Fragmentation is something that happens when your computer files are broken up into smaller pieces of data that are physically stored on different areas of your hard disk.

What a defrag utility like Diskeeper does is put all the separate bits of these files back together sequentially.

Doing so means that it takes less time for your hard disk to read and write to your files, which can help to speed up overall system performance and extend the life of your PC.

Windows already comes with its own built-in utility for de-fragmenting hard disks. The trouble is that something like fragmentation occurs repeatedly over time and there is no facility in the Windows Defrag to schedule regular maintenance jobs.

Diskeeper 10 Home Edition has an excellent Set It and Forget It feature, which takes the whole business of defragging your system off your hands entirely by automating the task at specific times of the day or week.

Another problem with Windows Defrag is that it can take quite a long time to complete and tends to make your system run very slowly while it does its business.

Diskeeper improves on this in two ways. When run normally, it is considerably speedier than Windows Defrag. It took a matter of minutes for Diskeeper to defrag our 40Gb test hard disk after it was reported to be ‘heavily fragmented’.

Larger capacity hard disks and those with more data stored on them will, naturally, take longer but, generally speaking, Diskeeper is pretty fast.

There is, however, an option that allows you to stipulate the utility’s CPU priority. This basically lets you choose to run Diskeeper quietly in the background as you carry on working so that you barely notice it’s there.

It might seem like a curious idea to pay money for what is, essentially, as lightly better version of something that already comes built in to Windows. It’s even stranger to think that you may only actively use it once in order to Set It And Forget It.

But we definitely recommend Diskeeper 10 Home Edition as an efficient and adaptable utility that takes charge of vital regular disk maintenance tasks and renders them almost completely invisible.

Related reviews 
V-com System Suite 6 Professional 
Verdict: V-com System Suite 6 Professional is a comprehensive selection of powerful tools for users with the confidence and knowledge to apply them effectively.
Rating: 3/5
Price: £50