If you really want a computer in tip top shape, then you’d better be prepared to make some efforts to keep it this way. Many users would rather have their OS re-installed than bother with all sorts of applications designed to make the computer do its best in terms of performance. As generally nothing comes free, more and more users tend to employ the tools included in the operating system. They are quite useful for a beginner, but an average user knows that using them should only be temporary and transitioning to third party instruments will lead you to better results.

Windows comes equipped with Disk Defragmenter, a utility designed to compact the disk files and this is generally the first option when it comes to improving disk access time. But despite the fact that it is shipped with Windows, the tool is no magician when doing its job. It will simply perform a basic defragmentation process of your files and that is it.

But what few users know is that defragmentation tools can be found in freeware state and they perform quite good. Disk Defrag from AusLogics Inc is a free utility specially designed to help you “gather” the files stored on disk. The result of this activity will be a faster disk access time for read/write operations. What this translates into is that during copying or moving the files to one drive or another, the process will be more speedy.

Choose a hard drive from an easy-to-read pull-down menu, and Disk Defrag instantly displays the drive’s size, and used and free space. The program even displays a pie graph for visual learners. One click starts the defragmentation process. The program’s defrag process screen displays another handy visual. A sector map makes it easy to see how much of the drive is fragmented, allocated, or free. As the program churns away, the defragged sectors are displayed in blue.

In order to compact the files on another disk you will have to press Back button or press Finish and restart the application. As you can see the program has no advanced options and there is no analysis of the drive prior to the defragmentation process. There are no “set it and forget it” options available and the operations are on manual control. But despite these mischiefs the software does quite a good job and it is highly stable. There is no hassle while working with it and the procedure is pretty fast. In the end you will have an overall look at the before and after state of the disk.