Question about Prefetch folder

[EricfromLA]

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if anyone out there knows about a Prefetch folder in Windows XP Pro. Can I delete the files that are in that folder? I read somewhere that you can delete files in this folder, is this true? Why do I have this folder???

[radspanner]

i saw somewhere that to help speed up a pc you can delete everything in the prefetch folder....well i did and noticed no difference at all.....and within a few days everything was back in the folder just the same as before..

so now i dont bother about it anymore

[Zxian]

The Prefetch folder is only used on boot. Windows will keep track of programs that you use and make a list of programs to partially load into memory on startup. Then, when you go to run the program, it will be available quicker.

I would recommend clearing out this folder (i.e. delete everything) about once a month. Any more than that, and Windows will try to keep too much stuff in memory.

Cheers!

[sp_100]

What is the Windows XP Prefetch?

[waresoft]

sp_100 gave the correct answer. Here is a shorter answer.

The prefetch folder is a place where Windows XP keeps special prefetch files and the layout.ini file. These files are used for the optimization of Windows XP. They help increase performance substantially for booting and loading of applications by default.

The Task Scheduler service must be running. If it isn't and you delete the contents of that folder your performance will drop significantly. It automatically rebuilds itself after being deleted if the task scheduler service is running.

What does it do? The prefetch files (*.pf) are files that basically tell Windows XP exactly where the files are on the disk for particular file, and where in memory to load them. The result is loading them quicker after the first load because now it knows what files (dll's, ocx's, etc) to grab and where they are.

The layout.ini file in the prefetch folder is used by the disk defragmenter to arrange the files based on XP's internal optimization it performs every 3 days when idle. And for use when a boot defrag is done and a regular degragmentation, helping boost performance.

Never delete the layout.ini file.

Deleting prefetch files if hundreds or thousands of them build up can give a tiny insignificant performance boost only after new prefetch files are made.

[karthik-srk]

Originally Posted by EricfromLA

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if anyone out there knows about a Prefetch folder in Windows XP Pro. Can I delete the files that are in that folder? I read somewhere that you can delete files in this folder, is this true? Why do I have this folder???

Hi Eric,
Yes You Can Delete all the files that are in Prefetch Folder . It Does Not Cause Any Problem those files are unwanted but occupy much space in your computer and slows down the performance , so delete all the files in prefetch regularly