Published by

**Brink** · 25 Nov 2007

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

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

Only_Boot_Files.reg

B) Go to step 4.

2. To Allow Only Program Files to Preload

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

Only_Programs_Files.reg

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.

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

Boot_and_Programs_Files.reg

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

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

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

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

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

OPTION TWO

Manually Through Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu.

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

3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

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

Code:

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

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

6. To Disable Prefetcher

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

B) Go to step 10.

7. To Allow Only Program Files to Preload

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

B) Go to step 10.

8. To Allow Only Boot Files to Preload

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

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.

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

10. Close regedit.

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

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

**MilesAhead** · 12 Jun 2008

Shawn are you sure the key is EnableSuperfetch or EnablePrefetcher?
I tried the download .reg file to set it to only do boot files and \windows\prefetch
kept showing applications as I ran them.

However I found another article and when I followed it and set EnablePrefetcher
to '2' it seemed to work as expected. What I was doing was setting Superfetch
service to Automatic but stopping it 10 or 15 minutes after booting so it could cache the bootup without running in the background all the time. So far this boot only caching seems to have quieted it down.

It would be nice if I didn't have to remember to shut the thing off manually.

**Brink** · 13 Jun 2008

Thank you MilesAhead for catching this. This link from MSDN confirms what you suspected.

Disabling Prefetch

The tutorial has been updated for this correct setting now.

Thank you again,
Shawn

**MilesAhead** · 13 Jun 2008

Originally Posted by Brink

Thank you MilesAhead for catching this. This link from MSDN confirms what you suspected.

Disabling Prefetch

The tutorial has been updated for this correct setting now.

Thank you again,
Shawn

You're welcome. Thanks for all the good info on system configuration for Vista. I'm becoming optimistic that I can boot this thing up and run programs instead of manually turning stuff on and off just to keep it running smoothly.

**SCSIraidGURU** · 13 Jun 2008

I shutdown each night and when not in use. Is prefetching taking extra cycles and disk activity away from my applications with no real benefit of prefetching?

**Brink** · 13 Jun 2008

Hi Michael,

No Superfetch only works while your computer is running. You can read more about it here. It usually will help improve the performance for a computer unless it is a server.

Superfetch (Memory Prefetcher)

Shawn

**stanley0406** · 01 Jul 2008

Hi!
I just have a quick quesiton. What are boot files??

**Brink** · 01 Jul 2008

Hi Stanley,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

The boot files are what Vista loads during startup. This is usually device drivers and the startup programs (Ex: Firewall, Antivirus, etc...).

The Program files option are the ones you run after Vista has started to the desktop.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

**stanley0406** · 01 Jul 2008

Thank you very much! I have one more quesiton: so do files for services count as boot files?

**Brink** · 01 Jul 2008

If a particular service is loaded during startup, then yes.

Superfetch usually does a great job on improving performance with both options set to be enabled though.

Shawn

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