to the Boot Time Defrag and the Game Optimize tab, and carry out the optimization from the respective fields.
If it’s slow, Smart Defrag will take care of it. That’s what I’ve found to be the case with this app. Whether it’s a perpetually slow gaming experience, a slow boot-up that puts Windows XP to shame, or maybe it’s only just the deadbeat disk drive, Smart Defrag takes care of them all.
Defragmenting your Windows 10 or Windows 11
And that’s all about defragmentation of your Windows drives, folks. Hopefully, the steps we laid out above helped you get your drive defragmented for good. Before we end, though, make sure you schedule regular defragment sessions for your PC.