I want to make sure my hard drive is defragmented (if it is possible) and that I don’t have any unused temporary files that my ram is being used effectively etc. Any help on this is much appreciated.
Linux filesystems do not need defragmenting (of course it’s a little bit exaggerated but they don’t need it in such way as windows fs needs), the only problems with fragmentation happen if your disk is becoming full, only then they tend to become fragmented.
Linux systems generally make full use of your ram memory. If you have more than 1GB of memory then swap is rarely used (though it’s good to have it if you want the system to hibernate) or in some memory intensive operations it will get used. Memory is used the way that linux caches to the rest of free memory not used by your programs some most used files etc. generally free memory is a waisted memory. If any program needs more memory then that some cached files will be freed so no panic that you will run out of it.
If it goes about tmp file then you can set in YaST how often they should be cleaned or better yet use ram memory to use for the /tmp directory (you can set how much memory maximum it can use etc.) but generally it is no more than few megabytes except if you save some big files in /tmp for example when burning a cd/dvd.
Defrag: Not needed.
Temp files: You can turn on periodic cleanup of /tmp but it’s not a major issue.
RAM: Linux uses RAM very efficiently.
So you don’t have to stick to old Windows habits. Just enjoy using Linux.
you don’t need to defrag your filesystems under linux. although all filesystems fragment, they do much less under linux than Windows filesystems
as for tmp files, go to YaST -> System -> /etc/sysconfig editor
and search for CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOT and MAX_DAYS_IN_TMP and enable the first (yes) and set 3 or 4 days for the second (or choose how many days you want)
Also RAM under Linux is being used much more effectively than under Windows, you don’t need to worry about that
Well that is super duper ! 
Thanks for the helpful responses. Maybe I am just used to the speed now so the system seems like it has slowed down when it really hasn’t.
> Maybe I am just used to the speed now so the system seems like it
> has slowed down when it really hasn’t.
well! the more stuff you add, the more apps you have running at one
time, the more bells and whistles you use (like wobbly windows and
spinning cubes) well…ALL of those things you add REQUIRE more
resources (CPU cycles, RAM locations, etc etc etc)…and, if you add
stuff over time without adding faster computations, memory etc etc
etc, then it WILL get slower and slower…
it doesn’t “seem like it has slowed down”, it HAS slowed down…
to optimize: turn off/uninstall the stuff you added to slow it
down OR buy faster hardware…there are no other choices.
–
brassy