Superfetch - Change Preload Data

How to Change What Superfetch will Preload in Vista​

   Information

Superfetch is a new improved feature in Vista that monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory (RAM) so they'll be ready when you need them. This will show you how to change Superfetch to preload only the Boot files, Program files, or the default both Boot and Program files into memory.

   Note

The Boot files are the startup programs, system files, and drivers loaded during the startup (boot) of Vista. The Program files are the programs you or Vista open and close in Vista. Test to see what works best for you.

OPTION ONE

Through a REG File Download

1. To Allow Only Boot Files to Preload​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Only_Boot_Files.reg​

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B) Go to step 4.​

2. To Allow Only Program Files to Preload​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Only_Programs.reg​

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B) Go to step 4.​

3. To Allow Both Boot and Program Files to Preload ​

NOTE: This is the default setting for Superfetch if you want to undo any changes.​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Boot_and_Programs_Files.reg​

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4. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.​

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5. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.​

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6. Click on Run, Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.​

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8. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.​

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9. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

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OPTION TWO

Manually Through Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.​

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4. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (See screenshot below)​

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

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5. In the right pane, right click on EnablePrefetcher and click on Modify. (See screenshot above)​

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6. To Disable Prefetcher​

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A) Type 0 (number zero) and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 9)​

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B) Go to step 10.​

7. To Allow Only Program Files to Preload ​

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A) Type 1 and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 9)​

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B) Go to step 10.​

8. To Allow Only Boot Files to Preload​

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A) Type 2 and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 9)​

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B) Go to step 10.​

9. To Allow Both Boot and Program Files to Preload​

NOTE: This is the default setting for Superfetch if you want to undo any changes.​

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A) Type 3 and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

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10. Close regedit.​

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11. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Use ReadyBoost in Vista
• How to Disable or Enable Superfetch in Vista
• How to Change the Virtual Memory Paging File in Vista
• How to Start the Memory Diagnostics Tool in Vista

 

[MilesAhead]

The answer to your question is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

[frankzappa77]

If I set Superfetch to only preload boot files, does it disable preloading other program files when I login (startup programs)? Or does this only pertain to Superfetch being used during boot time?

 

[Brink]

Hello Frank,

The preload Boot files are the startup programs, system files, and drivers loaded only during the startup (boot) of Vista.

The Program files are the programs you or Vista open and close while running in Vista.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[widget21]

Hi all.. Only just discovered this page while trying to find ways to improve my vista boot time. have been on here for about 6 hours before finally signing up. Jus looking through and disabled prefetch for testing.. using vista, typing prefetch showed a prefetch folder.. Inside are several files. Mostly .pf and some .ini. Is it safe to delete all of these files, then restart prefetch like you would with say cookies, or Temp folder? Or clearing your browser history? Or is there another way to reset it from scratch? I have been running vista for over 2 years, and lately am getting upwords of 30 secons just on the screen with the scrolling bar. Have spent several hours now clearing it up and am not seeing much luck yet. Hoping this Prefetch might asist with this, or i might be looking in the wrong place altogether. Thanks.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention the folder is located:
C:\Windows\prefetch

Thanks again.

 

[Brink]

Hello Widget, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I would recommend to not delete these files. They are handled by Vista and well automatically be deleted if not needed by the system when the cache runs low. Having Superfetch fully enabled should normally help improve your computer's performance over time though.

If you have not already seen it, the tutorial below can help improve your boot time.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[widget21]

Hello Widget, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I would recommend to not delete these files. They are handled by Vista and well automatically be deleted if not needed by the system when the cache runs low. Having Superfetch fully enabled should normally help improve your computer's performance over time though.

If you have not already seen it, the tutorial below can help improve your boot time.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi and thanks for the welcome.. I am currently going through each step.. Carefully and learning as i go. After every 2 changes i reboot and still havnt seen an improvement. About to double check all cpu's (quad core) are being used at bootup. At the same time just made the VBS script to time it. Normally i count those annoying little window bar runs. It always stops right at the end of the second one and my 2 dvd roms go crazy spinning up, then i cop another 12 to 16 bars before the TMM(TTM?) and then i get a quick desktop load.. Its the bars that are frustrating me to no end.. After a fresh install (Have done 5 now in last 2 months) i get about 4 bars, 6 after Mboard and Vid card drivers.. Then after a day im at 14+. Sigh.. Ok due for another reboot. Thanks heaps for all the info though, this site has saved me visiting google a few thousand times over the weekend.

Widget21

 

[kavita]

Hi Shawn, 2 quick questions for you?
If i allow superfetch for Boot files,
1: Will it reduce my boot time?
2: Will it cause Programs to run slow?

 

[Brink]

Hello Kavita,

Superfetch is designed to speed up the loading of both of these items by preloading what it thinks you will need into RAM to have there ready to go. It will learn your patterns better over time, and thus improve performance by being more accurate on what it preloads into RAM.

Q1) No. If enabled, it can actually improve your boot time performance by having these preloaded in RAM.

Q2) If disabled, it may cause your programs to not load as quickly than if Superfetch would have had the data for the program preloaded into RAM.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[kavita]

I'd rather allow both Programs and Boot Files to get into superfetch.
Wonderful tutorial. Thanks alot.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Kavita.

 

[videohog]

I see that the three choices are a) Boot Only b)Programs Only c) Boot & Programs, then there is the complete disabling of superfetch too.

My question is, if it is Boot & Programs, then why do I see in the resource monitor, a windows service known as "LocalSystemNetworkRestricted" reading document, music, and video files like crazy? It loads these types of files up into memory, at least that is what it seems like because the more it reads, the higher my memory usage climbs. At approx. 26% or 27% memory usage, it stops reading and the memory usage stays there until I start doing stuff. I'm guessing this is superfetch loading up files that it thinks I will be using in the near future.

WRONG.

I'm not going to use, or listen, or watch that stuff right now. I don't want superfetch deciding what data files to load up for me. I read that document yesterday and I'm not going back to it unless I need it for reference. I listened to that song earlier and I'm not gonna want to hear it again until next week some time.

I have a three questions:

1) Is this really superfetch? Note: I've disabled indexing, auto-defragmentation, and windows media sharing service already. It still reads/loads these data files, docs, mp3s, and video files.

2) If it is superfetch, then is it worth making superfetch grab boot only files if the high disk activity reading only lasts for about 5 minutes at start up then goes away until I have to reboot (which I do about two or three times a day)? I don't like the disk activity, but it doesn't really hinder performance. It is annoying though when I plug in my usb external hd and superfetch starts loading up files I haven't used in forever into memory. Then it does seem worth it to set it to load boot only files.

3) Is it me or has MS taken a great idea in theory and implemented it not in the most effective wayl. I mean it's great to predict usage and preload in memory, but shouldn't there be more user options like with the index (excluding file types or directories)? That way the OS could predict, but the user could provide some guidance along the way too. Superfetch is good, but it could be freaking amazing if MS would let the user have some options and manual input in the process.

 

[Brink]

Hello Videohog,

I'm not sure exactly how superfetch decides what to load and not load. However, if you do not use what it loaded into memory, it will automatically dump it to make room for anything else that needs to be loaded into memory if need be. There's an old saying that unused memory is wasted memory.

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

 

[videohog]

Hello Videohog,
...if you do not use what it loaded into memory, it will automatically dump it to make room for anything else that needs to be loaded into memory if need be.

Other than the system files, I am not using and will not use for a while the data files that superfetch preloads. When the hard disk is churning (superfetch reading files) applications take longer to open. This churning I originally thought to be about a 5 minute process, but turns out to be closer to 10 to 15 minutes. It churns until memory is at approx. 25% to 27% used. I understand that superfetch will drop anything it has in memory, and that is not a problem. The problem is what superfetch does to get the files into memory in the first place. As I type this, my hard drive is reading like crazy right now.

There's an old saying that unused memory is wasted memory.

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

Yes, I've heard that saying even prior to superfetch when 1GB memory on XP was like high class society. the problem isn't the memory being temporarily held though, it's what's going on with the hard disk. I have no issue what soever with apps, system files, or even data being temporarily stored in memory and released if need be. I have a problem with the burst of reading activity on the hard drive. If superfetch was more efficient in picking which files to load, I probably could live with the spinning hard drive. But all that spinnning for data files I'm not gonna use any time soon, that has me considering switching the superfetch option to "boot only." I really wish there were a true "Boot and Program Files" option that left data files alone, especially music files and big video files.

To recap, Memory = Not a concern. Hard drive = Some concern. Still in limbo as to whether I'm going to change the superfetch setting to "boot files only." I'm leaning more toward leaving it alone, but every time I see that hard disk light going crazy for no apparent reason other than superfetch grabbing some data files, it makes me wanna change the option.

As I finish typing this message, the hard drive is no longer churning. Superfetch has finished fetching what it deems to be the files that fit my pattern of usage. It's the fact that it only lasts 10 to 15 minutes that has me leaning toward just letting superfetch do what it does. Microsoft could really change the game with this one feature though if they made it more intelligent or allowed some user guidance in determining usual, typical, or expected usage patterns as far as preloading files into memory.

Brink,

An idea just hit me. If superfetch is set to "boot only" and you change the options in your frequently used programs to launch at start up, then you still take advantage of superfetch preloading applications. If this method is used, then memory still wouldn't go to waste, it would be used to load up applications you really want loaded rather than data files that will not be used for some time.

Do you think that is a good idea? Set superfetch to "boot files only" then set your favorite or frequently used applications to start up when Windows starts? Seems like a setting that might prove to be an effective work around.

 

[Brink]

Videohog,

With that much HDD activity, are you sure that it's not the index updating itself instead. As a test, you might temporarily disable the index and leave superfetch at default settings to see if you still have that much HDD activity.

 

[videohog]

Videohog,

With that much HDD activity, are you sure that it's not the index updating itself instead...

I should have specified up front that I disabled the Windows Search service. Also, before disabling the service, I unchecked "Index This Drive" and removed all locations except that one remaining mandatory "Internet Explorer History" in the index options. So even before I disabled the service, it should not have been indexing anything. Now with it disabled, it definitely shouldn't be indexing.

Also, turned off automatic defrag.

Disabled Windows Media Sharing service too.

I read earlier where someone mentioned "Crawl Start Pages" and I considered shutting that down, but I'm not entirely sure of its function to begin with.

Windows Defender is off as I have third party Virus & Spyware program

Don't know what else it could be other than superfetch.

I notice that moving the file will temporarily cause the disk activity to stop. If I can't figure out a way to prevent the loading uip of music and video files, then I'm probably going to set superfetch to "boot files only" then add some of my most frequently used applications to the Windows start up process. It may take a little longer to complete the boot up process, but I suspect the disk activity will be significantly reduced.

 

[Brink]

Well, as a test, you certainely could set superfetch to only load boot files or disable it completely to see if you still have high HDD activity afterwards. You can always set it back to default afterwards.

You're idea to load the programs at startup is fine if you wanted to always have them to be opened and running at startup.