Disable Windows Prefetch files on low RAM systems
If you have an old computer with less than 256 MB of RAM you may speed up Windows XP boot up time by disabling completely the Windows Prefetch. The prefetch function enables the windows to preload programs during the system boot up and this is useful when you have an up to date computer. On the other hand, if you are using an old computer with very little memory this prefetching may slow down you system. You can improve the system performance and free up some system RAM by disabling the prefetch function. Note that by freeing up RAM it also increases the start up time of programs. Follow these steps to disable Windows prefetch:
See also this Windows XP trick: Clean Windows prefetch files to improve system performance.
Click Start, click "Run..." and type "regedit"
In Registry Editor go to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]
Set the EnablePrefetcher value to 0, value 0 = Disable.
Reboot. Uuse following values to modify the EnablePrefetcher:
0 - Disable Prefetcher
1 - Application launch prefetching
2 - Boot prefetching
3 - Both application and boot prefetching
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