If I just push the power button to turn off my computer will that harm my computer or should I always shut dow

Question

shut down first, also how do I defrag and should I and how often and why? thanks

Answer 1

You should try to shut down first as many times as you can. Programs need to close before the computer turns off.  When you turn the computer off with the power button while windows is opened, the programs do not have an opportunity to close properly. That could cause the computer to crash and not reboot properly.

Defrag could be done once a month.  Defrag assembles data on your HD so it is accessed quicker.  This makes your computer run a little faster.

Answer 2

It's not a good idea to just push the power button. Your computer has to go through certain steps to shut down safely. You may lose data or damage the disk if you make a habit of that.

You should have a disk defrag programme on your computer. Click on the icon under "all programmes" and follow the steps.

Defrags are good when you've removed a lot of files from your computer, or have been creating and removing repeatedly, to avoid "junk" (kind of like radio static) on your disk.