Started to Defrag Automatically
in [Windows XP New Users]
|
Prev: Video problem
Next: No connectivity after VPN
From: Leonard Grey on 22 Mar 2010 12:55 Background defragmentation has always been a feature of Windows XP. The defrags occur when your PC is idle. Therefore, it's not the cause for your computer becoming slow. --- Leonard Grey Errare humanum est Bright Spark wrote: > Been using this XP for the past several years, and suddenly in the > past 2-3 weeks, it has started automatically defragging on its own. I > will notice that response time is dragging, etc., and when I check the > Task Master it shows dfrgntfs.exe running. I haven't told it to > defrag and I haven't set any automatic times for it to do so. > > I have checked all the Task Schedulers and other places I can think of > where I might have accidentally set something, but nothing shows any > auto defrag set. > > I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. > > Many thanks. > > Bright Spark
From: Unknown on 22 Mar 2010 14:19 "Background defrag has always been a feature" doesn't really make any sense since programs and/or files in use cannot be defragged. The real question is why is it defragging since OP didn't initiate it. Does this occur immediately at startup or randomly happening. . "Leonard Grey" <l.grey(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:eax%23HCeyKHA.5292(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > Background defragmentation has always been a feature of Windows XP. The > defrags occur when your PC is idle. Therefore, it's not the cause for your > computer becoming slow. > --- > Leonard Grey > Errare humanum est > > Bright Spark wrote: >> Been using this XP for the past several years, and suddenly in the >> past 2-3 weeks, it has started automatically defragging on its own. I >> will notice that response time is dragging, etc., and when I check the >> Task Master it shows dfrgntfs.exe running. I haven't told it to >> defrag and I haven't set any automatic times for it to do so. I have >> checked all the Task Schedulers and other places I can think of >> where I might have accidentally set something, but nothing shows any >> auto defrag set. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. Many >> thanks. Bright Spark
From: Unknown on 22 Mar 2010 14:20 Does defrag startup immediately after booting on randomly sometime later. Check your startup folder? Run malware program? "Bright Spark" <brightspark-notnowhere(a)nomore.com> wrote in message news:2t6fq5te42vb483hvgt55rjlkggfp1thkv(a)4ax.com... > Been using this XP for the past several years, and suddenly in the > past 2-3 weeks, it has started automatically defragging on its own. I > will notice that response time is dragging, etc., and when I check the > Task Master it shows dfrgntfs.exe running. I haven't told it to > defrag and I haven't set any automatic times for it to do so. > > I have checked all the Task Schedulers and other places I can think of > where I might have accidentally set something, but nothing shows any > auto defrag set. > > I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. > > Many thanks. > > Bright Spark
From: Tim Meddick on 22 Mar 2010 15:36 Was it not clear to you what Mr Leonard Grey wrote? "Background defragmentation has always been a feature of Windows XP" So then, why ask "question is why is it defragging since OP didn't initiate it." ?? The plain fact is that Win XP will enable an internal setting (by default) to AUTOMATICALLY (look it up!) defragment the boot disk when the PC is idle... So the OP need do nothing to initiate this effect as it is already enabled! Also, as Mr Grey points out, it occurs when the PC IS idle and desists when the user intervenes (similar to the effect of a screensaver) and thus, cannot be responsible for the slowing down of a PC! It is certainly NOT the effect of some malware, but a normal in-built feature of WinXP! Finally, to disable this feature (why you would want to, I don't know) reset the following registry value : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction] "Enable"="Y" ....and change it to : "Enable"="N" ....to disable automatic boot-disk background optimization by defrag.exe == Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-) "Unknown" <unknown(a)unknown.kom> wrote in message news:Oe6BrweyKHA.5948(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > "Background defrag has always been a feature" doesn't really make any sense since > programs and/or files in use cannot be > defragged. The real question is why is it defragging since OP didn't initiate it. > Does this occur immediately at startup or randomly happening. . > "Leonard Grey" <l.grey(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:eax%23HCeyKHA.5292(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >> Background defragmentation has always been a feature of Windows XP. The defrags >> occur when your PC is idle. Therefore, it's not the cause for your computer >> becoming slow. >> --- >> Leonard Grey >> Errare humanum est >> >> Bright Spark wrote: >>> Been using this XP for the past several years, and suddenly in the >>> past 2-3 weeks, it has started automatically defragging on its own. I >>> will notice that response time is dragging, etc., and when I check the >>> Task Master it shows dfrgntfs.exe running. I haven't told it to >>> defrag and I haven't set any automatic times for it to do so. I have checked all >>> the Task Schedulers and other places I can think of >>> where I might have accidentally set something, but nothing shows any >>> auto defrag set. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. Many thanks. >>> Bright Spark > >
From: Tim Meddick on 22 Mar 2010 16:10
As I said in my last post to "Unknown", "defrag.exe" is only actively scanning / defragmenting when the PC is idle. A process can still be in memory but use hardly any memory resources. When the PC is first perceived to be "idle" defrag.exe starts and begins it's scan and the defragmentation (optimization). Then, when the user intervenes, the process should go into a suspended mode waiting for the PC to become "idle" and begin to defragment again. While other applications are actively receiving user input the "defrag" process should not me using any more than a bare minimum of memory (below 100k) and therefore has no impact on PC performance. If you are still bothered by this normal WinXP feature, again, as I wrote in my other post, you can turn it off by locating the registry value : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction] "Enable"="Y" ....and change it from a "Y" (for Yes) to an "N" (for NO) : "Enable"="N" ....to disable automatic boot-disk background optimization by defrag.exe == Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-) "Bright Spark" <brightspark-notnowhere(a)nomore.com> wrote in message news:hfifq55u8ngkfukcu78i3q87npabend495(a)4ax.com... > On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:55:50 -0400, Leonard Grey > <l.grey(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > >>Background defragmentation has always been a feature of Windows XP. The >>defrags occur when your PC is idle. Therefore, it's not the cause for >>your computer becoming slow. >>--- >>Leonard Grey >>Errare humanum est >> >>Bright Spark wrote: >>> Been using this XP for the past several years, and suddenly in the >>> past 2-3 weeks, it has started automatically defragging on its own. I >>> will notice that response time is dragging, etc., and when I check the >>> Task Master it shows dfrgntfs.exe running. I haven't told it to >>> defrag and I haven't set any automatic times for it to do so. >>> >>> I have checked all the Task Schedulers and other places I can think of >>> where I might have accidentally set something, but nothing shows any >>> auto defrag set. >>> >>> I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. >>> >>> Many thanks. >>> >>> Bright Spark > > Well, thank you for your reply, but from what I have discovered while > trying to solve this mystery is that even though it (supposedly) has > always been a feature of Windows XP, it should stop once the computer > is no longer idle. But it doesn't stop. If it were to occur while > the PC was idle I doubt I would have noticed it at all, but it > continues on while I am trying to work at my computer and does, > indeed, slow it down while it "does its thing" until I end the > process. > > Also, I have been using this computer for over 3 years almost 8-10 > hours per day since it is a function of my work, and I have never > noticed it doing this "background defragmentation" before. It's very > odd. > > Bright Spark > > |