4.  Run Windows Defrag. (the reason we don't just use the better O&O for this step is because O&O will not operate in safe mode).  Defragging in safe mode enables the system to defrag those areas that were locked before.  Then re-boot your pc in normal mode.

5.  Run O&O Defrag.  First run 'analyze' and feel your jaw drop as it shows you all the bits your standard defragger missed.  Then do the defrag itself which I believe is called 'space' in O&O.

6.  Your system should be healthily un-fragmented now, so turn on Buzzsaw to keep it healthy.  Buzzsaw spots fragmentation as it occurs and handles it during your breaks from the pc.  Once set up it will look after itself.  Of course, the system can still lock files, so do expect some fragmentation to occur but it will never be anywhere near as bad as before.

Note:  Step 1 above can be avoided if you want by installing Buzzsaw and setting it up as a last step.  Originally Buzzsaw was a standalone setup and you handled the autorun by creating a shortcut manually in your startup folder.  Recent versions of Buzzsaw appear to come as a fully automatic installer with the facility to run as a Windows service.  While this can make it a better installation it does make it more difficult to disable while doing the subsequent steps.  If you cannot get hold of the original standalone version, you are best installing Buzzsaw as a final step.

Some other utilities we like...

FreeRam XP Pro.  Not the only 'ram freeing' utility around, but it is friendly and handy.  Its automatic mode does the job sufficiently in two mouse clicks.  Usually you don't need anything more.
http://www.yourwaresolutions.com/

WinDriversBackup.  If you are ever faced with the task of having to reinstall your operating system it can be quite a task.  Often it can take a couple of solid days to do. (For the inexperienced, it occurs a lot more often than you might think - seasoned users do it on average about once a year).

One of the problems that often occurs during the reinstall, is that the drive is often wiped clean before starting.  Not normally a problem because the system cd will create everything anew - but NOT the drivers that came with your camera, printer, usb devices, mouse, network card, modem, TV card etc etc etc.  These are third party devices that are added on afterwards and usually come with their own software drivers.  They require that you install their respective drivers from whatever CD came with the device.  And if you can't find the CDs?  Alas its a very common scenario...

WinDriversBackup is a utility you run after all your devices are installed and it makes a backup of all the necessary driver files for all third party devices.  The backup directory contents can then be copied to an external media such as CDR or USB drive for safe storage (its pointless leaving them on the pc - defeats the purpose).  Then you have one place to find all drivers needed after re-installing the system then connecting the devices.  You can simply copy the whole lot back onto the computer into one directory, then each time a device is connected and says it needs a driver, just point it to the directory and it will happily install the driver.

If you add new devices at any time, you can run WinDriversBackup again to add extra drivers to the backup.

WinDriversBackup site is currently showing 'page unavailable' and could have been abandoned - if you require this utility, please notify us (see "Contact Us" on left) and we will look into hosting the original WinDriversBackup as a download direct from our site.