Re: Directories in XP
From: Alex Nichol (alexn.mvpdts_at_ntlworld.delete.com)
Date: 06/27/04
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Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:52:16 +0100
JoeW wrote:
>Windows\Downloaded Program Files
>Windows\System32\Prefetch
>
>What are these two directories used for? Do they contain
>programs that can be deleted?
Downloaded Program files contains inf files and ActiveX controls put
there in the course of installing programs. It is not very big and I
would leave it alone; trying to remove items from it in explorer appears
to generate attempts to uninstall the programs, though you could
probably delete them from a Command Prompt using a del commend there
without harm. If you want to try that I would first copy the entire
content of it to another ordinary folder - apart from the hidden
desktop.ini - before deleting them
Prefetch contains records, updated when programs load, of the pattern of
files accessed during the load. This means that next time the system
can go ahead and get them immediately, without waiting to be asked, thus
speeding the load. Also they are then used every three days in a 'mini
defrag' type of operation that rearranges files on the disk so as to
optimise the speed of loading of the most frequently used programs (and
of the ones used when the system boots). If a program is not used for a
week or so its record gets dropped, so there is no benefit in regularly
emptying the folder as you sometimes see suggested.
-- Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies) Bournemouth, U.K. Alexn@mvps.D8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)
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