Mark -

I'd agree that Norton does a good job, but it's also an "extra cost" add-on.

A quick(?) test of the clean boot setup from the Mickey$oft KB indicates:

It does an effective but extremely dumb defrag. It boots without any "startup" programs that might generate "restarts," but doesn't eliminate all restarts, since crud on the disk can still "change disk contents."

It moves the first "fragmented file" to the end of the disk, and then moves each and every file one at a time, to fill in the gaps.

In normal Windows mode, you can select "optimize," and a "normal" Windows defrag will relocate files to improve performance - as with the Norton that Mark mentioned. In "clean boot" mode, it's just a brute force "close the gaps" defrag.

Recommendation would be to find the programs that interferes, and turn them off while you use normal Windows defrag. If you can't get through a defrag - as some catters have indicated - use the clean boot and apply a significant measure of patience.

Once the disk is fairly clean, you should not need "special measures" if you do regular maintenance.

John