analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history

analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up. It costs 98 tokens per session (3,263 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history, MIT.

A guide to reading Windows Prefetch files, records that show which programs ran and when. It can also show run counts and files or libraries used by those programs.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to investigate malware, verify suspicious applications were run, correlate activity with other evidence, and find unauthorized or anti-forensic tools.
Why use it?
It helps investigators confirm program execution and build a timeline when examining a Windows system.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to investigate malware, verify suspicious applications were run, correlate activity with other evidence, and find unauthorized or anti-forensic tools.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up --skill analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 98 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 3,263 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 91% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00098 $0.03263
Opus 5 $0.00049 $0.01631
Sonnet 5 $0.00020 $0.00653
Haiku 4.5 $0.00010 $0.00326

Measured 6d ago against content hash fa8f47795848, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-10, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 6d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/agent.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

91% identical to analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history — 4 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

cyber-security/ctf/analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history/SKILL.md · 327 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 327 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Analyzing Prefetch Files for Execution History

When to Use

  • When determining which programs were executed on a Windows system and when
  • During malware investigations to confirm execution of suspicious binaries
  • For establishing a timeline of application usage during an incident
  • When correlating program execution with other forensic artifacts
  • To identify anti-forensic tools or unauthorized software that was run

Prerequisites

  • Access to Windows Prefetch directory (C:\Windows\Prefetch) from forensic image
  • PECmd (Eric Zimmerman), WinPrefetchView, or python-prefetch parser
  • Understanding of Prefetch file format (versions 17, 23, 26, 30)
  • Windows system with Prefetch enabled (default on client OS, disabled on servers)
  • Knowledge of Prefetch naming conventions (APPNAME-HASH.pf)

Workflow

Step 1: Extract Prefetch Files from Forensic Image

# Mount the forensic image
mount -o ro,loop,offset=$((2048*512)) /cases/case-2024-001/images/evidence.dd /mnt/evidence

# Copy all prefetch files
mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/
cp /mnt/evidence/Windows/Prefetch/*.pf /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/

# Count and list prefetch files
ls -la /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/ | wc -l
ls -la /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/ | head -30

# Hash all prefetch files for integrity
sha256sum /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/*.pf > /cases/case-2024-001/prefetch/pf_hashes.txt

# Note: Prefetch filename format is EXECUTABLE_NAME-XXXXXXXX.pf
# The hash (XXXXXXXX) is based on the executable path
# Same executable from different paths creates different prefetch files

Step 2: Parse Prefetch Files with PECmd

# Using Eric Zimmerman's PECmd (Windows or via Mono/Wine on Linux)
# Download from https://ericzimmerman.github.io/

# Parse a single prefetch file
PECmd.exe -f "C:\cases\prefetch\POWERSHELL.EXE-A]B2C3D4.pf"

# Parse all prefetch files and output to CSV
PECmd.exe -d "C:\cases\prefetch\" --csv "C:\cases\analysis\" --csvf prefetch_results.csv

# Parse with JSON output
PECmd.exe -d "C:\cases\prefetch\" --json "C:\cases\analysis\" --jsonf prefetch_results.json

# Output includes for each file:
# - Executable name and path
# - Run count
# - Last run time (up to 8 timestamps in Windows 10)
# - Files and directories referenced during execution
# - Volume information (serial number, creation date)
# - Prefetch file creation time

Read the full file on GitHub · 327 lines

Files

What ships with it

2 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 6d ago First seen · 327 lines · 98 tokens per session scan A fa8f47795848

Subscribe to this mod's changes

analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history is a skill published in the GitHub repository Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up (3 stars, last pushed 16d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 98 tokens to every session and 3,263 once invoked, about $0.0005 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 91% identical to analyzing-prefetch-files-for-execution-history, differing in 4 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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