I normally write about what I'm doing or thinking. Today I'm writing about what I HAVEN'T been doing - keeping my computer defragged. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, until it sneaks up from behind and knocks out your trusty PC just as you are about to perform some critical task. Such was the case as I started to assemble the December issue of Virtual Railroader. When my PC wouldn't boot up, I suspected a virus had snuck past my arsenal of anti-virus protection, firewall, and multiple anti-spyware programs. The repairman, however, was quite clear in his assessment: too much fragmentation of the hard drive.
I've always known that hard drives become fragmented in time as programs write and delete data. I've also known that this will slow down your computer. What I didn't know was that fragmentation leads to corrupted files. Moreover, I had never stopped to think about the excessive write/delete activity that takes place with games, especially full 3D "games" like MSTS and Trainz. In other words, train sims are big-time offenders.
The moral of this story is that defragmentation should be a regular part of your PC housekeeping routine, just like backing up your data. Consider defragging your hard drive at least once a month. If you run sims regularly, consider defragging more frequently. If nothing else, it will save you a lot of aggravation and possibly a costly repair.
- Al
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