njustice Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 Windows XP has a feature that monitors files that are used when you boot and also applications that you start. It puts a log of these in the Prefetch folder under C:/Windows. And....so it goes to this folder and "prefetches" those files for faster startups. A nice feature, but that cache folder can fill up rather fast with "junk" files (old stuff you rarely use any more)---it needs to be cleaned out at least once a month--more often if you are a heavy user. One "technique" I used recently was having a shortcut to the Prefetch folder on my desktop (named, of all things, "Clean Prefetch"---original, huh? ). That would open the folder and I would manually delete all the files. Anyway....here's one better---make a shortcut to a simple batch file that will erase all the contents of the Prefetch folder with just one click. Here's how:1. In Notepad, type the following (or just cut & paste the text below):del C:\Windows\Prefetch\*.* /Q2. Click on "Save As", then in the scrolldown menu "Save as type", select "All files".Saving the file to the C:/ drive (or folder of your choice), name the file: DeletePrefetch.bat and hit OK. 3. Now make a shortcut to that file either on the Desktop or in Programs (do NOT use "Copy"...if you do that, you won't be able to rename it without screwing up the file). When you are ready to clean out the Prefetch, just click on the shortcut and it's done. One click shopping. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
screi Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 thanx..nice tip...wayne Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martymas Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 when i was a member of techtv c.f.hleo should us a way to delete the prefetch files and in your post you dont mention it he said to do it from the command prompt .open the command prompt.type defrag c: -b press enterhave i been doing it wrong all these years. marty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Luke7_23 Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 Great tip! Another addition to it though, would just be saving it to your Desktop to start with. Not really much difference, just saves the step of creating a shortcut to it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimras Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 RE: type defrag c: -b press enterI'm not one to just type in commands with switches.Can you tell me what the "-b" does to the defrag command? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
njustice Posted January 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 (edited) -B is used to restart your computer after files have been reorganized. Edited January 4, 2005 by njustice Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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