Free Disk Defragmenter Increases Performance (Of Computer)

I put my computer through hell.  I am constantly testing new software applications to find out what new technology is out there that can help make firms more productive.  This constant installing and uninstalling of applications puts a toll on my laptop.  Using Windows Vista, you’d think I would be happy with keeping my disk drive “defragmented” from its built-in tool.   However, I have noted a marked decrease in performance the past two weeks and I know it is all due to my testing of software.  Apparently Vista’s disk defragmenter isn’t doing enough. 

I went on a search for a better defragmentation application.  While researching PerfectDisk by Raxio (the one with the most awards by reviewers), I noted in forums that a rivalry was going on between PerfectDisk fans and fans of a free defragmentation program called JKDefrag.  I had already started testing PerfectDisk, but was intrigued enough by the sharp discourse to stop testing PerfectDisk and test out the free one.

JKDefrag is the brainchild of Jeroen Kessels, a website programmer.  For those who aren’t familiar with what hard drive fragmentation is, he offers the following explanations on his site:

What is “disk optimization”?
Imagine a big library with lot’s of books, spread out all over the building and not sorted whatsoever. There is an index telling you exactly where every book is, but you will have to walk a lot when you need several books. This is exactly what happens on your harddisk, the files that belong to an application can be all over the place, anywhere on the harddisk. Optimization will bring all the files together in one place, leaving the rest of the harddisk empty, and will sort the files, for example alphabetically.

Installing it was ridiculously simple.  You download a compressed zip file, decompress it to a folder, then run the windows version.  It automatically defragments and optimizes your hard drive.  Working through my two partitions (100 GB physical drive) took it around 45 minutes.  And it worked beautifully.  My computer’s performance has been restored and I didn’t have to pay a penny.  I have no idea whether PerfectDisk is good or not – if I can get the job done with a free utility, there’s no need to test one that costs money.

The program doesn’t install any extra files and can be run from a flash drive – meaning you can carry it around and improve the performance of other computers in your office without having to install anything on their hard drives.  Further, you can set it to run on a schedule using Window’s built-in scheduler.  Instructions on how to do this is on his site.  There is even a way to have it run as a screensaver, though I wouldn’t recommend using it in that way – you don’t want to run a defragmentation program too often.  Although Kessels recommends scheduling it for once a day, I would only run it once a week.

I strongly recommend this program.  To test it out for your self, visit his website at http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/index.html.

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