Computer and Web Articles

Yes, yes. We’ve been over defragging, clearing out your temporary internet files and running anti-spyware programs. If you’re taking good care of your Windows XP computer but would love to see it run a bit faster still, gather ’round and listen closely.

Windows XP uses something called a “prefetch system” to organize and preload information for many of the programs and files you use regularly. Knowing that, you won’t be surprised as I tell you that there’s a folder called “prefetch” sitting right there on your very own computer that’s used specifically for this prefetch system.

Over time, that prefetch folder has a tendency to fill up - way up! It’s likely that yours contains references to programs and files that you no longer use or have. So, all of you who’ve jumped to the conclusion that I’m going to recommend cleaning out that prefetch folder every now and then are absolutely correct.

Here’s how. Click on My Computer, then click on your C drive, then click on the Windows folder, and finally click on the prefetch folder. Once you’re in the prefetch folder, click the “View” navigation item at the top of the window and select “Arrange Icons by > Type”. That should move the files around and organize them a bit. Now all you have to do is look through the files and delete any .PF files that are older than a week or so.