http:///prefetch:1

Hi folks,

Can someone please explain to me what http:///prefetch:1 is? Every time I load Internet Explorer 11 instead of getting the web pages I have as default, this comes up!
I need ie 11 to access my bank balance.
I have reset it and even removed and re-installed it but it still won't go away
Please advise what I should do.
Thanks

Note that the 'supposed' address has three /// after the http: not two // as a proper web address should. This indicates that IE is being opened with a command line that includes the /prefetch:1 argument at the end, and interprets that as a command to open a specified page (which of course doesn't exist).

Look at the properties of the shortcut you use to open IE and you should find something like this:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" /prefetch:1

Either delete the /prefetch:1 from the command line, or create a new shortcut without it.

How did it get there? Well, some people mistakenly think that if you add it to any command line it makes it 'go faster'. This is not true. The /prefetch:# switch has specific uses with Windows Media Player, but for most other apps...

... it is not removed by CreateProcess from the command line, so any app that chokes on unrecognized command line parameters will not work with it.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/rya...prefetch-flag/


NB: IE is quite happy to accept valid command line arguments, just not that one. For example, this will work...

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" tenforums.com

Updates for IE are included in the cumulative updates, so a recent one may have changed IE's behaviour. That switch does nothing for IE, so you're best off without it.