In the recently released Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft
added a new feature to Disk Defragmenter. Windows 98
will keep track of the exact sequence of file accesses
needed to load a program and then store that information
on the hard disk in the \Windows\Applog directory.
A record of which files are loaded more often than
others is also saved. [Mil98] The file tracking is
performed by a utility called ``Task Monitor.'' A log
file is created for each program used. In addition, a
file called Optlog.txt is created in the
\Windows\Applog directory. The file lists all of
the programs Disk Defragmenter will attempt to optimize
the next time it is executed. [Ran98] Windows
98's Disk Defragmenter then uses that information to
reorder the individual clusters that make up each file
so that they load consecutively to reduce disk head
movement. [Mil98] Related files, in the order
they are needed by a program, are also moved physically
closer together. [Ran98] The most frequently
loaded files are also put on the fastest part of the
disk. [Mil98]
Although this appears to improve disk performance, it apparently reduces the usefulness of third party utilities because the resulting disk will appear logically fragmented. The third party utilities will need to be updated specifically for Windows 98. [Mil98] One such utility is Symantec's Norton Utilities 3.0 for Windows 95. On the same day that stores began selling Microsoft Windows 98, Symantec made available a patch to make Norton Utilities 3.0 compatible with Windows 98. The patch could be obtained and installed by running the LiveUpdate program that is included in Norton Utilities 3.0. [Cor98b] The patch modifies Symantec's disk defragmenter, Speed Disk, so that it uses the files created by Windows 98's Task Monitor on systems running Windows 98. [Cor98a]