Then you should remove your excess programs from the StartUp folder. You may even want to uninstall some of the programs you're sure you will no longer use. There are other ways to access the StartUp folder, but they don't all work on all PCs. Defragging I have never defragged my Macintosh. Defragging is the process of rewriting files on the hard disk so they are contiguous on the disk rather than fragmented or scattered around the disk.
Fragmentation often happens to very large files.
Running Norton Utilities will indicate the degree of fragmentation on the hard disk as slight, moderate or severe. To run it on most systems you must start the system using the Norton disk and not the internal hard disk so that even the system files are defragged. It can take some time to do if the disk is severely fragmented and there is not much open space for the rewriting process and not much free RAM as well. Back up your files before proceeding as in rare cases you may have to reformat the drive completely and reinstall the system and program-data. The control strip on my iMac has an icon that should enable me to regulate the sound.