XP: Registry Hack to Disable or Modify Prefetch

Contributed by William_Wilson  
Tagged: Windows  

Change the amount of memory stolen by prefetch or stop it completely

Prefetch does exatly as it sounds, it loads programs, libraries and everything else the computer deems often (at one time) and loads them all into memory, whether they are commonly used now, even if they don’t exist now… these programs and files could still be using some of your memory, so let’s get it back!

This option does speed up the opening and running of popular programs, but should also be kept under control.

Clean up the prefetch folder:
navigate to C:\Windows\prefetch
-delete any heading which you do not use often enough, or if the program loads quickly without being prefetched.
*NOTE you can delete them all if you like, they will be updated again when Windows deems fit.

The items removed, will likely load a little slower than usual the first time you run them, but this is a reasonable trade off if your overall system performance is improved.

Determine how you want prefetch to run:
*This involves the registry, if you are uncomfortable with this, you should stop here.

move to path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
On the right side look for a key named: EnablePrefetcher
This decides if and how prefetch runs, here are the value and what they do:
0: Disable
1: Prefetch when an application runs
2: Prefetch on startup or bootup
3: Always Prefetch

*Here you will have to make your own decision on what is best for your system.. i personally do a boot on app run, the length of wait is very minimal compared to any other setting, and windows startup is considerably faster! Which is what really matters.
Once a program has been added to prefetch it then will run faster the next time you open it until reboot.

Further information regarding the prefetch can be found here:
XP: Speed Up Your System – When, Where, and How to Clear the Prefetch

Questions/Comments: william_a_wilson@hotmail.com
-William. § (marvin_gohan)