How in the world can you sell something that comes free on your computer with Windows. Honestly I have no idea and really I don’t care but let me tell you, the differences between the disc defragmenting tool that you get with Windows and Perfect Disk 10 is like the difference between a burger at McDonalds and a steak at Mortons … they both do what they are intended to do but one is soo much better at it.
Okay enough with the analogies because I am not sure they make sense. I run a Dell Latitude D810 with 2GB of RAM and it runs slower than VW Minibus in the Rocky Mountains (again with the analogies). I test a lot of software so there are tons of installs and uninstalls, and when I fry a machine I bring everything over to the new one, so I have backups upon backups on this machine. Just to give you an idea how abused my machine is, I have run this program now on 3-4 machines and it can take anywhere from 1-3 hours to run the initial defragmentation … my machine I had to leave overnight.
But after the download (a large 60MB file) and a quick installation it is pretty self explanatory for the average user. A big Start button in the top left and you are off and you can track the progress and estimated completion time (I hate when you run software and have no idea how long it is going to take to complete) and you are off to defragmentation. Once you are completed you are provided with reports on Drive Performance and File Fragmentation that are very impressive to the eye but what does it mean to your computers actual operation.
Let me step back and explain a little as to what is going on with defragmentation. Picture a CD and make believe that is your harddrive. Your machine starts to write data around in an orderly fashion -- when you create a file, install a program or download a picture. Now, when you delete that picture that space is now open and isn’t used by the machine. Eventually that spot is written over by some other piece of data or it simply remains empty, but now when you are looking for other pictures, your computer has to scan this big harddrive – including all the empty spaces. A disc defragmenter takes all the empty spaces and puts other information in them so you have all your information in one area instead of spread out all over your harddrive. That is a very simplistic view of what goes on, but it gives you a general idea of what is happening.
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So now for the results … my machine is like new. I know that is not the most scientific result and possibly a little bit of an exaggeration, but there is a noticeable change in the speed at which files and program open and how fast the machine runs in general. It is a significant difference from what I was experiencing last week.
Perfect Disk 10 is the latest version from Raxco Software and runs $29.99 ($59.99 for a 3 user pack) but you don’t have to believe me – although I don’t know why you wouldn’t – as it has a 30 day, full version free trial.
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