My choice for freeware Friday this week is MyDefrag — it gives you the option to defrag your Windows PC hard disk when your system is in screensaver mode. That means it’ll let you defrag your computer when you’re not even around.
One of my biggest complaints with Windows XP was its inability to schedule its built-in defragmentation tool. Microsoft remedied that problem with Windows Vista and later versions, but there’s still room for improvement. The best time to defragment a computer is when it isn’t in use. That’s why I like MyDefrag and its integrated option to run it when your system is in screen saving mode.
This freeware works on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and newer versions of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, even including Windows Server 2003 or 2008.
High levels of file fragmentation cause everything from poor performance to file errors.
Any defragmentation tool is better than nothing. And scheduling is nearly always better than a manual routine. While some defragmentation software makers opt to reinvent the wheel by building their own routines for how files should be moved, MyDefrag relies on the defragmentation code that’s already in Windows. This makes the program not only effective but safe.
MyDefrag offers a number of options around optimization — and you can preschedule all of them. The crown jewel of this program is the ability it gives you to set up defragmentation for whenever your screensaver kicks in. I’ve found this to be the best method for maintaining a system. After all, when the screen saver is running, you know the system isn’t in use. It’s free — a great reason to check out MyDefrag.com
The folks behind MyDefrag explain how this tech differs from everything out there. Here’s an excerpt.
MyDefrag is extremely solid because it is based on the standard defragmentation API by Microsoft, a system library that is included in Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008, and Win7. Most defragmenters are based on this API, including the free defragmenter that comes with Windows and many commercial defragmenters. Basically all MyDefrag does is send “move this file to that location” commands to the API. The API is part of the operating system and can safely move almost any file on the disk, without risk and while the computer is in full use.
I like free stuff! Even more so when it does something useful like this!
Defrag makes a big diff on OLD pc’s for sure.
Nice find!
-RAP, II