ARCHIVED: In Windows 95, 98, and Me, how do I run Disk Defragmenter?

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Note: UITS recommends that you use a current version of Windows on computers connected to the Indiana University network; see Recommended Windows operating systems at IU.

Note: It's generally a good idea to run ScanDisk before running Defragmenter; see ARCHIVED: In Windows, how can I check a disk for errors? Also, Windows NT will not run Disk Defragmenter if it is formatted as an NTFS partition.

In Windows 95, 98, and Me, to run Disk Defragmenter:

Click Start, and then select Run....
In the "Open:" field, enter:
```
  defrag X:
```
Replace X: with the letter for the drive you wish to defragment, for example:
```
  defrag c: 
```

You can also run Disk Defragmenter using this process:

Click the Start button, select Programs, and then select Accessories.
Click System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

If your hard drive is badly fragmented, running Disk Defragmenter will improve its seek time and sustained transfer rate. If you have Windows 98 or later, it will optimize your hard drive so that it takes less time to load applications.

Note: Large hard drives can take several hours to defragment, up to two hours per gigabyte.

For more optimization tips, see ARCHIVED: Why is my Windows computer running slowly?