Which Windows feature caches data about recently used applications to speed up startup and launching?

• A. Prefetch
• B. Spear-phishing Sites
• C. Malvertising
• D. CCleaner

Answer: (A)

Prefetch caches data about recently used applications to speed up startup and launching. When you run a program, Windows records the files it uses and creates a prefetch entry. On the next start, Windows uses those entries to preload the program’s binaries and related data into memory, reducing disk I/O and shortening load times. This behavior, often associated with the Prefetch mechanism (and relatedly with SysMain/Superfetch in newer Windows), helps apps start faster after you’ve run them before. The other options describe entirely different concepts (phishing, malvertising, or a cleanup tool) and don’t relate to caching startup data.