Readers Questions.
IF01933
Q.
Should I Disable
Windows XP PreFetch?
A.
In a word... NO! This is the stuff of myth and legend. If you disable the
PreFetch facility in Windows, it will cause a NEGATIVE impact on performance for
most systems. Commonly used applications will take longer to load because you
turned off the caching.
Cleaning
the pre-fetch folder is not necessary. Windows manages it automatically,
dropping out entries that are old or unused. In addition to making your
frequently used programs load slower, it will also INCREASE bootup time because
Windows has to re-copy all the page files you "cleaned out".
Everything
I have read indicates that the default setting for the Prefetch parameter is
optimal for most users. Additionally, the folks from Microsoft say that fiddling
with the Prefetch setting in the Registry or the contents of the C:\windows\prefetch
or C:\winnt\prefetch folders is COUNTER-productive, and that adding a
"/prefetch:1" flag to shortcuts that launch a program will NOT make it load
faster. It may even cause a program to crash. Here's a snippet from taken from
the Microsoft website:
"Windows XP
monitors the files that are used when the computer starts and when you start
applications. By monitoring these files,
Windows XP can prefetch them.
Prefetching data is the process whereby data that is expected to be requested is
read ahead into the cache. Prefetching boot files and applications decreases the
time needed to start
Windows XP and start applications."
It is
important to note that there is never one fix for a question.
What may work for one person might not for the next. Depending on the problem
and the way it is described by the Computer Owner there may be Six different
approaches to a positive outcome. If the first answer I give you to your
question doesn’t work let me know and I will send you another.
Just give me details.
Let me know if you need anything else.
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