What is Superfetch?
Windows SuperFetch enables programs and files to load much faster than they would on Windows XP–based PCs.
When you’re not actively using your computer, background tasks—including automatic backup programs and antivirus scans—run when they will least disturb you. These background tasks can take up system memory space that your programs had been using. On Windows XP–based PCs, this can slow progress to a crawl when you attempt to resume work.
SuperFetch monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory so they’ll be ready when you need them. Windows Vista also runs background programs, like disk defragmenting and Windows Defender, at low priority so that they can do their job but your work always comes first.
Do I need Superfetch?
I have two Windows Vista computers that my wife and I use everyday. Mine is used for day to day operations of Memphis PC Guy and research. Hers is used for Warhammer Online.
My PC is also used as the primary source of entertainment to my Extenders (Xbox 360′s) and as the Print server for the network, so it remains on 24/7. Her PC is allowed to goto sleep after 1hour.
Why all the background information? Because of what superfectch does and how it does it, the computers primary role would seem to dictate whether you want to continue using it or whether to finetune it.
My PC remains on constantly, so superfetch is able to track the programs & files I use the most frequently and pre-loads them into available ram. Since it rarely gets restarted or shutdown, it does not have to rebuild itself. Her’s on the other hand, seems to be constantly “thrashing” the hard-drive (a term to note extended hard drive activity) once she is done for the day. It has run continously for upwards of 15 minutes and more! A quick peek at the resource monitor in Vista shows its working to load up every zone file and art file Warhammer Online uses into her ram. Of course, an hour later the PC goes into sleep mode, eradicating all that hard work!
The down side of all that thrashing is wear and tear of the hard drives and excess heat build up for what is more than likely a minimal gain, if any.
Disable or Finetune Superfetch
Disabling Superfetch is not recommended as it will enhance performance on PC’s with plenty of ram (1-2Gb). But on systems with only 512mb ram, chances are it is harming performance. Or, if you are experiencing near constant hard-drive access as I mentioned above.
To disable Superfetch do the following;
1. Click Vista Orb > Start Menu > Control Panel
2. Click System & Maintance > Administrative Tools
3. Click Services
4. Locate and Right-Click Superfetch > Properties
5. Set Startup Type to Disabled
6. Restart Computer
To Finetune Superfetch
You can also finetune superfetch to only “fetch” certain file types. By default it tries to fetch not only the actual applications, but also the support files they may utilise, like Warhammer Zone and Art files.
Please Note: Editing your registry can have dire consequences if done incorrectly! This is considered an Advanced Technique and should not be taken lightly.
- Goto: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
- you should see two keys called enable superfetch and enable prefetch, both having the default values of 3.
- change both the values according to the below info and your preference.
1: Caches Boot files only.
2: Caches Boot files and Programfiles (this is the best setting for most systems, gives maximum performance with minimum resource hog)
3: Caches all files (Default setting, takes maximum resources)
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