Symantec 10067161 Product Manual - Page 78

78 Monitoring your system's performance About System Insight track of all of the fragments of the file. If free space is also fragmented, the drive head might have to track adequate free space to store temporary files or newly added files. Optimization rearranges file fragments into adjacent or contiguous clusters. When the drive head accesses all of the file data in one location, the file is read into the memory faster. Optimization also maximizes the usable free space on a disk by grouping most frequently used files and infrequently used files. Optimization consolidates free space to avoid fragmenting newly added files. It adds extra space after major data structures so that they can grow without immediately becoming fragmented again. You can optimize your boot volume manually by using the Optimize option in the Performance window. You can also configure Norton AntiVirus to defragment your boot volume or the local disk that contains boot volume when your computer is idle. Norton AntiVirus automatically schedules the optimization when it detects the installation of an application on your computer. The optimization process starts next time when your computer is idle. You can use the Idle Time Optimizer option to optimize the boot volume during the idle time. To access the Idle Time Optimizer option, go to the Norton AntiVirus main window, and then click Settings > General > Norton Tasks > Idle Time Optimizer. Optimizing your boot volume The Optimize option lets you optimize your boot volume to improve the boot time of your computer. Optimization of your boot volume maximizes the usable free space by rearranging file fragments into adjacent and contiguous clusters. When the drive head of your hard disk accesses all of the file data in one location, the file is read into the memory faster.