A computer system is configured to support execution of a virtualized application, the files of which are stored in and retrieved from network storage. The method of launching the virtualized application includes (i) responsive to a first user event occurring prior to any user event for launching the virtualized application after user logon, executing a driver to fetch a subset of the files of the virtualized application from the network storage into system memory of the computer system, and (ii) responsive to a second user event corresponding to a launch of the virtualized application, instantiating an execution space for the virtualized application and loading the fetched files into the system memory for execution.