14 DAY TRIAL // File defragmenting could be such a pain. And if you do not take care of your computer, you run the risk of your machine running slower by the day. Fortunately, there are dozens of software developers that work for us. Some of them put a price on their work, others do not. And those that value their work and feel the need to get paid for it are usually generous enough to let us try the software first, for a certain period of time, before applying restrictions.
Ashampoo Magical Defrag is a software from Ashampoo that is designed to maintain the order in the files on your hard drive. The application is simple to use and does not require great skills on the part of the user. All you have to do is start it and forget about it. The installation file will keep 4.58MB of your disk space occupied, but this should not represent a problem for you.
Once you have installed the software, it will eagerly begin its defragmenting task. The main window will display the number of files processed, the number of defragmented items and the amount of the files that were moved.
At the bottom of the application there is the Pause/Continue button, the Help accessing button and the Close button. Closing the application window will not result in completely shutting down the program, as it will continue to display its "magical" icon in the system tray.
The user can see the results of its activity by going into the File menu and choosing Statistics. You will get the number of defragmented and moved files in the last week of use and since installation. This will give you an idea about the performance of the program. Of course, the level of success will be mirrored directly in the way your computer runs.
The Options menu contains the Settings, where you can choose the drive to defragment. And if you run the software on a notebook/laptop, the software can be configured not to run while in battery mode, saving power for much pressing tasks.
Here you can also start and stop the service manually, because I must tell you that this eager-beaver will run continuously in your benefit and the computer's, too. The Server Name option is for remotely control the service on computers in your network. Pressing the Connect/Disconnect will stop or start the remote session between the two computers. Useless to say that the software has to be installed on both machines.
To me, the News Channel configuration window seems pretty corny, but if you want to be up-to-date with information about Ashampoo products (and Softpedia will provide you a three page list on this matter) or new program versions and updates, then the feature becomes a very useful means to get them.
The system tray icon is all you need to check the state of your computer. It will display a check sign if your hard drive is in perfect shape (from a defrag point of view) and if the software is reorganizing the files, and a little blue star if the defrag service is active. The pause sign will appear if the defragmenting service is on hold.
The Good
The software is easy to use and - if you configure it once - you can forget about it. The process will stop automatically when other application requires processor capacity or when the hard disk is accessed.
The application requires minimum hardware, such as 64MB of RAM and only 5MB of hard disk space.
If you - by any chance - need assistance, you can turn to the Help menu which explains all the aspects of the program.
The software comes with a 30 days trial period, which can be extended to 40 days by requesting a free trial key.
It eliminates the schedule feature, because it runs whenever the computer is on, and it will also let the other applications to do their job too.
The Bad
The News Channels option may be considered useless for some users and I think that a simple update button would have sufficed.
The only way to get rid of the icon in the system tray is to uninstall the software.
The Truth
The program is not at all intricate, as you may have used softwares like this one. And the options are very few, but the utility of the application could never be questioned, as it does a good job with your files and gathers them together for a much better performance of your computer.
Ashampoo Magical Defrag is a great software, at great price and does a great job.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
