Quick PC Tune-up

Quick And Easy PC Tune-Up"

Although the tips on this page may be obvious to most, many new computer users need a reminder to perform regular maintenance on their computer's hard disk.

By Joe Ebner

It begins to be noticeable. Your personal computer seems to take more time to boot and load programs each time you use it. And, you become aware that the hard disk is nosily thrashing around. You're thinking "it didn't act like this before. Is something wrong?"

If this is you then your PC is a due for a little tune up. Don't worry -- you don't have to open the hood, get grease on your hands, or take the chance of rapping your knuckles on a stubborn bolt. You don't even have to buy any tools. If you use Windows 95 or even Windows 3.1 under DOS, you already have them.

New and inexperienced computer owners often fail to perform regular disk maintenance on their systems simply because no one told them it was necessary. Just like with your car, regular computer up-keep will help keep it running at maximum speed and efficiency.

But, before you perform a PC tune up you should educate yourself on how you computer works in order to understand why it needs to be done on a regular basis.

How Your PC Stores Files

An interesting thing about PC's is the fact that when your computer writes data to your hard disk, it slaps it down just about anywhere it wants to. The hard disk is constantly spinning beneath the disk heads that float just above it. Whenever the computer calls for a write to the disk, it just puts the data down in a random fashion on the first empty area is comes across. If the empty area is not large enough to hold all the data in the file it's writing, it breaks it up into portions and deposits the parts onto the disk in different areas.

This is a fast way to get data to the disk, but it's also a very sloppy process. After writing to the disk a number of times, your files have a tendency to get broken up into bits and pieces that are spread out all over the disk. Some of these files will be arranged on the disk in order while others may be placed in unrelated sections.

Every time your computer needs a file, it first refers to the File Allocation Table or FAT on your hard disk. The FAT is like a map of the disk that shows the location of all the files on the disk. Your PC looks in the FAT for the location of the file it needs, then moves the disk heads to the place on the disk where the file should be and waits for the file to appear under the heads. After the file appears under the heads, the computer loads it into memory (RAM) for processing. If your computer needs to get more than one file, or if the file is broken up into segments, it then has to go back to the FAT, then to the new position on the disk for the rest of the file. The process is repeated as many times as needed to get everything your computer needs to complete the task of loading all it the data it needs into memory.

As you can see, all this disk activity takes time. Granted, not very much time, but it still hangs things up for a microsecond or two. And those microseconds soon begin to add up. And, it gets worse as files are added, modified, or otherwise worked on.

Keep in mind that this is a normal process. Depending on how you use your PC, your computer will store files in one or more chunks scattered around the disk. As the process continues over time it will begin to slow your system down.

If you are running DOS 6.0 or later, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95, you already have two nice tools on your system that will help you clean up your disk and check it for errors.

Using ScanDisk

The first tool you should run is a program called ScanDisk. ScanDisk is a program that will check your hard disk for such things as lost clusters and chains and corrects these problems if you elect to have the program do so. ScanDisk will also check your hard disk for any physical defects that will cause it to have problems storing files. If it discovers any areas that will bring about problems in the future it will mark these areas as unusable and files won't be written to these areas.

To run the ScanDisk program, just type scandisk from the DOS prompt. It will display its opening screen where you can select any program options to run before the program actually begins. There are two options that should be noted here that produce reference files you could use later on. The first option allows you to save any files that are found to have errors to a floppy disk in the event you need to restore the original. Ninety-nine percent of the time you won't need to save these files, but if it make you feel better to have a back-up, then do it. Another option will let you create something called an undo disk. I recommend NOT using an undo disk because the least bit of activity can cause loss of important data if one or two files are changed on the disk.

ScanDisk will look at all the files on your disk and repair any problems that it finds. When its finished, it will display a dialog box titled Problems Found that lists any files it found with errors and the action it took to correct those files. It will also ask you if you would like to save any questionable data it ran across. Unless you're missing some data or having problems with any programs, just choose the delete option.

After ScanDisk finishes checking the file structure of your disk, it will ask you if you would like to check your disk for surface defects. If this is the first time you have run ScanDisk, I think it would be a good idea to go ahead and let the program check the surface. Thereafter, you only need to run this part of the program every few months. If ScanDisk happens to find any areas on your disk that are defective, it will mark these areas as not usable and prevent any data from being placed in them.

The size of your disk reflects the amount of time it will take ScanDisk to check the surface. The larger your disk - the longer it will take to complete the process. ScanDisk estimates the time it will take to do its job, but count on it taking a bit longer. If you elect to check the surface, start the program and go do something else for a while. This takes some time to complete.

When the program is complete it will provide you with a report detailing what it has done to correct any problems you may have had with your disk and how ScanDisk handled them. You can either view the report on your screen, save it to a text file, or print it out for later reference.

Exit the program and start the next process of cleaning up your disk

Using DeFrag

To get all the files back in order on your disk, it's a good idea to defragment the disk every now and then. Defragging your disk puts all your data and any corresponding files back into consecutive order with each file stored in one location on your disk. It also re-writes the FAT to correspond to the new file locations. Any files that are broken up into sections and spread out on the disk are put back together - all lined up nice and neat so that your computer can find them faster. The end result keeps the disk heads from thrashing about all over the disk searching for the files that your computer needs.

DOS and Windows users already have a disk defragmenter that works quite nicely. You run this tool from the DOS prompt by typing defrag and pressing the enter key. (Windows 95 users see the note below.) The program will start with an opening screen that presents you with a few options. To gain maximum benefit of the program you should choose the full optimization option each time you run defrag. Depending on how long it's been since you last defragged the drive, and what the capacity of the drive is, it may take a while to get things done. You can go do something else while the process continues.

When the program is finished it will display a dialog offering you a choice of working on another drive or exiting. If you have another drive you may as well defrag that one also. You cannot defragment a CD ROM drive. Exiting Defrag will return you to the DOS prompt.

Depending on how you use your computer defines how often you should run Defrag. A good rule of thumb is to run it about every month or so. If you use applications that write to your disk often - say word processing or spreadsheets - or you use your computer on a daily basis then you should run it more often to keep your system running as fast as possible.

About Disk Compression Utilities

Beginning with the release of DOS 6.0, MS Windows 3.1, and MS Windows 95 disk compression software became available with disk operating systems as an included utility. There are also commercial compression packages available for users of older DOS systems that don't include compression, one being Stacker. Although these utilities free up vast amounts of hard disk space, often allowing up to twice as much storage space, they do not achieve this remarkable feat without a penalty. Translating the data to and from a compressed state takes a small amount of time - resulting in slower access times. It's best to avoid using these utilities if you can.

If you find that you need more storage space it may be better to consider the purchase of a new hard disk. Prices are very reasonable for good hard disks of 1Gb or more. And, the enhanced electronics used for controlling the drive are much better than even a year ago. Your PC vendor will be more than happy to help you choose and install an additional hard disk to your system. Use the compression software only if you must and be prepared to take a performance hit if you do.

Precautions

It's always a good idea to back up your hard disk before you attempt to do any work on it. This gives you a working copy you can use to restore your disk if you find yourself in trouble. Again, Windows 95 and 3.1 users will find a handy back-up utility already installed on their computers. See your Windows documentation or help file on using the included back-up application.

If you don't have your disk backed up, at least copy the data you consider irreplaceable onto floppy disks or other removable media.

Note: If you don't have your disk backed up and doing any work on it results in the loss of a program, program function, and/or data, you will have to re-install the affected programs/data from another source.

A Note To Windows 95Ž Users

Users of Microsoft's Windows 95 can access these same programs from the Start button. The tools can be found under Accessories - System Tools. Select either Disk Defragmenter or ScanDisk from the menu depending on the program you wish to run. The selected program will launch from there without exiting to the DOS prompt.