Short Filenames

NTFS creates a short filename for each file in the MFT (Master File Table). Eliminating the short names saves CPU and I/O resources and can have a significant impact on performance (according to Micro$oft).

To disable short file names:

fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1

This will prevent new files from having short names created, but what about existing files?

To strip off short names from existing files:

fsutil 8dot3name strip

References

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff633453%28WS.10%29.aspx

http://blogs.sepago.de/helge/2008/09/22/why-disabling-the-creation-of-83-dos-file-names-will-not-improve-performance-or-will-it/