From...
http://www.intelliadmin.com/index.ph...g-to-start-up/
1. The prefetch cache
The first tip I want to talk about is the windows prefetch. Windows XP
has this feature that loads commonly used programs at boot time.
Here is how it works: Yesterday you used MS Word, and Duke Nukem 3D.
Today you boot your system to check e-mail. It sees parts of these two
programs in the prefetch folder and loads them into memory before
windows completes the boot process. The benefit is faster application
launch times. If you really wanted to use MS Word, it would pop up
really quick when you double clicked on it.
The problem is most people have been running windows for years, and the
prefetch gets clogged with stuff that you almost never use. Windows
takes forever to boot because it is prefetching a 1.0 copy of Napster,
and you just want to check your email before you have to go to work.
What can be done about it? Well there are a few things we can do to
tweak the prefetch cache. One method is to disable it partially, and
this can be done quite easily.
Simply browse to the windows folder (Ex: C:\Windows) and under there you
should see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete
all the files (Careful! It should look like this c:\windows\prefetch)
And here is a screenshot of one if you still have questions
The first thing to note is the next reboot will be slow. This is because
windows needs to relearn the prefetch for system files. Subsequent boots
will run much faster since the sludge of programs has been removed, and
only new ones are in the cache.
The trouble is that it will only help you for a while until the
prefetch gets clogged up again. We need to edit a registry key to tweak
it. Open regedit and browse to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session
Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher
It has 4 possible values:
0 Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off.
1 Application : The prefetch only caches applications.
2 Boot : The prefetch only caches boot system files.
3 All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files.
We dont want to disable it entirely. This would actually make boot
times *longer*. This is because this feature is also used to speed up
the loading of boot files. That is why we are going to pick the number 2
option. It allows us to keep the advantage of caching system files,
without continually clogging the system up with applications.
Set the value to 2 and reboot.
The 2nd time you boot it should boot much faster. Remember that the side
effect is that launching individual applications once windows has loaded
will now be slightly slower.