Over time, your PC can start to slow down. One regular practice to help pick up its pace is to defragment your hard drive. To do so, go to the Start Menu; Click on Accessories (Accessories may be found in your Programs folder); click on submenu System Tools, and then the Disk Defragmenter application. Once the program has opened, you are offered menu options that allow you to select a particular disk, analyze (which will recommend whether or not you need to defragment) and defragment.

How often you defrag your computer depends on the size of your hard drive and the amount of time you use your computer. The typical 4 hour/day user should defrag four times a year but some say once a month is a good rule of thumb.