Optimize and defragment your computer with Optimize Disk

Your PC's hard disk stores all of your files, applications, and the Windows operating system. Over time, the bits of information that make up your files gradually spread over the disk. This process is known as fragmentation. The more you use your computer, the more fragmented your disks become.

When a fragmented file is accessed, the disk performance is slower. The performance is slower because the drive head locates, loads, saves, and keeps 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.

Your Norton product optimizes your permanent disks to improve your PC's efficiency and speed. The optimization process rearranges the scattered 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 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.

When the drive head of your hard disk accesses all the file data in one location, the file is read into the memory faster. Disk optimization defragments your hard disk, consolidates free space, and improves computer performance.

Video: What is disk optimization

Your Norton product lets you run disk optimization manually or helps you schedule it to run automatically. Follow the below instructions to schedule automatic optimization.

Schedule automatic optimization

1. Open your Norton device security product.

2. On the left pane, click Performance.

3. In the Performance dashboard, in the Optimize Disk tile, click Open.

4. In the Optimize Disk window, click the Settings tab.

5. Move the slider next to Automatically optimize drives on this PC to On.

6. Click Edit frequency.

7. In the Choose automatic optimization frequency window, set your preferred frequency.

   Your options are:

   • Once: You can pick the time and date when your Norton product should perform the optimization activity.

   • Daily: You can pick the time when your Norton product should perform the optimization activity.

   • Weekly: You can pick a day of the week and the time when your Norton product should perform the optimization activity.

   • Monthly: You can pick a date and time when your Norton product should perform the optimization activity.

Video: How to schedule automatic optimization