Defrag frees up disk space, making your PC run more efficiently

Recently, I got into a serious problem. I could not Defrag my C drive as I had only about 1 per cent free space left. Defrag can only work when you have at least 15 per cent free space.

Defrag is a program which takes parts of data files on all segments of a computer hard disk from their fragmented state and groups them together in complete file segments. Parts of files are spread all over the disk in their fragmented state. Running Defrag makes it quicker for applications to find the files they need and frees up disk space, making the computer run more efficiently.

My problem was that I needed more space on my C drive where my Windows resides, as does the rest of my software. There is a little trick by which you can fool the computer into thinking that you have a larger C drive. In Windows XP you can mount partitions (C:\, D:\, E:\) as folders in another drive. Suppose you download all your movies on the folder c:\movies, you will need a lot of hard disk space. It is easier to buy a new 80 GB drive and mount it as a folder (C:\avi movies) in C:, then use this to store the movies and the music. Very simple and organised.

To mount disk partitions as folders, right click on My Computer and select Properties, and then Manage. Open ‘disk management’ from the computer management window. Right click on the partition you wish to mount as a directory in the graphical partition window (lower pane) and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Remove the current option (if any) and click Add. Choose the ‘Mount in the following empty NTFS folder’, browse to the desired volume and add a directory for your drive. Click OK. If you wish to return things back to the way they were, simply repeat the procedure, removing the directory location and choosing a drive letter instead. The data on the drive will be unharmed.

There is a very good software called Paragon Disk Hardware version 8.5. With this you can do basic and advanced partitioning: resize, move, hide, merge, restore and convert partitions without data loss. You can enhance your computer performance safely and quickly, convert file systems, defragment partitions and optimise their cluster size.

Also possible are a complete backup and restore. You can automate complex routine tasks too. Recovery Media, which comes with it, is a bootable CD containing full functionality of the program, additionally offering full access to all partitions on the local hard drives. Even if your computer is not starting you can boot from the recovery CD, access important documents and copy them to a secure place. You can also fix the operating system with special tools.

iGoogle

Have you switched over to the new iGoogle as yet? If not, I seriously advise you give it a try. All you have to do is go to www.google.com/ig. Here you will find that you can give your blank Google page a completely new look. Of course, you must have a Gmail account to be able to do this. Remove the default panels on the Google page and click on Add stuff after you log in. Choose the stuff you like. For instance, you may want the weather in your area, news from BBC, CNN or The Telegraph. You can have the latest articles from Wired magazine displayed too.

Click on the Tools tab and add your favourite Bookmarks. The best part of this is that you can then access your Bookmarks from any computer on earth. Another fantastic feature is that of Web History. You search for some precious article and find it after great difficulty, but when you look for it after six months you cannot find it at all. Web History keeps track of all your searches and the sites you visited. So there is no problem getting back to articles you read even a year ago.

Other than this, Google has introduced Themes. Click on Select Themes and you are given a choice of seven to choose from. Watch the scenery change as day turns into night in your area.

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