Override system slowdowns by Cleaning the Prefetch Directory

Windows XP keeps shortcuts to recently launched programs in the \Windows\Prefetch\    directory, which can take up some space, but helps find and launch applications faster. After a while, however, some really old
programs which you may not even be using anymore can still be found in the Prefetch directory. Also, you
may experience system slowdowns when booting or when launching applications, because Windows is sifting through a large bunch of Prefetch files. So, as you can see, a large Prefetch can do more harm than good. It’s best that you delete all the files in here about once a month, or once in two months. The first time you
boot, or start applications after you delete all Prefetch files, it may be even slower than before, but this is normal: Windows is adding shortcuts and data into the Prefetch again. After the third of fourth time you boot up, things
should be back to normal speeds, because Windows will have finished rebuilding the Prefetch cache.
To delete your Prefetch files, just go to \Windows\Prefetch\, do a [Ctrl] +[A], and press [Shift] + [Delete].