Microsoft explains why deleting Prefetch can slow down Windows 11, as it’s “designed to speed up” app launches
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The Prefetch folder of Windows 11 sometimes contains hundreds of files. Those who delete them usually want to share storage space or speed up the PC. However, the supposed tuning trick can have a negative impact on performance.
Microsoft claims that cleaning up Windows 11 prefetch files won't free up much space and may even slow down application launch speed.
Many guides for speeding up/cleaning up Windows are based on Prefetch, which is littered with "junk files." But is it a good tactic? I would absolutely disagree, as such a step strips Windows of important data when installing programs. This issue should be left entirely to Windows; otherwise, it will have the opposite effect than intended.
Microsoft introduced a change in the Windows 11 test update KB5127936 to shorten the start of applications. The system will stop creating an additional process when a program such as Edge is already running in the background.
Microsoft explains why deleting Prefetch can slow down Windows 11, as it’s “designed to speed up” app launches
Deleting C:\Windows\Prefetch was a classic Windows XP speed-up trick, but Microsoft's Ryan Myers said it only dented performance while Windows rebuilt the files. Windows 11 still keeps up to 1,024 of them, so I timed Word, Photoshop and Notepad before and after clearing the folder.
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