Windows-Tweaks Special Partners:
 Windows XP Expert Zone

Microsoft-Watch.com

The boot-up process of Windows is divided into several levels: In the first level, Windows loads system files that make the basic operating system functions available (such as drivers, file system subsystems). Later, Windows loads the desktop, the services and other autorun programs into memory. This is where the so called Prefetcher comes into play. This little component analyses and inquires about your daily Windows habits. It finds out which application you start often and loads them into memory directly on startup. After 5 to 10 boot-ups your computer has a full scope of those habits and you will notice that all your favorite applications are loading considerably faster:

The Windows XP successor, Windows 2000, doesnt offer you such an useful feature. During level one (initializing basic os functions) Windows 2000 can only compute 120 Input/Output operations per second which is why this operating system takes almost decades to load. Windows XP travels other roads: During level one it doesnt only initialize and wait for devices and basic functions - it uses the unused processor time to load the prefetch files into memory. XP is capable of performing 200 (and more) Input/Output operations per second which is why the prefetcher does not influence the boot-up time.

How to properly optimize the Windows XP prefetcher

1. Click Start/Run... and enter regedit. Hit OK to start the Registry Editor.

2. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters tree and double-click on EnablePrefetcher. Now you have the comfort of selecting three prefetch methods: If you enter 1 the prefetcher optimizes often used applications while 2 selects frequently loaded system files. 3 is both methods combined. We recommend the standard and highend user to set it to 3 while server admins might want to choose the 2-method since server dont start several different applications in general. Entering 0 deactivates the Windows prefetcher.

What if the prefetcher loads too much?

This scenario happens users with dozens of programs on a regular base: The prefetches cant decide which program is important and loads them all on boot-up. And that leads to a slower boot process.

The answer: We recommend deleting the contents of the folder X:\WINDOWS\Prefetch(whereas X is your system drive) every 4 weeks.

I want tell the Windows prefetcher which application to prefetch. How can I do that?

The answer is quite simple. If you want the prefetcher to load a specific application to boost its startup, perform the following operation:

1. Right-click on the applications shortcut and select Properties.

2. Add the parameter /prefetch:1 to the command line under Target:

3. Click OK and try your program. In some cases, the prefetch setting does not work for a few applications which is due to the experimental character of those parameters. If it doesnt work, there is nothing you can do except removing /prefetch:1.