Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (
More info?)
Donald
There is little point in deleting them, and it's debatable whether cleaning
does much good, but there is no question that there is a performance hit,
especially as the prefetch is built up over several boots..
Deleting prefetch is not the first thing to do when diagnosing or correcting
problems.. in fact, I haven't done it in over three years.. there is a
utility available that cleans prefetch out, but like so many other third
party utilities, the usefulness is debatable..
--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User
"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept
it all to themselves." - Lane Kirkland
"Donald L McDaniel" <orthocrossNOSPAM@skycasters.net> wrote in message
news:jtpac1duj8ajsrciggva8hce8s4sk9g89n@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 23:58:38 -0400, Ed <fake@fake.com> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 23:29:11 -0400, "Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)"
>><mike.hall.mail@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>>
>>>What you hurt by doing it is speed of access.. in what way would that not
>>>be
>>>detrimental?.. Windows will now have to build the prefetch again, a
>>>process
>>>that spans more than one reboot, and that will slow down the computers
>>>until
>>>such time as the process has completed..
>>
>>It is also my understanding that XP does pull automatic house cleaning
>>maintenance on the prefetch directory by cleaning out old unused
>>entries, entries with no associated executable.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Ed
>
> I don't know where you got your "understanding" from, but my
> experience shows that old, unused entries unassociated with
> executables are very seldom, if ever, cleaned out automatically by
> Windows.
>
> I regularly empty the \Windows\prefetch folder, especially after I
> uninstall programs. All installed programs launch within a few
> seconds (1 or 2 at the most). I'm in no hurry. I can definitely wait
> a few seconds for a program to launch. Keeping the \Windows\prefetch
> folder unemptied only adds a few milliseconds performance hit. I
> mean, it's not as if your computer slows down so much that it is
> noticable.
>
> Have a little patience, folks.
>
> Anyway, as Mr. Hall says, Windows rebuilds the folder.
> Donald L McDaniel
> Please reply to the original thread.
> If you must reply via email, remove the obvious
> from my email address before sending.
> =======================================================
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