Windows Prefetching Reference

[Fridge-RaideR]

Indeed bold, coss if u dont use this then:

No prefetching service --> No task schedular --> no event log. And probably getting rid of all 3 things makes the overal boot 2 sec's faster .

I'm getting my harddisk and x700 videocard soon for my test pc (pc for a m8 in belgium where me goin in 4 weeks).

PC:

DFI Lanparty nforce 4 Ultra D

athlon 64 3500+

1gig of memmory

300gb Sata disk

x700 pro pci-express card

I think thats so freakin powerfull that prefetch will do more damage then good

[Mastertech]

Exactly, crippled nLite installs don't prove anything if they are running with prefetching broken.

You have to reboot to get Boot prefetching workings since this is the only way to monitor the boot process. The begining of this article gives clear instructions how to test this, deviating from them will not produce accurate results.

[Fridge-RaideR]

No I meant that the system hardware is so fast, that in a full blown xp install, that even then prefetchin will be useless coss its so **** fast Just recieved the harddrive, the videocard will arrive in 7 days .. *sigh*

Unless meant that bolds install is crippled, but he tested it on a full blown xp as well

[Mastertech]

I have no idea how he tested it.

[Fridge-RaideR]

u ever read his guide? I think he has enough knowledge of it that his tests are accurate.

Anyway I have at work a problem, the server administrator hasnt replied on my email yet. but it seems prefetching is broken on all pc's at the university. There is a prefetch folder with about 15files with it. But thats it, if u open new programs, it doesnt create more. If I delete everything inside the folder, then there arent new prefetch traces being made.

Putting /prefetch:1 behind an app doesnt work, forcing the prefetcher on by means of:

%windir%\system32\Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

doesnt work as well, although in the register it says the value is 3, so app & boot...

got ideas?!

Neverminddddd stupid task schedular was off, why would the system administrator do that "

Edited October 18, 2005 by Fridge-RaideR

[Mastertech]

u ever read his guide? I think he has enough knowledge of it that his tests are accurate.

He did not post his methods or if he followed the ones I provided.

[gdogg]

yeh, bold has a huge site, and a huge knowledge of windows xp

if bold tests something, it is done right.

[FaceMouth]

@Mastertech

I just deleted my prefetch folder and I'm attempting to follow the instructions from your first post. I'm running into some problems though and I'm hoping you can help.

Here is what you are saying must be done:

Note: You need to confirm Prefetching is working by looking in the C:\Windows\Prefetch folder. For Boot Prefetching you should see a NTOSBOOT-xxxxxxxx.pf and a layout.ini file in the folder. If not prefetching is not working. The built-in Disk Defragmenter needs to be installed and operational (nLite users) Otherwise BootVis can invoke the layout optimization. By default Windows does this every three days, for testing or anytime you want an immediate improvement, say you added or removed a startup option use BootVis and the "Optimize System" option.

Here is what I did (I tried to follow everything to the letter so I wouldn't make a mistake)

I looked in C:\Windows\Prefetch and I can't find the folder. Since I don't have the folder I won't waste my time looking for the files you say are necessary. From reading your quote I understand that nlite users are the only people who need the built-defrag to be installed, otherwise they suffer the consequences of the dreaded "invoking of the layout improvement" (paraphrase). Since I don't use nlite I had no fear of layout optimization. I performed a search for "defrag" and deleted every file that was found.

I have a quesion though. Since I have everything set up correctly why does windows keep this registry entry?

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters]
EnablePrefetcher=3

Wait a second, I just found another problem:

Fridge-RaideR Posted Oct 18 2005, 12:36 AM

Indeed bold, coss if u dont use this then:

No prefetching service --> No task schedular --> no event log. And probably getting rid of all 3 things makes the overal boot 2 sec's faster .

At first I thought fridge didn't know what he was talking about. He didn't even state whether he had the built-in defrag installed. Also there is the immenent threat of the "Inovoking to the layout" with an nlited install.

Here is the reply (thought I knew it all before the reply):

Exactly, crippled nLite installs don't prove anything if they are running with prefetching broken.

You have to reboot to get Boot prefetching workings since this is the only way to monitor the boot process. The begining of this article gives clear instructions how to test this, deviating from them will not produce accurate results.

Now I'm WAY over my head. Not only is fridge running a "crippled" nlited install. He may also have a "Broken" prefetch.

ok, even sarcasm. "deviating from the instructions will not produce accurate results"(paraphrase).

If I monitor my boot test without "deviating" from the article then I must buy the same hardware you are using. Actually, the only harware that may be used is your PC. Since there are so many variables, environmental factors, and lots of other outside factors that affect performance everyone who wishes to test this out must go to Mastech's house to perform tests.

I know I was sarcastic but I just don't get what your point is mastertech. You can throw numbers around all day about services and programs blah blah blah, affect performance. I am also not saying prefetch is worthless, I set mine to 5 (read tweaktown guides).

The problem with debates like this is that computers are not desinged for end users. what is the purpose of the prefetch? what is it's intended use? Just like the great raid 0 debate. Raid 0 was not designed with the idea that hard drives would sell better if UT displayed 40 fps, rather than non raid 0 @ 30 fps.

These things are designed for networking and transferring large amounts of data. Will NCQ improve performance on my mobo? No, I can't even use it on an ai7. Does it affect performance? maybe.

I understand testing and wanting to know the best way to set up (in this case install), a system, but all the links in the world will have no affect on people who got lucky and bought hardware that just performs above the norm

Ok, enough of my meaningless banter. I'm going to do a fresh install of xp probably tommowr. I haven't use nlite on the source, or made many changes. I delted the support, docs, etc. folders and manually slipstremed sp2 and hotfixes.

here si my setup:

abit ai7 mobo

p4 cpu @ 3.2

WD Raptor HD

ATI 9800pro (flashed to 9800xt, my card has the r360 chip which is the same as xt)

400 watt power supply

1 gig (4x256) ocz ram @204MHz

Edited October 29, 2005 by FaceMouth