Q: Is there a way to control what's prefetched by Windows OSs?

A: Normally, when Windows boots, it "prefetches," loading commonly used files used for applications and for the boot process into memory. You can change this prefetch behavior, disabling it for everything or for applications or boot files.

1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
2. Move to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters.
3. Double-click EnablePrefetcher.
4. Set it to 0 to disable, 1 to only fetch application files, 2 to only fetch boot files, or 3 to fetch application and boot files (the default).
5. Click OK.

This setting will take effect at next reboot.