It's common knowledge that disk fragmentation can slow down computers and even make them unstable. That's why defragmentation is an essential part of computer maintenance. Windows has a built-in defragmentation utility, but most users are satisfied with it. Fortunately, there are a lot of free disk defragmentation tools on the market.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is one of the most popular defragmentation utilities out there. It combines a number of innovative features, such as autodefragmentation, free space consolidation, and scheduling with ease of use.

Disk Defrag can defrag just about anything - large multi-terabyte volumes, individual files or folders, and free space to prevent new files from becoming fragmented. Moreover, it's a lot faster than other similar utilities because it can defragment several drives simultaneously. It also allows users to schedule defragmentation or to use the autodefragmentation feature that launches the software when a computer goes idle.

A nice addition to all the defragmentation features are disk optimization techniques. Auslogics Disk Defrag can optimize disk volumes by moving system files to the fastest part of the drive, so that the operating system boots faster. It can also clear the MFT (Master File Table) Reserved Zone from regular files and thus speed up file access.

Despite having all these advanced features, Auslogics Disk Defrag is very easy to use. All the user needs to do is to check the checkboxes next to the drives that need to be defragmented and then select one of the modes - Analyze, Defrag, or Defrag & Optimize. The Defrag & Optimize mode usually takes longer to run and the developer recommends using it no more than once a week.

Auslogics Disk Defrag has a clean and intuitive user interface. Users can choose from fun fragmentation colour themes, such as Australian Safari or Aurora, to brighten up their defragmentation experience.

Apart from a regular version, there is a portable version of the software that can be kept on a USB flash drive and used on any computer.

Auslogics Disk Defrag works on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP/2003/Vista/7 computers and supports both FAT and NTFS file systems, which means that it can defragment hard drives and USB sticks.

The verdict: Auslogics Disk Defrag is a great defragmentation utility that does all it claims to do. It contains no spyware or adware and is absolutely free for home use.