It is known to all that disk defragmentation is a very effective way to improve PC performance. But as we all know that it is a so time-consuming action to defragment the PC with the windows built-in defragmenter. Moreover, after the defragmentation, fragmentation will come again and show increasing trend, which will eventually slow down the computer, and shorten the lifespan of the hard disk. But if you try the methods below, you can solve this problem soon.

We all know that, no matter what the computer is used for, as long as it is running, there will be the allocation of the files on the hard disk, which result in fragments on the hard disk, especially when we create/ delete/ remove files from the computer. So we can effort from the sides below to move some computer files to other drives to prevent too many fragmentations coming in the program drive(C) to improve PC performance.

1) Move virtual memory. By default, when there is not enough available physical memory for a running program, windows will automatically generate a file named win386.swp, and there will be lots of fragments coming when the hard disk read and write this file, so it is recommended that you can remove the virtual memory page files to a drive which is not frequently used. You can right click My Computer ->Properties->Advanced->Performance -> Settings ->Advanced tab within the popping –up window -> click Change within Virtual Memory. Here, you can move the temporary paging files to any drive you like. What you need to do is first highlight the drive, and then custom the initial size and maximum size, and then press Set button to save the change.

2) Move windows temporary files. When window is running some specific action such as unzipping some files, it will be first saved at a defaulted temp directory. If we can run these files quickly, it will significantly speed up computer, so a movement of the windows temporary file is needed: first please go to create a temp directory in the drive as you like (take D drive as an example), and then right click My Computer ->Properties->Advanced->Environment Variables, drag the end of the System Variables to find TEMP and TMP, and then change the value of them to D:\temp. This change will take effect after rebooting the computer.

3) Move the IE temporary folder. When surfing the internet, IE will generate a large number of temporary files within the directory: Temporary Internet Files (normally in C:\windows\Temporary Internet Files). Most of the time, the hard disk will frequently read and write these temporary files, slowing down the computer, so it is needed to move it to other drive: First you can go to create a new directory in other partition, and then go to Start -> Control Panel -> Internet -> click Settings within Internet Temporary Files -> click “Remove folders” to the directory you just created.

4) Move the history folder. Normally, history will be saved under the directory: C:\Windows\History, we can move it to other partitions like D drive. First, please go to create a new History folder within D drive, and then open registry editor, find  HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserShell Folders and then double click the History entries, change its value from C:\Windows\History to D:\History.

Above are some movements that we can easily do in our daily life to prevent more fragments on the program drive, improving PC performance. But if you are not very professional on computer, it is much better that you can regularly defragment the computer with a defrag program to always optimize computer performance.