Free trial available, £15 for full version
Those who see no reason to upgrade to Windows Vista, with or without forthcoming Service Pack 1, will be happy to hear that Vista's Readyboost technology is now available on Windows XP via an application called eBoostr.
Readyboost, a disk caching technology in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, is said to make systems running the OS more responsive by using flash memory to create a cache of frequently accessed content.
Users of Windows XP can now experience similar improvements in responsiveness by using eBoostr, a software application that works in exactly the same way as Vista's Readyboost. Taking a cheap shot at Vista, the eBoostr website even states "There is no need to purchase a Vista upgrade to get the benefits of the Vista’s ReadyBoost technology. With the newly developed eBoostr, the booting of your OS and applications startup get much faster thanks to the smart caching mechanism."
eBoostr's highlights include:
- Vista’s ReadyBoost benefits on your Windows XP machine
- Smart caches frequently used applications and files for maximum performance speed up
- Supports both USB and non-USB removable media devices, as well as additional hard disks
- Allows up to 4 devices for simultaneous smart caching
- Cache file size of up to 4GB on each device
- Compatible with all ReadyBoost® ready devices
eBoostr can be downloaded as a free trial that has no expiration date but runs fully functional for only 4 hours after each system boot. If you tend to leave your system on for longer than that, you can buy the full version of eBoostr for £15. Alternatively, it might just be better to save just a little bit more and buy some extra RAM.
Official product page: eBoostr.com
