To improve PC performance, you should disable the Last Accessed attribute in Windows. You can do this by using the Windows Command Prompt or the Registry Editor. If you’re not familiar with these programs, read on for some instructions on how to disable this attribute. After you complete these steps, your PC will run much faster. You can also disable this attribute in Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.
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Disabling last file access modification in new OSes
If you want to prevent changes to a file’s last access time, you can turn off last file access modification on new OSes. New operating systems have a new system called Windows Search, which automatically scans selected directories for changes, and then re-indexes changed and new files. Moreover, Windows writes a large number of events to the system’s log. This is the reason why Microsoft has stopped updating the Last Access time for all files in the new OSes.
Luckily, last access updates aren’t gone for good. Despite Windows XP SP2’s “Redstone 5” release, they’re coming back. NTFS volumes are still updated an hour after last access, and Windows 10 “Redstone 5” is a 64-bit system. This means that the old value of the last access timestamp is still used.
To turn off last file access time stamp updates, you can set NTFS to disable the feature in the Windows Registry. The last access time stamp is a unique code for each file. If you disable it, Windows will not modify the last access time for large volumes. You can also use the console tool fsutil to disable the Last Access Time Stamp feature on NTFS volumes. These tools are available in the Windows Store.
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Using registry editor
If you want to disable last access notification for a file on your computer, then you must disable the corresponding attribute. This setting is enabled by default, but you can disable it if you want to. The reason why you might disable this attribute is that it can cause your system to crash, especially if you’re not on an admin account. Thankfully, you can disable this occurrence by using the registry editor.
To do this, open the Local Group Policy Editor and go to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, and then double-click on the “Prevent access to registry editing tools.” Then, select the Enabled option, click Apply, and your computer will now not allow you to use the Registry Editor. To re-enable this feature, follow these steps:
In the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key, open the registry editor, and navigate to the NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate key. In the value, enter 80000003 (hex) for 64-bit Windows. Alternatively, you can use the console tool fsutil to disable the last-access-update feature. Then, exit Registry Editor and reboot your PC.
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Using fsutil
You can disable the last-accessed timestamp on any file by using fsutil. You can disable this attribute if you wish to make backups. Windows 7 and Vista do not use the last-accessed timestamp. However, you can still enable it if you’d like to prevent your backups from being affected by previous modifications. But before you go on, here’s a quick primer.
Open the registry editor app and navigate to the NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate key. For 64-bit Windows, create a 32-bit DWORD value that starts with 80000003. This value will disable the Last Access Time Stamp updates. Here are some ready-to-use Registry files:
To disable the Last Access Time stamp, you must have administrator privileges on the disk that contains the files. In order to enable it, you need to use PowerShell with administrator rights. If you don’t have administrator privileges, you can also enable it using the “fsutil” command. However, you must remember that this command only applies to NTFS users. So, if you’re a Windows 10 user, be sure to log in as an admin before using this option.
Using fsutil to disable last access modification is a relatively advanced task that requires advanced knowledge. It’s useful if you’re a system administrator and want to keep track of your disk’s changes. By disabling last-access, you can stop backups from failing due to lack of space. However, if you’re running out of disk space, you may need to reinstall your operating system.