kroozer

Poll ten users and expect ten different opinions. For some, defrag is akin to a religious rite they must practice weekly, while for some like me it is rarely ever. Provided with only hearsay and lacking any statistics on what may be considered usual or excessive, I can offer only an opinion: because I've yet to notice ANY performance improvement following defrag, my opinion is 'not more than necessary'. I may defrag after deleting bloatware and very large files, but not on a schedule. Because partially filled disks fragment less I maintain plenty of blank space. Members: I would be very thankful if anyone would provide us with a link to any statistical analysis supporting consistent performance improvement following defrag.

Defragging certainly has benefits, but consider the possible consequence of overuse.

The webpage cannot be found HTTP 400 etc Nathan's link is bogus.

I agree with mr don, the old chart is easier to interpret, but we do need input from other members. Let's hear it, mates!

NTFS is very efficient. I don't defrag anymore, my pc runs fast even when fragged at 60%, then all I have to do is delete the restore points and frag drops down to about 15%. Reporting from experience, defragging can increase the chance of corruption. The process also strains the hard drive actuator arm assembly, which may lead to early disc failure.

Monkey, what is your current WMP version? (I have 11.0.6001) I also have Power2Go, Ashampoo and Free CD Music Converter. Since the 2 sec gap cannot be disabled in my WMP, to burn an opera the best I can use is Power2Go, which cuts it to a split sec. Only my Sony tape deck can make a gapless copy !

That well-heated Pentium didn't fail, but it still may.

Some time ago I experienced a similar problem trying to overwrite Recycle Bin contents using Eraser. I solved this by: Folder options > View: tick 'Show hidden files and folders' and untick 'hide protected operating system files', opened up the $Recycle.Bin folder and deleted the recycle bin(s) inside it. Ignore the warnings because Windows will create a new recycle bin(s).

Are cluster tips overwritten during Free Space Wipe ?

You may have accidentally disabled system restore. Control Panel>Backup and Restore Center>Tasks>Create a restore point or change settings>System Properties>System Protection. Under Available Disks you must have your System drive ticked.

I've always understood we should have only ONE virus detector installed. "Running multiple antivirus programs concurrently can degrade performance and create conflicts." - Wikipedia

Did you have Advanced\Wipe Free Space ticked?

Gutmann claims the 35-pass overwrite is pointless. And I don't see anyone claiming to recover single-pass overwrites (on modern drives), either.

Free space wiper is unstable, prone to stalling, deleting restore points, etc. Why invite a headache? Wait until it gets fixed.

I see it this way, John; look at the big picture. These are really just temporary files. Every few days they are replaced. And being fragmented MAY effect your system by SLIGHTLY slowing down a restore. How often do you restore? I see no importance in defragging them. If you want to reduce your disc fragmentation substantially, simply eliminate those restore points/shadow copies.

Used AVG and Avira, settled with Avast. Fine product. Delivers an exciting siren !

slowday444, I have Avast on Vista SP1. Never failed to fulfill expectations. No problems whatsoever. Think back - something you've installed/tweaked is interfering with it. I doubt Windows Update is the culprit, but try restoring and then updating only ONE update at a time.

Just discovered - DVDFab HD Decrypter 6125 Free Edition 'never expire' expired after 30 days. Not renewable. Requires an unobtainable registration key. So much for Freeware.

Try it and see if it is right for YOU.

It being a Friday nite in the States (Sat. am in UK) forum traffic is a bit sparse. Just hang out for awhile and some expertize should come to the rescue.

elpepe: The first thing I would do is download the software again. Your copy may be corrupted. http://www.filehippo.com/search?q=recuva

Niracas, try this: After scanning for issues, click on the 'Fix selected issues' button on the lower right side of the window. When asked if you want to backup changes to the registry click yes. If you later want to unfix the changes you made just right click the backup file and click the bold face 'Merge'. I've not had to merge, yet. This is the best advice I can offer. You may wish to wait for more expert advice but this merge procedure should work ok, from the instructions I've read.

Bro, you got awesome braggin' rights! A budget-busting 50 Mbps connection, I presume.

With Qwest/Colorado, uploads in all connection plans are set at 896 Kbps. This includes the mighty 20 Mbps highway.