Log in to phpMyAdmin and select your site's database. Depending on the web host you are using, your phpMyAdmin may be located in
/phpMyAdmin
or accessible through your web hosting account's admin panel.Scroll down the list of tables and click Check All.
From the drop-down menu, select Optimize table.
Once the optimization task is completed, you should see a screen like this:
We have just optimized our database. As the preceding screenshot was taken after the optimization of a fairly new install of SlayerCafe, there wasn't any optimization required, so every row says Table is already up to date. On a less fresh install, you are likely to see several rows saying OK, indicating that the optimization was successful.
Optimizing a database is a little like defragmenting your hard drive. As a database is used, rows are added to and deleted from tables. When a row is deleted, a blank space is left in its place. MySQL tries...