TheBrotherhood313 Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Well i usually delete the files every day from this folder. But i havent been deleting the Layout file. Should i be? It seems like something that should stay. Can someone please tell me if i should be leaving it or deleting it along with the other files ;) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoochieMamma Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Well you really shouldn't be deleting everything in the prefetch folder. If anything, your actually decreasing performance by doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly x64 Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 it doesnt matter at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrotherhood313 Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 I thought it made the PC faster by deleting whats in there. So it slows it down? Thats not good. How come so many people here say to delete the contents of the folder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoochieMamma Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Because they don't know any better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drbobiii Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I recently read something about this in another Neowin but can't find the link. Basically, deleting the contents of the prefetch folder is unessecary as Windows will start deleting files itself when the folder reaches a certain size (100mb maybe?). By deleting them yourself, you are removing files that Windows will just create again and giving unneeded work to your computer. I believe that sums it up, though someone may be able to give a better answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrotherhood313 Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 I understand. Its just that i read about 20 topics here about speeding up Win XP. And almost all of them said to delete the contents. Well thanks for the info. I wont delete them anymore ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 The Prefetch thing is just a myth. So, being the myth it is, it's found it's way into alot of optimization guides and such, which is unfortunate. But yeah, actually, it can degrade performance deleting it. Just leave it alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+allan MVC Posted August 22, 2005 MVC Share Posted August 22, 2005 If you delete the files from the Prefetch folder you are defeating its purpose. If you want to disable the prefetching function, change the registry setting to zero. But for most people, prefetching helps decrease boot time and app loading. If you do not understand what the purpose of the prefetch (cache) folder is, you might want to search on Microsoft's site and read up on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Following on from what 'allan' said, you can also set it to '2' Monitor Boot Files Launch Only, rather than '3' Monitor Application and Boot Files Launch Only (Windows default). You don't get the clutter of monitoring all programs, etc. just the boot files, which should help with boot speed without monitoring everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+allan MVC Posted August 22, 2005 MVC Share Posted August 22, 2005 Following on from what 'allan' said, you can also set it to '2' Monitor Boot Files Launch Only, rather than '3' Monitor Application and Boot Files Launch Only (Windows default).You don't get the clutter of monitoring all programs, etc. just the boot files, which should help with boot speed without monitoring everything. 586414586[/snapback] Sorry, but it's not "clutter" - it's caching ;) . There's really no reason not to leave it at "3" for most people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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