Colin's Weekly Tip: Automatic Prefetch

[Colin]

One very cool feature built into WindowsXP is its automatic prefetch service, though it's not always enabled on all systems. It's a shame since it can dramatically increase system performance. Luckily turning it on is quite easy, but first we'll need to load up regedit (Start -> Run -> Regedit then press OK). <BR><BR>Fro there follow this path HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters and find the EnablePrefetcher DWORD value. Setting a value of 0 disables the prefetcher, 1 to application launch prefetching, 2 to boot prefetching and 3 to both. Input what you think will be best for you, save and exit then reboot.<BR><BR>Please be warned though, enabling automatic prefetch does clutter up the HDD, periodically you'll want to clear the C:WindowsPrefetch directory of junk.<BR>

[BlueBull]

Hey colin this is an odd one because in your quick boot tip you say change it from 3 to 5 and now you say change it to 3. Which is better? If i change it back to 3 then your quick reboot tip is usless to me....unless this does not work for xp... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif" border="0">

[MarkXP]

One very cool feature built into WindowsXP is its automatic prefetch service, though it's not always enabled on all systems. It's a shame since it can dramatically increase system performance. Luckily turning it on is quite easy, but first we'll need to load up regedit (Start -> Run -> Regedit then press OK). <BR><BR>Fro there follow this path HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters and find the EnablePrefetcher DWORD value. Setting a value of 0 disables the prefetcher, 1 to application launch prefetching, 2 to boot prefetching and 3 to both. Input what you think will be best for you, save and exit then reboot.<BR><BR>Please be warned though, enabling automatic prefetch does clutter up the HDD, periodically you'll want to clear the C:WindowsPrefetch directory of junk.<BR>

Thanx Colin that is a good tip

To make it easier to clear the prefetch directory is to create a script whilst shutting down xp. If you have the prefetch disabled you dont need to do this as windows will not store in the prefetch folder.

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.

The only thing i've found is that whilst shutting down pc, it does the shutdown scripts which is no longer than a minute.
i hope this helps you all :D

[khilladi]

tunexp does the same.. you might want to have a look at it!