Corporations go to great lengths to protect
systems from malware — a threat that only seems to worsen as time goes on.
Keeping anti-malware software constantly updated, and ensuring virus scans
are performed on all company computers regularly is part and parcel of
properly maintaining a computer system. What many IT personnel may not
realize, however, is the impact of disk file fragmentation on virus scan
run times.
When files are split into hundreds or even thousands of fragments
(a not-uncommon scenario today), a virus scan will of course take
significantly longer having to scan each fragment of each file. Not only do
longer virus scans mean higher susceptibility to quickly catching and
heading off viruses, spyware or worms, it also means a greater tax on
system resources. Regularly defragmenting drives can significantly reduce
the time it takes to perform regular antivirus scans, increasing the
operating safety of an enterprise’s computers as well as economizing on
resources.
Keeping hard drives fragmentation free, however, can be more of a task than
it used to be. Because of exponentially increasing disk capacity, as well
as ever-increasing file sizes, fragmentation occurs at higher-than-ever
rates. This could mean that, with many defragmentation solutions,
fragmentation is not being completely eliminated, and the effort may still
result in longer-than-needed antivirus scans.
Therefore, it is not only important to employ a defragmentation solution –
attention should be paid to the defragmentation technology as well.
For most sites, manual defragmentation — the launching of a defragmenter
system-by-system when desired or needed — is no longer an option due to
fragmentation levels and time required for a defragmenter to run. For many
years, defragmenters have been available with scheduling options which
would allow specific times for defragmentation to be set.
In the last few years, however, even scheduled defragmentation is starting
to become out-of-date — it simply cannot keep up with fragmentation rates
and disk sizes, and evolution of defragmentation technology that will
work constantly in the background has begun to appear.
The malware threat is always there. The solution is to always keep your
anti-malware solution up-to-date, regularly perform antivirus scans of all
systems, and keep disks thoroughly defragmented so antivirus scans use the
least amount of time and system resources possible.
Contact:
Bruce Boyers Marketing Services
Email: Email Contact
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