No matter how careful you are, the content of your hard disk will become fragmented over the passage of time. This will happen quite naturally through the normal course of business as files are removed and new data is added. Rather than look for a space big enough for the new information, Windows will break the file into portions which can then end up in various locations on the hard disk rather than a contiguous area. This will have the effect of increasing read and write times plus slow down overall performance. Some even believe that fragmentation can cause random crashes and freeze-ups in certain circumstances.

The solution is to carry a defrag procedure. Windows does have such a built-n feature using software developed by Executive Software. Following a recent name change, Executive is now known as Diskeeper Corporation which is also the title of its flagship product. With its latest version 10, Diskeeper is available in various flavours aimed at different sectors of the market. This review is based on Diskeeper 10 Professional.

See also: Utility software

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Two benefits are immediately obvious with this latest commercial version of the software rather than the basic integrated version supplied with Windows. These benefits relate to speed of operation and increased functionality. Let's examine the speed issue first.

According to Diskeeper, the company rather than the product, the enhanced high-speed defrag engine at the heart of version 10 is up to five times faster than the built-in defragmenter. I have no arguments with this claim although I have no actual timings to back it up. Defragmentation certainly seems to be completed a lot quicker whether the process is activated manually or forms part of a scheduled operation in conjunction with the program's "Set It and Forget It" feature with different settings being created for individual drives.

Schedules can be set up by the user, my preferred choice, or there is an option to let Diskeeper create its own schedule based on its built-in intelligence and monitoring of your system habits. Scheduling options are not the only area to benefit from increased functionality.

For critical system files, there is a Boot Time mode available while a Frag Shield can be implemented to reduce the possibility of critical system files being fragmented. You have the choice of a quick, recommended or comprehensive defrag plus an option to only defrag large files to the point when access time is improved - thus reducing wasted effort. A disk priority option allows you to have the defrag process automatically suspended if disk I/O activity is detected. You can also set the CPU priority level. Laptop users can apply a power management feature whereby background defragmentation is suspending if battery power is being used.

The interface for Diskeeper 10 has been redesigned with the emphasis placed firmly on the ease-of-use aspect. A Quick Launch pane provides quick access to the program's various functions plus comprehensive help. There is also plenty of feedback during the various operations and a log kept of all activity conducted by the program. Reports can be viewed on-screen or sent to the printer.

I have been using Diskeeper for several years and will continue to use this latest version to take advantage of its extra speed and increased functionality. The Professional version of the software should run on any version of Windows from 98 onwards. The product's online price has been set at £44.64.

http://www.diskeepereurope.com/en/03_eb/xhtml/dk_pro_overview.htm