Windows XP prefetch enhancement

[Kenshin911]

Is there a program out there that will work with XP to give it similar prefetching functionality to vista? I have 2GB of memory which I rarely use all of and I'd like to cache my frequently used apps there. I don't want to use a ramdrive because then I have another drive letter and the memory cannot be cleared for when I want to use a program that uses a ton of memory.

 

[BD2003]

Set every app you want precached in your startup folder. Prepare for horrendous boot times, and having to close everything manually.

Then you'll also probably want to reboot every few hours or so, especially after playing a game, running a vscan, or anything that otherwise uses a lot of I/O.

 

[Kenshin911]

That doesn't sound like a good idea. I was thinking along the lines of an application that reserves some memory and copies certain files from the HD into ram so that when there's a request for them, it redirects the system to memory.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Kenshin911
That doesn't sound like a good idea. I was thinking along the lines of an application that reserves some memory and copies certain files from the HD into ram so that when there's a request for them, it redirects the system to memory.

For that to work properly enough for it to have a positive effect, it would require the program to completely circumvent XPs memory manager, and that just ain't gonna happen.

You have to work with the memory manager as it is, and it just isnt built like Vista's.

I imagine you could write a script that could automate much of the process of opening and closing everything, but it will always be a dirty hack, and still missing quite a bit of what superfetch is capable of.

For example:

Write a script that launches a batch file that opens everything up. Put a long enough timer on it that everything will fully load, then have it launch a second batch file that closes everything up. The program "nircmd" will allow you to close things.

But its still fairly pointless.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Just use Vista.