Free and Cool Defrag Utility For Windows

PC slowing to a crawl? Want to speed up that hard disk drive access to files? Ever wanted a good freeware utility that can defrag hard disk drives in Windows effectively (better than the default Windows defrag) but don't know where to get it? Well, turns out that there are quite a number of freeware defrag tools for Windows on the Internet e.g. jkdefrag, ultradefrag, diskeeper lite etc.

After a fair bit of research and trials, i settled for JKDefrag. Reasons: It works on Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64, is stable, reliable, under constant development, defrags and optimizes disk performance (almost) flawlessly, and it's FREE. The FREE part is persuasive but it is not the only reason. JKDefrag can deliver on most of the key performance parameters that paid commercial ware such as Diskeeper touts, including the "schedule and forget" feature when used in conjunction with another freeware like nnCron lite. You can read more about nnCron lite in my other postings.

Here's what i do to put JKDefrag to work. First, download and unzip it to the directory of your choice (no install or setup required). There are 2 "versions" of JKDefrag that you can choose to run - the GUI version (JkDefrag.exe) or the command line version (JkDefragCmd.exe).

I went for the command line option as it allowed me to piece together all the options that I need in a simple batch file and schedule it to defrag my harddisk everyday with nnlite. For first time run, this was the command that i use to defrag 2 hard drive partitions (c: and d:)

First time run -> JkDefragCmd.exe -a 7 -d 2 c:* d:*

For subsequent runs, this is the command that i use:

Subsequent runs -> JkDefragCmd.exe -a 3 -d 2 c:* d:*

You can find more details about the meaning of each parameter from the JKDefrag homepage at http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/.
Latest version of JKDefrag at the time of this writing is V3.36.

Note: In order to perform defragmentation effectively, it is generally recommended that you maintain at least 15% of free disk space.

What Software to Install in Freshly Setup Windows PC

If you have ever wondered about what software applications to load into a freshly installed Windows PC, here's a list of what i personally use for you to consider:

(1) Web Browser
     - Mozilla Firefox
     - Google Chrome

(2a) Email client
     - Mozilla Thunderbird

(2b) Personal Calendar/To-do Application
     - Mozilla Sunbird
     - Alternative1: Lightning extension, if using Thunderbird email client
     - Alternative2: Google Calendar

(3a) Download Manager
     - Free Download Manager (supports BitTorrent also)
     - Orbit Downloader (for media content downloads)

(3b) Lightweight Torrent Client
     - uTorrent

(4) Text Editor
     - Notepad ++

(5) PDF Reader
     - PDF-XChange Viewer (free version includes some features to edit PDF files)

(6) PDF Tools
     -CutePDF (PDF virtual printer; install ghostscript first!)
     -PDFTK Builder

(7) Security
     - Comodo Internet Security (Free Firewall & Antivirus)
     - Secunia PSI (free for personal use. Checks and provides advice on security status of installed applications.)

(8) Zipping Utility
     - Peazip

(9) File Encryption (& Wiping) Utility
     - WinPT (Windows Privacy Tool)
     - GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard)

(10a) System Optimization Tools
     - RegCleaner
     - ccleaner
     - Click&Clean
     - NTRegOpt (NT Registry Optimizer; works with XP)
     - JKdefrag
     - Autoruns
     - nnCron Lite (automation task scheduler)
     - PageDefrag

(10b) Backup software
     - cwrsync (see posting on how to install and use it)
     - Alternative: consider trying Unison

(10c) Microsoft Powertoy
     - cmdHere

(11a) CD/DVD Burner
     - CDBurnerXP

(11b) Useful DVD Tools
     - DVDflick (DVD Creator)
     - DVDshrink (DVD duplicator)
     - VirtualDub (converter/editor)
     - MPegStream Clip (converter/editor)

(12) Desktop Organizer
     - Fences (by Stardock)

(13) File Manager
     - FreeCommander

(14) File Transfer Client
     - Winscp
     - FileZilla

(15) Video Player
     - VLC Media Player (from VideoLAN)

(16) Image Editor
     - GIMP
     - Alternative: GIMPShop (menus customized to emulate Photoshop)
     - PhotoFiltre (lightweight image editing application)
     - paint.net

(17) Virtualization Software
     -VirtualBox (free only under PUEL)
     -Qemu Manager

(18) Office Suite (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation)
     -OpenOffice 3.x
     -odf-converter-integrator (OpenOffice add-on for converting MSOffice Files)