How do I do a computer defrag if I have no "My Computer" icon?

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Summary: A computer defrag is most often accessed by hard disk drive properties on My Computer. We can recover My Computer, and defrag without it too.

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The "My Computer" icon (technically a shortcut, not a file) is common on default desktops, but it's certainly not required.

While it's one way to access the computer defrag tool, it's not the only way. We'll look at how to get "My Computer" back, and how to defrag without it, too.

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The "My Computer" icon is a common fixture on many Windows desktops:

However, it's also very easy to lose, either intentionally as part of keeping a clean desktop, or otherwise. Getting it back is easy.

Right click on the desktop background, and select Properties. Click on the Desktop tab:

Now click on the Customize Desktop... button:

Simply make sure that My Computer is checked, and "OK" your way back out.

In Windows Vista the process is similar: right click on the desktop, click on Personalize, then click on Change desktop icons in the left-hand pane. Once again, simply make sure that Computer (as it's called in Vista) is checked, and "OK" and close your way back out.

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Something that most people don't realize is that "My Computer" is just a shortcut, and like many shortcuts the target can be accessed from several different places.

Click on the Start menu, and you'll see "My Computer" listed right there:

You can right click on that just as you would have the desktop icon, or you can click on it to open "My Computer" just as double clicking on the desktop icon would have done.

Another approach: hold down the Windows Key and press the letter E. In most configurations this will open up Windows Explorer on ... you guessed it ... "My Computer". In fact, being a keyboard kinda guy myself, this is perhaps my most frequently used alternative.

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Even though we've figured out about three different ways to get at My Computer, and presumably the disk properties that allow you to start a defrag of your hard disk, let's defrag without "My Computer" at all.

These alternatives all work:

• Start, Run, and then enter "Compmgmt.msc" and press OK. That's the Computer Management console, and therein you'll find "Disk Defragmenter".

• Even better: Start, Run, and then enter "dfrg.msc" and press OK. That's the disk defragmenter itself.

• Finally: consider the "defrag" command line tool. All you need do is open up a Command Prompt (usually in the Accessories menu underneath All Programs), and type "defrag C:" followed by enter. There's no pretty picture as this operates, but the results are the same.

As you can see, just like multiple ways of finding "My Computer", there are multiple ways to find the defragmenting tool as well.

Related:

• What is 'defragging', and why should I do it? Defragging is short for defragmenting which rearranges the layout of files on your hard disk for faster access.

• Why would the defragger tell me I still need to defrag after it's done? Occasionally, the disk defragmenter will tell you that you still need to defrag even after having just done so. We'll look at why, and what to do.

• How do I schedule Disk Defragmenter to run with the Windows Task Scheduler? You want to defragment your hard disk periodically. Task Scheduler runs programs periodically. Put those together to defragment your disk regularly.

Article C3721 - May 3, 2009