Exec. Soft. Diskeeper 8.0 Professional - Automatic Disk Defragmentation

The manufacturer tries to make it appear as if using the Windows built in defragger is a very manual and tedious process. However it is quite simple to automate the built in defragger by simply adding it as a scheduled task - go into Accessories, System Tools, and Scheduled Tasks. Add the following new task and schedule it to run it once a day or even once a week.

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DEFRAG.EXE C: /f

I have mine run at 4:05 a.m. each morning. So each day my hard drive starts out freshly defragged.

I am not saying the Diskeeper product is bad. Actually I think it is a great product. However I also believe that the defragger built into Windows XP (also created by the company that produces Diskeeper) is nearly as good, especially if you schedule it to automatically execute on a daily basis.

There are some things I do not like about Diskeeper. First I do not like how you are forced to use the more expensive version of the software if you are using XP Professional. This seems like a scam as there are plenty of home users using XP Professional. Second I do not like the idea that the Diskeeper program essentially runs all the time (and is thus taking up memory and CPU cycles). I realize that its memory footprint is probably trivial and it does not use much CPU cycles when not actively defragging, but I am one of those people who likes to keep my PC very lean. Finally I do not like how Executive Software seems to make it appear as if using the Windows built in defragger is a very manual and tedious process when in reality it can be easily automated.


Diskeeper Buries Norton Speed Disk   December 7, 2003
Derek Kane (Dublin, OH United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Diskeeper is the best defrag tool that I have ever seen and I've tried them all. It can defrag on a restart or on demand, but the by far the best feature of all which I have not seen in another defrag tool is the SCREEN SAVER defrag option!
You will never have to waste your time with a slow machine while defragging or scheduling defrags again. Just set the screen saver option to run, and it will automatically defrag your computer whenever the screen saver kicks on. There is nothing to set up, just leave your current screen saver as it is. When you come back to work and move your mouse, the screensaver stops as well as the defrag (after about 5 seconds).
I love this tool!
This works for servers or workstations.


Diskeeper WORKS!   January 30, 2004
DEW (Frederick, MD USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

My pc was slowly dying...I spent days on Window's sites and every help site I could find to figure out what was wrong. I regulary run every maintenance tool there is and everything was fine, except for the 5 minute wait to open ie or any windows file--as long as I didnt do this, my pc worked great(??). I was locking up continuously, had plenty of memory (1gig) and more than enough harddrive (66%free). I run XP Professional and I was ready to toss in the flag and reformat the thing. Then I went to pcpitstop.com and ran their analysis and they suggested Diskeeper. Well I downloaded the trial version and gave it a whirl and an hour later my pc was cured. According to the Windows defrager my system was 0% fragmented...but Diskeeper said I was 46% fragmented. BIG difference! based on my now lightening like pc I will take Diskeeper over Windows defragger any day. Windows built in defragger cannot defrag the paging file--paging file NEEDS defragmenting. Maybe if you do not use your pc continuously or work in graphics daily you will never experience what I did and the other defragger is good enough--but if you are constantly having to reformat and start all over or you once lightening pc is now a snail....you just might NEED this product. Windows built in cannot do all it should. I highly recommend this product.


A Utility That Works   April 17, 2004
Philosophe (Florida United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I am very skeptical when it comes to utilities for Windows as I have had more problems with utilities causing crashes than anything. It used to take hours to defrag my hard drive but now I don't have to bother with it. Here is a product that really works. I set it and forget it. My hard drive stays defragged continuously. I run two hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration and was afraid this would cause crashes but I haven't even had a hiccup. Leave Norton's and the rest and get the best. I also recommend Executive Software's Undelete program. It is also excellent.