File system fragmentation is a major cause of sluggish performance on Windows. The default Windows Disk Defragmenter does a passable job of the basics, but Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro ($29.95) goes above and beyond. It offers faster performance, boot-time defragmentation of system files, and all the information, features, and options you’d ever want. It can optimize the placement of files on your disks, placing frequently accessed files at faster locations and infrequently accessed files at slower locations.

We’re giving away 25 copies of Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro for Windows worth a total of $750 to 25 lucky readers this week! Read on for your chance to win.

Defragmenting Your Hard Drive

Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro detects solid-state drives and drives with the Windows Volume Shadow Copy service enabled (used for System Restore and Windows Backup) and uses special algorithms for them. Launch Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro and analyze your disks to see their fragmentation levels and view more information.

Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro sees more fragmented files than the default Disk Defragmenter included with Windows – at least it did on my systems. However, other defragmentation tools also saw higher defragmentation than Windows did – the Windows Disk Defragmenter just can’t touch all the files other programs can.

Auslogics Disk Defrag Professional offers configurable priority levels – if you’re using your system while it’s being defragmented, setting the priority to “Low Priority” will reduce the performance impact of the defragmentation process. You can also create your own priority levels (known as “resource profiles”) to better control the defragmentation process.

After fragmentation is complete, you can view detailed fragmentation reports on the Reports tab.

You can also have Disk Defrag Pro perform an action when it finishes defragmenting your hard disks – for example, you can set it to shut down your computer when the process completes.

Defragmenting System Files

Disk Defrag Pro can also perform offline defragmentation. When you activate offline defragmentation, Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro will run the next time you boot your computer, before Windows starts. This allows the application to defragment system files that are in use by Windows, including the paging file, hibernation file, and registry files.

Optimizing File Placement

By default, Auslogics Disk Defrag Professional uses the “Simple Defrag” profile. This profile is the fastest because it just defragments files and doesn’t do anything special with their layout on the disk. It includes quite a few other profiles, though – for example, you can have it lay out your files for maximum free space.

Different areas of your disk have different access times. By default, Windows places files on the disk without any thought to which files belong in which areas of the disk, but Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro can optimize the placement by a variety of parameters. For example, the Optimize by Prefetch Layout profile uses the Windows prefetch data to place your frequently used program files in the faster areas of the disk. You can also optimized by file access or change time – or even manually specify which files belong in which areas of the disk. The Optimize by Disk Zone profile contains default settings that place media files in slower locations, while placing program files and other system files in faster locations.

All of these profiles are completely customizable. You can even create your own profiles.

Defragmenting Specific Files & Folders

If you’ve got something – say, a game folder – you want to quickly defragment without going through a lengthier defragmentation process, you can defragment a specific file or folder. Windows Explorer integration can make this even easier by allowing you to defragment files from their right-click menus. To enable this option, click the Settings menu and select Program Settings. You’ll find this option on the Integration tab.

Automatic Defragmentation

The Scheduler tab allows you to schedule defragmentation tasks, set up automatic defragmentation, and schedule offline defragmentation tasks that occur at boot. You can specify different defragmentation profiles and priority levels for each task.

The automatic defragmentation feature can automatically defragment your system whenever you step away, assuming the program is open. This can help keep your file system defragmented without slowing your computer down while you’re using it. By default, the defragmentation process will start after you’ve been away from your system for 15 minutes after you enable this feature. It stops when you move your mouse or start typing, only to resume the next time you leave your computer.

Defragmentation Wizard

If these options seem a bit much for you, use the wizard. It asks you a few questions and sets up the ideal scheduled defragmentation tasks for your system. Click the Action menu and select Defrag Wizard to launch the wizard.

Pro vs. Free

The Pro version contains quite a few features that aren’t included in the free version. The free version gives you access to the basic defragmentation features, but you miss out on offline defragmentation, profiles that optimize file placement, support for solid state drives (SSDs), priority level options, scheduling options, reports, and the wizard.

Auslogics offers a free, fully functional 30-day trial — download it and give it a try while you’re waiting to win one of the 25 copies we’re giving away this week.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page, our Twitter stream and Google+ page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, May 11th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

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