SubscribeDisable the File Access Timestamp to Improve Performance
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Registry Hacks |Disabling Windows from updating the timestamp on every file when it’s accessed can increase system performance.
To do so, perform the following steps:
1. Click the Start > Run.
2. Then type regedit in and click OK.
3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then SYSTEM
then CurrentControlSet
then Control
then click on FileSystem
4. Right-click a blank area in the right side of the screen and select New > DWORD Value.
5. Give the DWORD value a name of NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate.
6. Right-click NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and click Modify.
7. Then type a 1 in the value data box.
8. Then click OK and restart your computer.
The timestamp feature will now be be disabled.
by Kristin Marshall, on December 5 2007 @ 6:38 pm
Eureka!
Thanks to querying my problem in “Ask.com” (after bombing out with Microsoft support then wasting much time wading through the results of several different Google searches), I landed at Technipages–what a gift!
I expect it was an automatic Windows update, for the purpose of improving performance, which disabled the File Access timestamp on our workstation/server. For us though, it’s a valuable tracking tool that we were very frustrated to lose.
Thanks to Technipages I found the answer to not only reverse this uninvited “fix” but also an abundance of other Windows tips that had me saying, “So THAT’S what I can do about/to fix that next time it happens!”
Regards,
Kristin Marshall