Chami.com Tips

So you don't need 8.3 file names anymore?

If you have a NTFS formatted disk volume with many files with long names, you can improve your machine's performance by turning 8.3 file names generation off.

To be backward compatible with MS-DOS and Windows 3.x applications that use short file names (which are limited to 11 characters or 8.3 short file names) Windows NT has to generate short file names out of long file names. If you're using NTFS volumes, it does this short name generation every time you save and perform other file operations such as retrieving the directory. All of this could contribute to performance losses if you have more than a few hundred long file names in a directory. So, here's how to turn off this short file name generation:

• Run the "Registry Editor" (RegEdt32.exe)
• Select
  
  "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
  SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem"
  
• Double click on "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"
• Change 0 to 1
• Restart Windows

NOTE: Use this option with care! If you still use 16 bit applications, they may not be able to find certain files.