Perfectdisk Stops Prefetch - Greg Hayes?

Ok, this is an annoying problem.

I've been trying for three weeks to get Perfectdisk v6 to work with XP's
prefetching. I've reinstalled Windows XP three times now, and every
single time, XP stops cleaning up the prefetch folder.

Perfectdisk seems to work fine doing its thing, and XP works fine, aside
from this issue. But no matter what settings I try, they will not work
together to let Windows manage the prefetch files, regardless of the PD
setting.

XP just stops cleaning up the prefetch folder like it should every three
days. Instead what happens is obsolete files do not get removed, and the
folder just continues to grow in size. This happens from the moment I
install PD.

I've Googled for info, and I've checked the Registry settings to confirm
that they are correct, but it still doesn't work. I noticed that PD does
change the registry back and forth if I change the settings in PD. If I
set PD to manage the files, they get moved by PD as expected. But then
prefetch does not maintain the folder. If I set PD to let Windows manage
the files, then it skips the prefetch files, but still the folder does
not maintain itself. Note that I have not changed any of the services
and the Task Scheduler is working fine.

I currently have PD installed...I re-installed XP last Monday and XP
still has NOT cleaned up the prefetch folder. I have dozens of PF files
that are obsolete, dated all the way back to when I installed SP1 on
Monday evening at 17:50 hours. Normally XP would have cleaned up the
folder at least twice now.

I've read numerous posts from a Raxco rep named Greg Hayes, and I hope
he reads this, but unfortunately his suggestions do not work. I can't
imagine I've missed a setting, not three times in a row.

I'd really like to get it to work as I like what PD does with the
pagefile, MFT, etc. And it's faster than the XP defrag'er and is easily
scheduled. But unless the prefetch folder is maintained as it is when I
don't install PD, it's not much use to me.

Thanks for any help provided.

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Bill" wrote in message news

Ok, this is an annoying problem.

I've been trying for three weeks to get Perfectdisk v6 to work with XP's
prefetching. I've reinstalled Windows XP three times now, and every
single time, XP stops cleaning up the prefetch folder.

Perfectdisk seems to work fine doing its thing, and XP works fine, aside
from this issue. But no matter what settings I try, they will not work
together to let Windows manage the prefetch files, regardless of the PD
setting.

XP just stops cleaning up the prefetch folder like it should every three
days. Instead what happens is obsolete files do not get removed, and the
folder just continues to grow in size. This happens from the moment I
install PD.

I've Googled for info, and I've checked the Registry settings to confirm
that they are correct, but it still doesn't work. I noticed that PD does
change the registry back and forth if I change the settings in PD. If I
set PD to manage the files, they get moved by PD as expected. But then
prefetch does not maintain the folder. If I set PD to let Windows manage
the files, then it skips the prefetch files, but still the folder does
not maintain itself. Note that I have not changed any of the services
and the Task Scheduler is working fine.

I currently have PD installed...I re-installed XP last Monday and XP
still has NOT cleaned up the prefetch folder. I have dozens of PF files
that are obsolete, dated all the way back to when I installed SP1 on
Monday evening at 17:50 hours. Normally XP would have cleaned up the
folder at least twice now.

I've read numerous posts from a Raxco rep named Greg Hayes, and I hope
he reads this, but unfortunately his suggestions do not work. I can't
imagine I've missed a setting, not three times in a row.

I'd really like to get it to work as I like what PD does with the
pagefile, MFT, etc. And it's faster than the XP defrag'er and is easily
scheduled. But unless the prefetch folder is maintained as it is when I
don't install PD, it's not much use to me.

Thanks for any help provided.

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Bill" wrote in message news

Ok, this is an annoying problem.

I've been trying for three weeks to get Perfectdisk v6 to work with XP's
prefetching. I've reinstalled Windows XP three times now, and every
single time, XP stops cleaning up the prefetch folder.

Perfectdisk seems to work fine doing its thing, and XP works fine, aside
from this issue. But no matter what settings I try, they will not work
together to let Windows manage the prefetch files, regardless of the PD
setting.

XP just stops cleaning up the prefetch folder like it should every three
days. Instead what happens is obsolete files do not get removed, and the
folder just continues to grow in size. This happens from the moment I
install PD.

I've Googled for info, and I've checked the Registry settings to confirm
that they are correct, but it still doesn't work. I noticed that PD does
change the registry back and forth if I change the settings in PD. If I
set PD to manage the files, they get moved by PD as expected. But then
prefetch does not maintain the folder. If I set PD to let Windows manage
the files, then it skips the prefetch files, but still the folder does
not maintain itself. Note that I have not changed any of the services
and the Task Scheduler is working fine.

I currently have PD installed...I re-installed XP last Monday and XP
still has NOT cleaned up the prefetch folder. I have dozens of PF files
that are obsolete, dated all the way back to when I installed SP1 on
Monday evening at 17:50 hours. Normally XP would have cleaned up the
folder at least twice now.

I've read numerous posts from a Raxco rep named Greg Hayes, and I hope
he reads this, but unfortunately his suggestions do not work. I can't
imagine I've missed a setting, not three times in a row.

I'd really like to get it to work as I like what PD does with the
pagefile, MFT, etc. And it's faster than the XP defrag'er and is easily
scheduled. But unless the prefetch folder is maintained as it is when I
don't install PD, it's not much use to me.

Thanks for any help provided.

Richard Urban wrote:

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

Yeah thanks.

I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
problem each time.

It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

Are you using some 3rd party utility (such as Prefetch Clean and Control)
which can lock the prefetch folder options? I have mine pretty much locked
down (on purpose) and don't see any changes, unless I unlock it and allow it
to monitor all programs and start up items. Then, the changes fly!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Bill" wrote in message ...
Richard Urban wrote:

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

Yeah thanks.

I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
problem each time.

It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

Richard Urban wrote:

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

Yeah thanks.

I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
problem each time.

It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

Are you using some 3rd party utility (such as Prefetch Clean and Control)
which can lock the prefetch folder options? I have mine pretty much locked
down (on purpose) and don't see any changes, unless I unlock it and allow it
to monitor all programs and start up items. Then, the changes fly!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Bill" wrote in message ...
Richard Urban wrote:

I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch folder is
maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, but..........

Yeah thanks.

I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
problem each time.

It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

I don't use PD, but I wanted to mention that my PF folder never ever =
exceeds 130 entries. That is over a 3 year time frame. Some of the =
entries are older than 3 days but if I open applications that I haven't =
used for some time the older PF entries then go bye-bye and are replaced =
with enties for the other program.

Sort your folder by date, see what the oldest are, open some unsed items =
and then see if the list changed.

--=20
Just my 2=A2 worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
"Bill" wrote in message =
...
| Richard Urban wrote:
|=20
| I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch =
folder is=20
| maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, =
but..........
|=20
| Yeah thanks.
|=20
| I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
| reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
| problem each time.
|=20
| It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

I don't use PD, but I wanted to mention that my PF folder never ever =
exceeds 130 entries. That is over a 3 year time frame. Some of the =
entries are older than 3 days but if I open applications that I haven't =
used for some time the older PF entries then go bye-bye and are replaced =
with enties for the other program.

Sort your folder by date, see what the oldest are, open some unsed items =
and then see if the list changed.

--=20
Just my 2=A2 worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
"Bill" wrote in message =
...
| Richard Urban wrote:
|=20
| I have been using PerfectDisk for about a year now. My prefetch =
folder is=20
| maintained as it should be. I know this is not much help, =
but..........
|=20
| Yeah thanks.
|=20
| I figure I've missed something, but I can't imagine what. I've
| reinstalled XP and PD three times in three weeks, and get the same
| problem each time.
|=20
| It's weird since I've read other users have no issues.

Richard Urban wrote:

Are you using some 3rd party utility (such as Prefetch Clean and Control)
which can lock the prefetch folder options?

No, nothing extra.

I have a pretty clean installation, just a few programs like email,
news, virus scanner, firewall, etc.

When running without PD, I only have about 70-80 PF files. Right now I
have 217 files, most of them for installation programs and dozens of
Rundll32 PF files, with various dates going back a week.

Richard Urban wrote:

Are you using some 3rd party utility (such as Prefetch Clean and Control)
which can lock the prefetch folder options?

No, nothing extra.

I have a pretty clean installation, just a few programs like email,
news, virus scanner, firewall, etc.

When running without PD, I only have about 70-80 PF files. Right now I
have 217 files, most of them for installation programs and dozens of
Rundll32 PF files, with various dates going back a week.

»mrtee« wrote:

I don't use PD, but I wanted to mention that my PF folder never
ever exceeds 130 entries. That is over a 3 year time frame. Some of
the entries are older than 3 days but if I open applications that I
haven't used for some time the older PF entries then go bye-bye and are
replaced with enties for the other program.

Right now I have 217 prefetch files, and only half a dozen installed
programs. Normally without PD installed, I would have about 70-80 PF
files, the oldest being 3-4 days old. But the ones I have now date all
the way back to last Monday, many of them from installation programs and
Rundll32 PF files.

Sort your folder by date, see what the oldest are, open some unsed
items and then see if the list changed.

The prefetching works on files that are opened. For instance, when I
open Agent to read newsgroups, the PF file for it is updated to the
current date and time. But older unused and missing programs should not
have PF files older than 3-4 days.

»mrtee« wrote:

I don't use PD, but I wanted to mention that my PF folder never
ever exceeds 130 entries. That is over a 3 year time frame. Some of
the entries are older than 3 days but if I open applications that I
haven't used for some time the older PF entries then go bye-bye and are
replaced with enties for the other program.

Right now I have 217 prefetch files, and only half a dozen installed
programs. Normally without PD installed, I would have about 70-80 PF
files, the oldest being 3-4 days old. But the ones I have now date all
the way back to last Monday, many of them from installation programs and
Rundll32 PF files.

Sort your folder by date, see what the oldest are, open some unsed
items and then see if the list changed.

The prefetching works on files that are opened. For instance, when I
open Agent to read newsgroups, the PF file for it is updated to the
current date and time. But older unused and missing programs should not
have PF files older than 3-4 days.

Bill wrote:
Ok, this is an annoying problem.

I've been trying for three weeks to get Perfectdisk v6 to work with
XP's prefetching. I've reinstalled Windows XP three times now, and
every single time, XP stops cleaning up the prefetch folder.

Perfectdisk seems to work fine doing its thing, and XP works fine,
aside from this issue. But no matter what settings I try, they will
not work together to let Windows manage the prefetch files,
regardless of the PD setting.

XP just stops cleaning up the prefetch folder like it should every
three days. Instead what happens is obsolete files do not get
removed, and the folder just continues to grow in size. This happens
from the moment I install PD.

I've Googled for info, and I've checked the Registry settings to
confirm that they are correct, but it still doesn't work. I noticed
that PD does change the registry back and forth if I change the
settings in PD. If I set PD to manage the files, they get moved by PD
as expected. But then prefetch does not maintain the folder. If I set
PD to let Windows manage the files, then it skips the prefetch files,
but still the folder does not maintain itself. Note that I have not
changed any of the services and the Task Scheduler is working fine.

I currently have PD installed...I re-installed XP last Monday and XP
still has NOT cleaned up the prefetch folder. I have dozens of PF
files that are obsolete, dated all the way back to when I installed
SP1 on Monday evening at 17:50 hours. Normally XP would have cleaned
up the folder at least twice now.

I've read numerous posts from a Raxco rep named Greg Hayes, and I hope
he reads this, but unfortunately his suggestions do not work. I can't
imagine I've missed a setting, not three times in a row.

I'd really like to get it to work as I like what PD does with the
pagefile, MFT, etc. And it's faster than the XP defrag'er and is
easily scheduled. But unless the prefetch folder is maintained as it
is when I don't install PD, it's not much use to me.

Thanks for any help provided.

I believe there is a disconnect he PerfectDisk only optimizes the
layout.ini file. Windows does not manage Prefetch except to defrag
layout.ini every three days. The buildup of files in Prefetch is
managed by neither Windows or PerfectDisk: managing Prefetch has always
required a manual delete of the files or the use of a Prefetch manager.

From Raxco:
http://www.raxco.com/support/windows...isk60_faqs.cfm

What is the difference between having PerfectDisk manage the boot files
and having the system manage the boot files?
By default, Windows XP monitors application launches and identifies
those files loaded during the process. Windows stores this information
in the prefetch folder (usually Windows/Prefetch) in a file called
layout.ini. Every 3 days, Windows does a "partial" defrag of the files
indicated in layout.ini - attempting to make sure that they are
contigous so that your system will boot faster and applications will
launch faster.

If PerfectDisk has been configured to let Windows manage the boot files,
PerfectDisk will mark the files indicated in layout.ini as unmovable and
will not attempt to defragment these files or move them elsewhere on the
drive as it is expecting Windows do perform this task every 3 days. This
can prevent PerfectDisk from doing a complete defrag job.

If PerfectDisk has been configured manage the boot files, PerfectDisk
will read layout.ini and will make sure that the files indicated are
contiguous and the location is optimized

As PerfectDisk is a much more powerful disk defragmenter than the
built-in defragmenter, letting PerfectDisk manage the boot files will
ensure that these files are optimized for the fastest possible
performance.

For more information about the Windows prefetch process, please see
Microsoft's Windows XP Performance Guide.

Q

Bill wrote:
Ok, this is an annoying problem.

I've been trying for three weeks to get Perfectdisk v6 to work with
XP's prefetching. I've reinstalled Windows XP three times now, and
every single time, XP stops cleaning up the prefetch folder.

Perfectdisk seems to work fine doing its thing, and XP works fine,
aside from this issue. But no matter what settings I try, they will
not work together to let Windows manage the prefetch files,
regardless of the PD setting.

XP just stops cleaning up the prefetch folder like it should every
three days. Instead what happens is obsolete files do not get
removed, and the folder just continues to grow in size. This happens
from the moment I install PD.

I've Googled for info, and I've checked the Registry settings to
confirm that they are correct, but it still doesn't work. I noticed
that PD does change the registry back and forth if I change the
settings in PD. If I set PD to manage the files, they get moved by PD
as expected. But then prefetch does not maintain the folder. If I set
PD to let Windows manage the files, then it skips the prefetch files,
but still the folder does not maintain itself. Note that I have not
changed any of the services and the Task Scheduler is working fine.

I currently have PD installed...I re-installed XP last Monday and XP
still has NOT cleaned up the prefetch folder. I have dozens of PF
files that are obsolete, dated all the way back to when I installed
SP1 on Monday evening at 17:50 hours. Normally XP would have cleaned
up the folder at least twice now.

I've read numerous posts from a Raxco rep named Greg Hayes, and I hope
he reads this, but unfortunately his suggestions do not work. I can't
imagine I've missed a setting, not three times in a row.

I'd really like to get it to work as I like what PD does with the
pagefile, MFT, etc. And it's faster than the XP defrag'er and is
easily scheduled. But unless the prefetch folder is maintained as it
is when I don't install PD, it's not much use to me.

Thanks for any help provided.

I believe there is a disconnect he PerfectDisk only optimizes the
layout.ini file. Windows does not manage Prefetch except to defrag
layout.ini every three days. The buildup of files in Prefetch is
managed by neither Windows or PerfectDisk: managing Prefetch has always
required a manual delete of the files or the use of a Prefetch manager.

From Raxco:
http://www.raxco.com/support/windows...isk60_faqs.cfm

What is the difference between having PerfectDisk manage the boot files
and having the system manage the boot files?
By default, Windows XP monitors application launches and identifies
those files loaded during the process. Windows stores this information
in the prefetch folder (usually Windows/Prefetch) in a file called
layout.ini. Every 3 days, Windows does a "partial" defrag of the files
indicated in layout.ini - attempting to make sure that they are
contigous so that your system will boot faster and applications will
launch faster.

If PerfectDisk has been configured to let Windows manage the boot files,
PerfectDisk will mark the files indicated in layout.ini as unmovable and
will not attempt to defragment these files or move them elsewhere on the
drive as it is expecting Windows do perform this task every 3 days. This
can prevent PerfectDisk from doing a complete defrag job.

If PerfectDisk has been configured manage the boot files, PerfectDisk
will read layout.ini and will make sure that the files indicated are
contiguous and the location is optimized

As PerfectDisk is a much more powerful disk defragmenter than the
built-in defragmenter, letting PerfectDisk manage the boot files will
ensure that these files are optimized for the fastest possible
performance.

For more information about the Windows prefetch process, please see
Microsoft's Windows XP Performance Guide.

Q