Prefetch Problem

[Mike]

After clearing out the Prefetch folder I am only able to
launch windows in SAFE MODE. Is there any other solution
besides reinstalling XP Professional?

 

[R. McCarty]

Are you sure you deleted "Prefetch" ?. Removing the contents
should not prevent Windows from starting correctly. However,
boot to Safe mode, Click Run, Type Regedit - Search for the
key "EnablePrefetcher" . Right click the key and change it's
default value (2 or 3) to 0. Reboot your computer normally.
Then go back to Regedit, relocate that key and change the
value back to 3.
FYI - All the Tweaking Web-sites that recommend purging the
Prefetch folder are Wrong. It is self maintaining and needs
no manual changes.

 

[The Unknown P]

Hello R. One quick question as you seem to be so
knowledgeable. Where is this "self maintaining" prefetch
file program that you refer to? I have had XP HE for over
two years and have never seen it. The cleaning of the
prefetch file is not a tweak so much as a maintainence
procedure to assist in reducing Boot times. The prefetch
file can get bloated with outdated and useless references
to apps that you either don't have or no longer use. The
more that is in there and the more you don't use them the
longer the boot time becomes so cleaning the prefetch
folder is a good practice if you add\remove programs on a
regular basis. For most cleaning the prefetch will not
gain much of a boot time reduction. There is no harm in
deleting all the entries in there as once the list becomes
repopulated with what you do use then boot times will
become decreased. This often takes 4 or 5 times for you to
use the computer and then to shut down and reboot before
the prefetch file will be populated. Nice try though R.
You almost had me believing you. Have fun.

 

[mrtee]

On XP pro, prefetch is in the Windows folder. The entries in mine have NEVER EVER exceeded 130 files. Every 3 days the files are automatically deleted and recreated as programs are run. There is no good reason to delete the files - they are rewritten anyhow.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| Hello R. One quick question as you seem to be so
| knowledgeable. Where is this "self maintaining" prefetch
| file program that you refer to? I have had XP HE for over
| two years and have never seen it. The cleaning of the
| prefetch file is not a tweak so much as a maintainence
| procedure to assist in reducing Boot times. The prefetch
| file can get bloated with outdated and useless references
| to apps that you either don't have or no longer use. The
| more that is in there and the more you don't use them the
| longer the boot time becomes so cleaning the prefetch
| folder is a good practice if you add\remove programs on a
| regular basis. For most cleaning the prefetch will not
| gain much of a boot time reduction. There is no harm in
| deleting all the entries in there as once the list becomes
| repopulated with what you do use then boot times will
| become decreased. This often takes 4 or 5 times for you to
| use the computer and then to shut down and reboot before
| the prefetch file will be populated. Nice try though R.
| You almost had me believing you. Have fun.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Mike,

Go to Start/Run and paste this line in:
rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

 

[Alex Nichol]

Hello R. One quick question as you seem to be so
knowledgeable. Where is this "self maintaining" prefetch
file program that you refer to? I have had XP HE for over
two years and have never seen it. The cleaning of the
prefetch file is not a tweak so much as a maintainence
procedure to assist in reducing Boot times.

It is not a good one. The reference files in prefetch describe patterns
of files loaded when you start a program, so that in future the system
can set about loading them all at once, without waiting for the
requests. Secondarily to that, a 'mini defrag' type operation every
three days arranges files so as to optimise overall loading - both these
*and* boot. Records get dropped from the folder regularly if the
programs concerned are not being used. It is much better left to
itself: if you delete the contents it all has to be laboriously rebuilt
over time

Note that for the optimisation matter to work, there has to be the
reference in the registry, *and* Task Scheduling has to be enabled (as
it does for generation of automatic restore points)
..

 

[Guest]

Was something suppose to happen once I pasted the line
below? I then rebooted and it still launches in SAFE MODE
only. Any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you for such a quick response.

-----Original Message-----
Hi Mike,

Go to Start/Run and paste this line in:
rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

--
All the Best,
Kelly

MS-MVP Win98/XP
[AE-Windows® XP]

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

Repair/Customize Quick Launch, Taskbar and Notification Area
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

After clearing out the Prefetch folder I am only able to
launch windows in SAFE MODE. Is there any other solution
besides reinstalling XP Professional?

.

 

[mrtee]

Stick this in your run box "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks" and hit enter. You don't get the GUI display that bootvis gives you, but it does the job.



From www.lockergnome.com 7-22-2003 issue



This tip is for the Windows XP users out there. "The Windows XP operating system achieves excellent performance in part by dynamic adjustments that it makes in response to how a system is utilized. In particular, many adjustments are made when the system first runs following setup and when newly installed applications are used for the first time. These adjustments greatly influence the performance of the system. Unfortunately, the dynamic nature of Windows XP can make benchmarking more of a challenge than with previous Windows versions." To properly benchmark your Windows XP system, there are a few steps you should follow. The step with which we are concerned in this particular tip is letting your PC process any "idle tasks." Idle tasks are tasks that your PC executes when it deems the system to be unused or idle. Some of these include file placement optimization, system restore, and done-once-after-setup work items. "All of these 'idle tasks' are controllable by a system API in advapi32.dll, ProcessIdleTasks. The API's sole purpose is to allow benchmarks a simple way to force any pending idle tasks to be executed immediately, without having to wait a lengthy period of time. To call ProcessIdleTasks from the command line, use this syntax: Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks." Once running, it may take up to around 15 minutes to process all of the idle tasks, and your hard drive will be active through most of it. For more steps on preparing your Windows XP machine for benchmarking, head over to the Windows Platform Development page on Benchmarking for Windows XP on Microsoft's site.


--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
Was something suppose to happen once I pasted the line
below? I then rebooted and it still launches in SAFE MODE
only. Any other suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you for such a quick response.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Stick this in your run box "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks" and hit enter. You don't get the GUI display that bootvis gives you, but it does the job.

Note that it will be a few days before the effects get noticed - the
Prefetch info must build up (if the folder has been emptied) and then it
is only every three days that the optimiser comes in to do the work (as
a result of that setting). The end result should overall be better than
bootvis achieves