Intel is ever more prevalent in the media these days. It has been one of the world's top brands for many years and it continues to present increasing numbers of adverts for its processors. No doubt this is because of the continuing credibility of rival offerings and the will in many quarters to smash the Wintel monopoly.

It's all very well saying 'you need a Pentium II processor' but anyone who has been in this game for more than a few years will realise the processors in new PCs are always a disappointment. A new PC will almost certainly include a newer operating system than the one you're using. Similarly, any application suites might be newer as well. This means you're buying a faster processor but with more demanding software at the same time.

Today's advertising is also bordering on the unacceptable. Windows 98 is sold on the basis of being significantly faster than Windows 95. But how many users have found this to be so? It's also interesting to see how some PC manufacturers have back-tracked on operating systems. IBM has been doing its bit for Microsoft profits - by paying for Windows twice. In some cases it's allowing customers to downgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 95 on their new hardware purchases. But the company has to pay Microsoft license fees for both operating systems. The company does not get reimbursed for Windows 98 and it has to pay again for a Windows 95 license. And in 1996 Gateway used to offer Windows NT on its high end PCs. This soon stopped when the punters failed to rush for such a configuration.

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Seeing red? You will once you've fired up Diskeeper 4. The sea of red on this month-old PC shows why it has slowed to a snail's pace

There's no doubt that bulky software slows PCs down. But the underlying operating system can also be a contributory factor. Many Windows 3 users said it was unacceptably slow compared to Dos. But run the same operating system on today's hardware and you have a flyer. For example, some companies now sell reconditioned 486 PCs with Windows 3.1 and Internet Explorer 4. This provides a very cost effective way of accessing the Internet.

As well as the operating system, speed is inhibited by other issues - not least the hidden problem of fragmentation. This is where files are stored in multiple parts depending on the storage available. The more a disk is used, the more files are likely to fragment. The more fragments that make up a file, the longer it will take to load as the disk heads constantly relocate to find the next fragment. Fragmentation can cause a big drop in performance as more disk activity leads to increased processor utilisation.

Nowhere is this more of a problem than with Windows NT. Users may struggle to realise the benefits of a 32-bit operating system and applications when their Windows NT PC takes 30 seconds to react to the Control Alt Del logon command. Organisations that have rolled out Windows NT 4 without considering the fragmentation issue are likely to be using some rather slow PCs by now. Another example of where faster equals slower.

Fat, as used under Dos and Windows, is subject to fragmentation. NTFS is very different to Fat but it has fragmentation for different reasons. The secure nature of NTFS means fragmentation is more likely. Modified files are saved to a new part of the disk before the previous version is deleted. This will obviously leave a space at the former location. And large files (those of tens of megabytes) are prone to breaking up into hundreds of fragments.

The file system also leaves space after each file to allow for growth - but the space is not enough for today's inefficient file formats. This is compounded when Windows NT is run on relatively small disks. NTFS likes to work on large disk partitions. It is the PCs with hard disks of a handful of gigabytes that are likely to be the most troublesome. Did I ever think I would describe such as a disk as small? Large partitions give NTFS room to manoeuvre and so are less susceptible to the performance problems associated with fragmentation.

Executive Software has been at the forefront of the fight against Windows NT fragmentation. Its Diskeeper product has always lead the field - no doubt because of the availability of trial downloads from the Internet. Microsoft has now licensed a version of Diskeeper for use with future versions of Windows NT - now referred to as Windows 2000. It's not clear how functional this release will be. It's expected to be fairly limited and will almost certainly have no scheduling feature. Executive Software has suggested that this version will probably only be suitable for home users.

Diskeeper 4 comes supplied on a single CD-Rom. The version will depend on whether you've purchased the Workstation or Server edition. The installation procedure is largely the same for both. It should be noted that the Workstation version cannot be installed on servers - and that the Server version relies on the Workstation variant being installed on client PCs. Diskeeper is compatible with SMS and so can be rolled out automatically if required.

The CD-Rom autostarts as expected. Clicking Next reveals a license screen and this has to be confirmed in the normal way. You then choose the installation directory and program folder. File copying then just takes a few seconds. You have the option of registering at Executive Software's Web site as well as the standard options of viewing the readme file as well as launching the product there and then - no reboot is required to get Diskeeper 4 working.

The CDs only include around 28MB of data - including versions for Intel, Alpha and Windows NT 3.51. Executive Software could have used some of the spare capacity for demonstration versions of other products like Network Undelete (see Shopper 128). It's worth noting that Diskeeper 4 does not rely on a particular Windows NT service pack. Previously, each service pack required a different version of Diskeeper. With close co-operation between Executive Software and Microsoft, Diskeeper 4 will not require updating - although enhancements will no doubt still be issued.

The 'Defragment Now' option on a disk's properties menu will normally be greyed out. With Diskeeper 4 installed it should become active. Alternatively it can be run from the new Diskeeper group on the Start menu. With Diskeeper loaded, the Analyse button is used to show the extent of fragmentation on the selected partition. If the partition has not been defragmented before, you are likely to have major fragmentation showing here. Even if the PC has so far only been used for software installation, you are still likely to have a major problem.

The result of the analyse function can be saved and used for comparisons in the future. The Text option on the View menu is used for this - followed by Save. This screen displays some quite useful information - including a summary of the fragmented files and their fragments. You also get statistics for files, directories, cluster size and the MFT and page files.

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My notebook has only been used for an hour in its whole life. 'Moderate' fragmentation will occur the first time a Windows NT PC is used. 'Catastrophic' might be the best term for the fragmentation after a few weeks

There are two things that can be done once you see the extent of the fragmentation. You could use the Defragment facility there and then. This will run as a high priority task and Diskeeper will do as much as it can - although complete defragmentation is only possible at boot time.

The other option you have is to use the 'Set It and Forget It' mode. This is a Diskeeper menu and provides the single option of Partition Scheduling. This allows you to select a partition and set the characteristics for automatic defragmentation. You can set when it is run - once, continuously and every two, four, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours. The default is every four hours.

You can also choose which day the process is run - from every day to weekends, weekdays and named days of the week. 'Except' options are also available. You are also able to choose start and finish times for the process. A click of the Start button sets all this up and defragmentation will take place on the next cycle. When this happens, a non functioning icon will appear in the system tray and your PC could slow down dramatically. Priority settings allow you to adjust the resources allocated to the defragmentation task. This ranges from the hungry up-front mode to four background priorities.

This shows up one of the problems of automatic defragmentation - you have to time it so you're not busy on some intensive task just as Diskeeper cuts in. There appears to be no way of opting out of the automatic process once it's started. But it's easy to change the 'Set It and Forget It' characteristics back within Diskeeper. For example, if you go out for lunch between 13:00 and 14:00, this is the time to let Diskeeper loose on the system.

Badly fragmented Windows NT systems are likely to have directories and files scattered across the disk. More importantly, the Windows NT page file could also be fragmented - leading to a big loss in performance. Reading from the page file is very much slower than reading data from memory. A badly fragmented page file will further slow this process. Once the page file has become fragmented, it has not been possible to defragment it until now. The only way to make it contiguous has been deletion and then trial and error in the recreation stakes.

Diskeeper 4 is the first defragmenter for Windows NT to be able to addresses these problems. To try it out, I installed the workstation version on my new notebook. The notebook had a fresh installation of Windows NT and Office 97 had not been used in anger. Installation was complete in under a minute and the Analyse function was selected for drive C. This revealed 132 fragmented files and 1562 excess file fragments.

The Defragment process was then started. This goes through the disk in a number of stages and progress is seen on screen. After this had run for about 25 minutes, Diskeeper 4 reported there were now 20 fragmented files and 595 excess file fragments. This was the best that could be done using the basic features.

To improve on this, the Advanced Tools menu is required. This contains a single option - Boot Time Defragmentation. This displays a dialogue box that allows you to select the partition to be dealt with. There are also check boxes to set the actions to be undertaken on the next boot. Directory consolidation will defragment and consolidate the directories on the selected partition.

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A manual defragment will allow you to look at this handy display - wondering what stage two is doing to your precious data

This is particularly so if multiple partitions are being fragmented. This is because the nature of a Windows NT boot forces Chkdsk to run cumulatively. This means that a Chkdsk of one partition will cause each previous partition to be checked as well. For example, in the defragmentation of partitions C, D, E and F, Chkdsk will check all four before and after defragmentation of partition F. It is recommended to use the Chkdsk option. But the possible time implications means only one partition should be dealt with in the boot process.

Reduce Paging File Fragments is the option to set for defragmenting the page file. 'Pause After Defragmentation' forces the boot defragmentation process to stop when complete. At this point you can then power off or press reset. If this option is not selected, Diskeeper will pause for 15 seconds to allow any messages to be read. The PC is then rebooted.

The final option is Use the Summary File. This tells Diskeeper to write a text file summary of the Boot Time Defragmentation process. You will be prompted for the location of the file - although you will not be allowed to write it on the partition being defragmented.

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Things start to look pretty bare by stage 4 - although worrying about the traditional power cut to the Holbrook household is foremost in the mind

With the appropriate options selected on this screen, you can use the Set button to establish these settings for the next boot. Diskeeper 4 performs a few basic checks to ensure these are valid settings. For example, if you choose to defragment the page file, it will not permit this option to be selected if the page file is contiguous. Assuming you were allowed to set the options, you can carry on using the PC as normal.

The next time the PC is started, Windows NT will stop on the blue start screen that reports memory and the number of processors. Diskeeper will then kick in and various statistics will be displayed. A rising figure will be shown for the number of files found and this will go on for some time. The defragmentation then gets underway. As noted above, a summary will be shown at the end and the PC then restarts. This took around 30 minutes on my test PC. Diskeeper 4 does not promise to remove all page file fragments but it has a good attempt at making page file fragmentation a thing of the past. The earlier the utility is run in the life of the PC, the more chance there is of the page file being contiguous for life.

Boot Time Defragmentation may take a long time to complete, depending on partition size and the number selected. It is safe to reboot the PC part way through this process. However, if you do this, check the partition's Error Checking option in Drive Properties/Tools. Both the Fix and Scan options should be enabled. The test run on the notebook took around 30 minutes. I had anticipated this and so arranged the process to run when I went off to a meeting. This is a once-only process and will not run again on the next boot unless you reset it.

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'You should run Diskeeper considerably more often' is the advice on this screen. But I've only had the PC for an hour and I've run Diskeeper once in that hour. How often do you suggest I run it?

After this process had run, my notebook's drive C reported two fragmented files and three excess file fragments. But a few minutes of typing and a save of this document saw a rise to 10 fragmented files and 135 excess file fragments.

As noted earlier, the server version of Diskeeper 4 is used to control copies of Diskeeper on client workstations or other servers. Anything that can be done at the local level can generally be done at the server. For example, workstation defragmentation can be scheduled remotely. This can be done for just a few PCs or even a whole domain. The Analyse function can also be performed remotely - meaning the administrator can determine which partitions are in need of defragmentation.

Dealing with the problem in this way also means users do not have to be given administration rights on their PC - defragmentation cannot normally be carried out locally without such rights. Network control can also be established by an administrator even when at a workstation - using the supplied software. This gives the best flexibility by allowing actions to be taken even when away from the server that is running the Diskeeper Server software.

The Diskeeper interface has not changed much since its first incarnation. Executive Software could have taken this opportunity to redesign it. For example, three of the menus contain just a single option. These would have been better as buttons on the main screen. It would also be an improvement if the software informed you of what is happening at each stage - rather than just numbering the stages.

And if I may remind you once more - this problem is of Microsoft's making. Why has there been no built in defragmentation software for Windows NT when even Dos was supplied with such a tool? The answer could be that defragmentation software generally takes over a PC when running Dos or Windows. When it comes to Windows NT, this is not possible and so a different style of defragmentation software is needed. This type of software has taken time to evolve. Indeed, it has taken close co-operation between Executive Software and Microsoft to get Diskeeper where it is today.

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Only a boot time defragment can tidy up an NT partition properly. But only a boot camp could tidy up the shabby bunch of Shopper contributors

Overall, Diskeeper 4 sets a new standard for Windows NT defragmentation. The defragmentation of directories and the page file provides a dramatically smoother working environment. And if you can find the optimum 'Set It and Forget It' parameters for your working environment, you may never have to worry about fragmentation again.

Fragmentation has always been an issue with Windows NT but it became a high profile problem with the release of Windows NT 4. By this time Microsoft realised a defragmenter was needed and so scheduled one for the next release. Why Diskeeper couldn't have been added in one of the four service packs is a mystery. You may not be too happy at having to pay to solve a Microsoft problem, but the cost of not solving it will be far higher.

If you fancy trying Diskeeper 4 then a 30 day trial version can be downloaded from www.execsoft.co.uk/Products/Download/Nt/Dk4nt.htm. Documentation can also be downloaded for the Workstation and Server versions in Microsoft Word format.

Further Information:

Action Computer Supplies


Diskeeper 4 Workstation £34.95
Diskeeper 4 Server £174.95
(volume discounts are available)

Product information and trial
www.execsoft.co.uk