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Windows XP has a Prefetcher component, which shortens the amount of
time it takes to start Windows and programs. When trouble shooting either
Windows or program start-up issues, it might be helpful to disable the
prefetcher using HSLAB Prefetch Manager, because it runs as a background
service while other applications are running or loading.
When a Windows XP system is booted, data is saved about all logical
disk read operations. On later boots, this information is used to prefetch
these files in parallel with other boot operations. During boot and application
launch, a Windows system demands and pages a sizable amount of data in
small chunks (4 KB to 64 KB), seeking between files, directories, and
metadata. The Logical Prefetcher, which is new for Windows XP, brings
much of this data into the system cache with efficient asynchronous disk
I/Os that minimize seeks. During boot, the Logical Prefetcher finishes
most of the disk I/Os that need to be done for starting the system in
parallel to device initialization delays, providing faster boot and logon
performance.
Logical prefetching is accomplished by tracing frequently accessed pages
in supported scenarios and efficiently bringing them into memory when
the scenario is launched again. When a supported scenario is started,
the transition page faults from mapped files are traced, recording which
page of a file is accessed. When the scenario has completed (either the
machine has booted or the application started), the trace is picked up
by a user-mode maintenance service, the Task Scheduler. The information
in the trace is used to update or create a prefetch-instructions file
that specifies which pages from which files should be prefetched at the
next launch.
You can completely manage Prefetcher with HSLAB Prefetch Manager! |
