Folders accidentally dropped into Prefetch

I had several folders containing .jpg files of photos taken from vacation, and dragged and dropped them into the wrong folder, namely the Windows/Prefetch folder. Now not only will Windows XP not allow me to move them or copy them, it denies me access to the jpegs inside. I can't even delete them. Does anybody know if there's anything I can do to retrieve these folders and get them out of Prefetch?

 

This might work

Try the moveonboot program from GiPo@Utilities

 

Hmm, i just tried this on purpose I was able to copy in a folder full of giffies, then access them inside the prefetch, and copy them back out.

can you go into dos and copy them out? How about safe mode?

 

If neither of those good pieces of advice work, try copy/pasting the following script into the Start > Run window and running it:

cacls C:\windows\prefetch /e /g owner:f

Change the term "owner" to fit your user ID. The script must otherwise be exactly as shown, spaces and all. That should grant you full permission to access and do as you will to the prefetch folder.

However, I suspect you may have some problem other than the permissions needing modification. If you were allowed to drop them in there in the first place, the permissions must have been set properly. What I think may be wrong is, by dropping those folders into there, you have inadvertantly created a path that is too long for the system to recognize. I think the limit is 255 characters but I could be wrong. The solution would be to rename the folders so they had a minimum of characters in their names. A single letter would suffice. You'll have to start at the outside most folder and work your way in. It might be sufficient to only shorten the name of the first one.

It can't hurt to try! I do think the MoveOnBoot method will work though so try it first. I've had good results using it before.

 

As a test, I also copied some .jpg files to the C:\Windows\Rrefetch folder and I was able to open, rename or delete them.

Infact I dumped about 60-70 files from the folder. I have not figured out the purpose of that folder anyway.

I do see though that as I do things something gets put in the folder.

BillyBob

 

BillyBob
Take a look at this.
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/troub-07.html

 

Thank you Zander

Printed instructions
DOUBLE checked for a Restore Point.
Made changes.
Another background item GONE !
Filed instructions in notebook

So far I see no difference. But it will take a bit more time to really tell.

BillyBob

 

I keep mine set on 2 in the Enable Prefetcher data string for some reason that I've long since forgotten.

I didn't notice any difference from the default (3) as I recall.

 

I've just left mine set to the default but every once in a while I delete all the files in the prefetch folder. Can't say that I've ever noticed any difference one way or the other after doing so.

 

Actually that's why I changed mine, I don't get any accumulation there now. I was trying to reduce drive activity to enable GoBack to have a greater history cache time reach since it has to track all writes and deletes. It seemed to help that but I was never all that sure so just left it there on 2.

 

The instructinons for changing the Prefetch setting mention Boot Up.

Are they talking the time it takes for the Desktop to appear or the time it takes for Windows to get FULLY loaded and operational ?

It appears to me that there is a difference. A BIG difference.

After I set the Prefetch to 0, I restarted Windows. It took 35-40 seconds for the Desktop to appear. BUT. It took another 35-40 seconds for the Activity lights on the LAN Switch to stop blinking.

This tells me that just because the Desktop shows up Windows IS NOT fully loaded.

Also I have found out ( the system lockup way ) that it is not in my best interests to do ANYTHING before those lights stop blinking.

Actually I really think that this may be where a lot of users get into trouble. They do not wait long enough for Windows to get fully loaded and settled down.

I just checked a 98SE machine and the same thing(s) happened. Timing is a bit different but that is to be expected from a slower machine.

BillyBob

 

Try 2 BB, I think you'll like it best.

 

This may be one of those things that are System Related as to how well they work ( or don't work )

But, as of right now things seem to be working very smooth with it set to 0

But I will experiment.

BillyBob

 

I recall that my boot time was much longer (went from 1 min 10sec to 1 min 45 sec.) when I disabled it. I measured that as from POST to whenever the processor went to idle mode (0 %) as shown by Taskmgr. YMMV I have GoBack, AVG7, MailWasher, and a clipboard stacker that start up so that's about typical of most conservative users. Of course I also had taskmgr.exe in there during the test mode.

 

surferdude2

I think you have proven my point very nicely.

What reaction you get from which settings may well be dependent on the individual system and what is loading or not loading. The only thing that I have from your list is AVG.

Or, this is not a " One size fits all case. "

I just set mine back to 3 and the bootup time did not change. But the actual starting of programs did seem a but SLOWER. And not as smooth.

BillyBob

 

FWIW, I played with mine a bit and can't say that it made a bit of difference with any of the settings. I tried them all and booted 3 times with each of them. My shortest boot was just a tad under 1min 29secs. Longest was just a little over 1min 32sec. The longest two of the bunch were with it enabled. I've got Etrust AV, Zone Alarm and Clipcache Plus loading at startup. Seems that it's probably just a waste of space (albeit, a small one) on my PC. In the past when I've deleted the files from the folder I've never noticed any difference in the speed that programs load either.

It may be time for me to re-think my strategy on this.

 

Thanks for your posts trying to help: Just thought I'd report back with the ensuing weirdness and ask you to speculate with me on what happened!

Before I tried anything else, it hit me that I ought to right-click the folders in question and look at "Properties." When I did so, Properties indicated that there are 0 files and 0 bytes contained in the folders I dragged and dropped into Prefetch. I cannot rename, delete, move, or open these folders: I always get an "access denied" message. But that's no great loss, because as I said, apparently there's nothing in them. And in fact, when I used MoveOnBoot to copy them to another folder, when I rebooted and went there, I could open them, but they were empty. When I tried to use MoveOnBoot to delete these now-worthless folders from Prefetch, they didn't delete. So I have a bunch of folders in Prefetch which have nothing in them, apparently, and which I am not allowed to delete, re-name, move, copy, or open.

Not only that: When I moved a new folder full of jpegs I didn't need into Prefetch just to test things out, the same thing happened: Total access to the folder was denied, and Properties indicated that there were 0 files and 0 bytes in the folder. The "Sharing" tab also indicates that all sharing options have been disabled since these are system files.

So I guess I've lost the pics. But now my curiosity's fired up. Anybody have any ideas as to 1) why the original folders end up empty when I drop them into Prefetch, and 2) why I'm denied total access to these folders, to the extent that I can't even delete them?

In any case, thanks for pointing me to MoveOnBoot. What a cool utility!

 

If I read this correctly you had them in another folder first.

When you dropped them into the prefetch folder did you COPY or MOVE them ?

I ask this because of mistakes that I have made. I THOUGHT I had copied but found that I had moved them. ( to a wrong folder also ). I did not lose them but just could not find them.

So what I do now is to BURN them to a CD before I do anything. A couple of times I have been very glad that I did. ( I got carried away with DELETE. )

As to the Prefetch folder I have no idea. But I have a suspicion that it is meant only for System files of a certain type.

BillyBob

 

I believe I have found the answer. ( I HOPE anyway )

I just did some testing and learned something. Or verified my suspicions anyway.

#1 I made a new folder.
#2 I selected a group of Pix in another folder.
#3 Dragged them to another folder WITH THE LEFT Mouse button.
#4 BINGO !! They were MOVED from one folder to the other.
#5 Using the RIGHT mouse button I had a choice of Copy, Move or make a shortcut.

BillyBob

 

That's long been the case BB. It also matters if you're doing the process on the same drive or not. Left dragging to a folder on a different drive always copies. Same drive - always moves.

Right dragging always asks.