Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

Why we have to manually start the disk defragmenter in Windows XP?.

share|improve this question

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

Because it is very disk intensive and it can slow down your system a lot. If an operating system did that without my intention I wouldn't buy it.

Although if you want you can schedule it to run.

share|improve this answer
3  
I guess you'll never buy Vista or Windows 7. They both defragment in the drive in the background. The trick is that they only do it when your computer is idle. – Dan Walker Jul 20 '09 at 6:34
2  
Let me rephrase: If an operating system defragged while I was using the computer, I would not buy it. No computer near me is ever idle ;) – John T Jul 20 '09 at 6:46
1  
I hate hearing the hard drive working, when I'm trying to. – Lance Roberts Jul 20 '09 at 6:49
Same, if my machine suddenly starts thrashing the HDD, I wonder what's wrong, and go to find out what the hell it's doing.. – Dentrasi Jul 20 '09 at 7:10
up vote 2 down vote

You don't have to. You can make the computer automatically start it for you.

Here's Microsoft's page on how schedule defragmentation with XP.

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

If you use JKDefrag or Mydefrag you can set defragmentation as your screensaver and it will start whenever your not busy. That solves all your problems!

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

Check out:

Allows you to select individual files to defrag, can be configured to execute in the background, can be scheduled to run automatically at specific times.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.