frontpage hit counter

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Windows XP: Clean Prefetch to Improve Boot Up Speeds


One way to dramatically improve computer performance is to clear the system Prefetch folder. The Prefetch folder automatically loads all your previously opened application's data on Windows XP boot up. By periodically cleaning out this folder every three months, you will notice improved boot up speeds.

This folder is located by default at "C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch" and should contain many *.pf files. Simply delete every file in this folder (but not the folder itself). The next time Windows XP loads, only executable programs from that point on will be added to the Prefetch folder.

posted by Victor Chen at 8:17 AM

2 Comments:

Blogger Andrew K said...

Windows does not load any application data on bootup in relation to prefetching. Cleaning the folder is a Myth:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

8:07 PM  
Blogger lmiller7 said...

WRONG!
This "tip" is based on a complete, but very common, misunderstanding of how prefetch works. Prefetch does NOT preload applications at boot time. Application prefetch files are used to optimize application launch times and are referenced only at that time. Unused or rarely used prefetch entries will have virtually no impact on performance. In any event the folder is self cleaning after 128 entries. Manual cleaning of this folder will impair performance and has NO benefits. All of ths has been extensively tested.

References:
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000024.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/ryanmy/archive/2005/05/25/421882.aspx

Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA

5:09 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Sponsored Links