As part of standard system maintenance, it is best to occasionally run disk defragmenters to optimize how your files are organized. Of course, depending on the size of your hard drive and the level of fragmentation, this process can last hours. With this in mind, why not set up a scheduled task to have Windows do it for you using a frequency and time you specify.

Here is how to set it up (on Windows XP or better):

1. Open Notepad
2. Enter this line: "defrag c:" (without the quotes)
3. Optionally add more disks you want to defrag in the task (i.e. defrag d:, defrag e:), each on a new line.
4. Save the file as: defrag.bat
5. Close Notepad
6. Open Task Scheduler from your Windows Control Panel
7. Create a task called Defrag Hard Drives, set the schedule you want it to run, and point it to the defrag.bat file created above.

Now your disks will be defragmented without you having to think about it. One less system maintenance task you need to run manually!