Windows XP: Prefetch

Windows XP has a directory called 'Prefetch' which resides in the Windows directory (Often C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch). This directory contains files for applications that have previously been executed and are intended to help applications startup more quickly. This attempt at predicting what may be run based on what was previously run is often a good strategy for the short term, but over time, it can clog up the system with un-necessary resource usage for long forgotten applications.

Since files put in the Prefetch directory are never removed, you may want to consider cleaning this out by hand. This should help your system boot up faster. You could employ one of the following clean up strategies :-

1. Delete all files in the Prefetch directory.
2. Move these files to another directory (incase you are curious and want to compare later).
3. Delete files that have not been modified recently (maybe the last month).
4. Implement a scheduled script to delete old files.

In addition to cleaning these files up, you can also change the prefetch strategy that Windows uses. To do this, run 'regedit' edit the following

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

The valid values for this are :-

1. Prefetch Disabled
2. Prefetch files for Application Startup
3. Prefetch files for Boot
4. Prefetch Everything

Roger Hall COMPUSPEC

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