Defrag Myth Busters – What You Should Know

There are many serious misconceptions about fragmentation which, if believed, can lead to significant computer damage. Debunking these myths could save your system or network.

Fragmentation is one of the most serious problems that plague computers around the globe. It accounts for billions in lost revenue and production. It is also one of the leading causes of a wide range of common computer problems, system failures, and early hardware replacement. Why don’t users and IT departments take more action to protect themselves against fragmentation? The following defrag myths may explain why.

Myth: My system or network doesn’t have fragmentation.
Wrong. It is estimated that there are over 700 million PCs actively-in-use in the world today, and every single one of them has fragmentation issues to one degree or another. The reason? Fragmentation is an unavoidable by-product of all Window’s-based operating systems. Thus your system or network is basically “born” with this defect from the beginning – a situation basically unknown to many users.

Myth: I already have defrag software already pre-installed in my operating system.
This myth is, perhaps, more responsible than any other for the many misconceptions about defragmentation software. There IS a kind of defragmentation software that comes pre-installed with many operating systems – but it is a technological dinosaur. Don’t be misled: There is no comparison between the modern versions of this technology and what comes pre-installed. The best advice is to download a copy of a modern defrag software and see the differences for yourself (see below).

Myth: Defragmenting my network during work hours will causes disruptions in performance.
This is a major and legitimate concern among IT professionals. Administrators cannot afford to take chances during the workday, and are often forced to work nights and weekends in order to do systems maintenance (like defragmentation). But choosing a high performance defragmenter that is specifically designed for networks will allow a systems administrator to defrag the system without affecting productivity. Companies such as Diskeeper (www.diskeeper.com) make highly advanced network defragmentation software which is completely transparent when running in the background.

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Myth: I have to replace my computer due to slow performance.
Not necessarily. Fragmentation is the scattering of data and files across the hard drive. As fragmentation builds up, pieces of data become increasingly scattered, and the read/write head takes longer and longer to write and retrieve data. This shows up as sluggish, slow performance, and eventually freeze-ups and systems failure. It is very possible, however, that a defrag of the system with a high quality defragmenter will restore your ailing system or network to maximum performance.

Myth: Using defrag software is a hassle.
Another misconception stemming directly from the use of the pre-installed version. Unfortunately, it’s a lot like comparing a horse-and-buggy to a race car. The bundled version makes defragmentation a hassle because it is indeed S-L-O-W. It takes forever to do a not-very-good-job of defragmenting your drive or server. Modern defragmentation software is lightening fast by comparison and the best ones are so completely automatic that you can basically forget about them and not worry about fragmentation issues any longer once they’re installed.

Myth: Defrag software is expensive.
The best companies have a full line-up of defragmentation products that one can choose from online. Whether you’re a home user, small business, government agency, or huge company with hundreds of servers and thousands of workstations, you can find a download to suit your needs and give the software a trial run. The cost savings could potentially be enormous. Research shows that the resultant increase in productivity, the reduction of down-time, and the increased longevity of hardware make the relatively low cost of defragmentation software insignificant by comparison.
Don’t let a myth prevent you from finding out whether your system is running at peak performance or not. The best recommendation is to download a copy of defrag software and see for yourself. It just might make a tremendous difference.

By Thomas Hardy Faulkne
Diskeeper Corporation

http://www.diskeeper.com/

Are Copy Machines a Security Risk?

Recently, I read an article By Armen Keteyian on the CBS News Web Site dated April 19, 2009 which described a serious security problem when office digital copiers are traded in or sold. Since 2002, nearly every digital copier built contains a hard drive which stores a digital image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the copy machine.

Each copier with a hard drive is packed with highly-personal or sensitive data, such as client records, social security numbers, and other sensitive information hat represents a pot of gold to someone in the identify theft business.

This past February, CBS News went with John Juntunen, president of Digital Copier Security that has developed software called “INFOSWEEP” that can scrub all the data on hard drives, to a warehouse in New Jersey, one of 25 across the country, to see how hard it would be to buy a used copier loaded with documents. It turns out … it’s pretty easy and the cost for the copiers was about $300 each.

It took Juntunen just 30 minutes to pull the hard drives out of the copiers. Then, using a forensic software program available for free on the Internet, he ran a scan – downloading tens of thousands of documents in less than 12 hours.

One copy machine – from Affinity Health Plan, a New York insurance company, provided 300 pages of individual medical records. They included everything from drug prescriptions, to blood test results, to a cancer diagnosis. A potentially serious breach of federal privacy law.

Another machine from a New York construction company, spit out design plans for a building near Ground Zero in Manhattan; 95 pages of pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers; and $40,000 in copied checks.

All the major manufacturers told us they offer security or encryption packages on their products. One product from Sharp automatically erases an image from the hard drive. It costs $500.

But evidence is that many businesses are unwilling to pay for such protection, and that the average American is completely unaware of the dangers posed by digital copiers.