TSGL: Prefetch

Sat Dec 9 01:18:46 EST 2006

I don't know how much Prefetch speeds up or slows down the computer, but I
just checked and found my Prefetch folder had a grand total of 99 files with
a total size of 5.66 MB. That isn't much space when you consider my "C"
drive is about 115 GB in size and I'm presently using only 44.7 GB, with 70
GB free.  So, at least in terms of how much space Prefetch uses, I'd say, at
least for me, it's negligible.

Russ Coover

I am trying to find myself. If you see me before I do, please ask me to wait
until I return.
-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
Behalf Of H Davis
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 9:12 AM
To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
Subject: Re: TSGL: Prefetch

Well Ron, I've just spent an hour of my life reading this excellent 
thread. I've never bothered to clean my prefetch folder and it has 118 
items, the oldest of which is from 11/19/06. The computer is much older 
than that so something has been pruning the prefetch file just as Ed 
Bott suggested.

H Davis

Ron Brunton wrote:
> Turning off prefetch slows the computer. Take a look at
> http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000024.html 
>
> Ron
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
> Behalf Of jonpan
> Sent: December 7, 2006 4:57 AM
> To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
> Subject: Re: TSGL: Prefetch
>
> Hi Don,
>
> I just checked out the effect of turning off Task Scheduler on Prefetch -
I 
> flushed the contents of the Prefetch folder, then turned off Tsk Schd, 
> opened a number of programmes and looked at PF which showed no entries. 
> Turned TskSchd back on and opened several programmes again. These then 
> appeared in the PF folder.   (XP Pro SP2)
>
> However, regarding the effect on performance, I wouldn't know how to
measure
>
> it  and would prefer to rely on your impressions!
>
> So if you delete the PF Folder and have TskSchd turned off, you have 
> effectively disabled PF.
>
> Re. System Restore, I feel pretty sure that SR needs TskSchd for setting
the
>
> restore points, so if you set the points manually you're presumably O.K.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
> Od/G
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Don Penlington" <deepend at tpg.com.au>
> To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:14 AM
> Subject: Re: TSGL: Prefetch
>
>
> For the uninitiated, my understanding of the Prefetch function in XP is
> that Windows holds a folder called Prefetch containing duplicates of the
> most commonly used drivers and .dll files in your system. The theory is
> that whenever you open a program, Windows will look first in the Prefetch
> folder to load those files instead of hunting around in the Program Files
> folder or other places.  Some experts recommend clearing out this folder
> occasionally, because if it gets too large, that defeats its purpose of
> speeding up the system.
>
> What do readers think about the supposed advantages of Prefetch in
> XP?  I've never been really convinced that it has any noticeable effect on
> a modern fast computer. Maybe it depends on your setup.
>
> To my thinking,  the time taken to find program files on a modern
> reasonably fast computer is negligible.  Maybe it might make a difference
> if you have thousands of programs, ---but then you'd also end up with
> thousands of entries in Prefetch, so it would sort of cancel out any
> supposed benefits.
>
> Like a good lad, I occasionally empty the Prefetch cache, which usually
> contains about 110 items.  One would think that you would see a slight
> drop-off in performance after doing this, while the cache builds itself up
> again. But it doesn't happen.
>
> Is it a coincidence that my Program Files folder also has about 110
program
> folders in it?  Is this a lot of software by most standards?
>
> John has suggested that having Task Scheduler disabled will also disable
> Prefetch.  Though I can't figure out any logic in this, I've had Task
> Scheduler enabled/disabled at various times, but it doesn't seem to have
> made any noticeable difference to performance one way or another.
>
> Have any readers played around with Prefetch to see if it really does make
> a difference? Is it dependant on your type of computer use?
>
> It's not a problem, I'm just curious.  Can Prefetch be disabled?
>
> Don Penlington
>
>
>
>  From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
> Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
> http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html
>
>
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-- 
H Davis   hdavis1 at gmail.com

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