HP Presario SG3500 PC Troubleshooting - Page 7

Running the Disk Defragmenter Program When Microsoft® Windows Vista® operating system stores files on your hard disk drive, it often divides them into multiple pieces (or fragments) so they fit into available space on the drive. When you open a fragmented file, the process takes more time because it must be retrieved from more than one place. The Disk Defragmenter program groups the fragmented files together on your hard disk drive to improve computer performance. This does not affect the location of files and folders on your computer. NOTE: The Disk Defragmenter program may take a long time to complete. You can run it unattended overnight. 1 Save your work and close all open programs. 2 Press the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys simultaneously. 3 Click Start Task Manager. 4 On the Applications tab, select all the programs that are listed, and then click End Task. Close the Task Manager. 5 Click the Windows Vista start button, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter. 6 Click Defragment Now. If Disk Defragmenter repeatedly starts, a background program is still accessing the hard disk drive. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, and then run the Disk Defragmenter program again: 1 Click the Windows Vista start button, click the Arrow button next to the Lock button, and then click Restart. 2 Press the F8 key as soon as the first logo screen appears. 3 In the Windows Advanced Options menu, use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode, and then press Enter. 4 After Windows Vista starts, use the procedure above to run the Disk Defragmenter program. 5 To turn off Safe Mode, repeat step 1. Checking for Hard Disk Drive Errors Perform the following procedure to check the integrity of the hard disk drive in Windows Vista. Close all open programs before beginning the disk check. 1 Click the Windows Vista start button, and then click Computer. 2 Right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and then click Properties. 3 Click the Tools tab. 4 Under Error-checking, click Check Now. 5 If desired, place a check mark in the Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check boxes. 6 Click Start. If prompted to restart the computer, click Yes. The computer will restart and check the hard disk drive for errors. Understanding Hard Disk Drive Space The hard disk drive on the Hewlett-Packard and Compaq computers with the Windows Vista operating system preinstalled may appear to be smaller than what is stated in the product specifications, in the documentation, or on the box. Hard disk drives are described and advertised by manufacturers in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity. Windows Vista and other programs, such as FDISK, use the binary (base 2) numbering system. In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes. Because of the different measuring systems, you may see a difference between the size reported by Windows Vista and the size advertised. The storage capacity of the hard disk drive is as advertised. Windows Vista reports smaller capacity in the Windows Explorer tool and in the Computer window because it shows information about one partition on the hard disk drive at a time. One of the partitions contains the system recovery information. Maintenance 3