How To Defrag In Windows 8

.Dear Computer Lady,

I am my family’s go to tech person. I have been asked how to defragment a hard drive in Windows 7 which I know how to do but also how to do it in Windows 8 and 8.1 of which I have no idea.

I know that others would benefit from defragmenting their drives too.

Thank you for your help. Have a nice day and smile!

Thomas

Dear Thomas,

I can give you directions for how to defragment your hard drive in Windows 8 and 8.1, but first a little bit of information about defragmenting.

All modern versions of Windows, actually defragment your drives automatically in the background when your computer is turned on, but idle. Because of this, your computer will hardly ever need to be defragmented.

Also, a word of warning, if you have one of the newer SSD hard drives, you should NEVER defragment it. It will shorten the lifespan of your drive, and there will be no noticeable increase in speed. Windows will detect if your drive is an SSD, and not automatically defrag in the background.

With that information in mind, lets learn how to defrag your hard drive in Windows 8.

1. Click on the Windows Explorer icon on your taskbar. (looks like a manila folder)

2. Click on, “This PC” in the left column.

3. In the right side of the window, click once on your C: drive to select it, then right click on the drive and click, “Properties” in the context menu that appears.

4. In the disk properties dialog box, click on the, “Tools” tab, then click on the, “Optimize” button.

You will see a list of your hard drives, and how fragmented each drive is at the moment. If you see a drive that needs defragmenting, you can click to select it, then click the, “Optimize” button.

Elizabeth

 

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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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