Optimizing Windows Read-Ahead to Speed ​​Up the System

As you know, there is a service called prefetcher in the Windows XP/2003 operating system. This is a new system background data read-ahead mechanism used by Microsoft to improve the system. Performance, speed up the startup speed of Windows XP/2003, the pre-read programs are all stored in the prefetcher directory under the system folder (Figure 1), the file name format is similar to the following: FOXMAIL.EXE-2B721FDE.pf ( This is a pre-read file for Foxmail). Although Windows XP/2003 uses a pre-reading mechanism, the default settings are conservative. We can define the pre-reading mode of the program ourselves and greatly improve the performance of the system.
Figure 1

Click on the "Start& rdquo; menu"Run”, enter regedit in the "Run” dialog box, open the registry editor, in In the registry, expand the following branches: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementPrefetchParameters, in the right window, change the DWORD value of "EnablePrefetcher" to the one you need (Figure 2). The EnablePrefetcher key value can be selected from 0, 1, 2, and 3, where the key value is “0” indicates that the read-ahead function is turned off; the key value is “1” indicates that only the application is pre-read. The key value is “2” indicates that the startup item is only read-ahead; and the key value is “3” indicates that both the application and the startup item are pre-read. It is recommended to set the key value of EnablePrefetcher to “3” for computers with mainstream configuration, and “1” for computers with poor configuration. For old machines such as PII, it is recommended to set the key value of EnablePrefetcher to “ld”. ;0”, because the pre-reading mechanism has been "uninhibited" for such an old computer.
Figure 2

In addition, it is recommended that you clear the prefetcher directory once every 2 months or so. This is because frequent deletions and installation of various software will leave a lot of dead links for pre-read files in the prefetcher directory (the software has been deleted, but the pre-read files of the software remain), and the system At startup, the software corresponding to the pre-read files of these dead links will still be read, and the resources and time will be consumed. Please rest assured that after deleting the pre-read file, Windows will automatically pre-read the file for you at the next startup, and your system will "take off" again!