Slowdown in Productivity Attributed to the Maintenance of the Network
As any business would attest, maintaining an efficient work environment is a major component in ensuring the continued success of their company. Attracting the right people for a position and implementing practices aimed at developing growth are often areas in which a business will focus their attention in order to stimulate that efficiency. While the importance of those two factors can’t be understated there is one other factor that plays a significant role in the proficiency of a company.
That other factor is the health of a company’s computer network system. Often times a slowdown in productivity and business can be directly attributed to the maintenance of that network. Companies that ignore the dangers involved in neglecting their network’s health will eventually be faced with problems that not only pose a threat to their efficiency but to their very existence.
An unprotected computer network is susceptible to several dangers and while the most talked about usually involves a virus the most damaging could actually be a disease. Fragmentation is known as a computer disease due to its ability to progress to such a degree that it will ultimately cause your computer to crash. Ignoring the progression of fragmentation will not solve the problem; it only feeds the disease until it is too late.
Understanding the dangers of fragmentation is important but taking the steps to protect your computer network from the damage of the disease is more important. Knowledge of the disease does little good if a company doesn’t follow through with the actions that will prevent a disastrous network crash.
There are plenty of red flags that a company should look for when determining if their network has been exposed to excessive fragmentation. At the heart of the problem is a network’s speed. Nothing damages a computer’s ability to operate at its optimal speed like fragmentation. This will be noticed in long delays booting up a system, difficulty loading applications and pages, trouble browsing the Internet as well as accessing and sending emails. Basically, fragmentation will cripple a networks main job as a communication outlet.
Fragmentation exists due to the very nature in which a hard drive is designed. Because a hard drive stores files in a contiguous manner any modification, deletion or addition will cause fragmentation. When a hard drive fragments a file it splits the file and stores it in separate space, thus causing a slowdown when that file is retrieved the next time. Over time this slowdown can cause such a problem that the hard drive crashes.
In order to guard against the dangers of fragmentation every company should install defragmentation software on their computer network’s hard drive. By installing defrag a company can effectively clean their network of fragmented files and prevent a reoccurrence of the problem. Defrag will not only eliminate fragmented files but will also restore a computer network’s speed, creating a more efficient work environment for any business.
