Vista Tutorial - Superfetch - Change Preload Data

**Brink** · **OPTION ONE:**

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.

RELATED LINKS:

OPTION ONE:
Through a Download

1. To Allow Only Boot Files to Preload -
A) Click on the download button below to download the Only_Boot_Files.reg file.
B) Go to step 4.

2. To Allow Only Program Files to Preload -
A) Click on the download button below to download the Only_Programs_Files.reg file.
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 Boot_and_Programs_Files.reg file.

4. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.
5. Right click on the .reg file (on Desktop) and click on Merge.
6. Click on the Run button in the Security Warning pop-up.
7. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.
8. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
9. When done, you can delete the .reg file (on Desktop).

OPTION TWO:
The Manual Way

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.
3. Click the Continue button for the UAC prompt.
4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below)
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 Allow Only Program Files to Preload -
A) Type 1 and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 8)
B) Go to step 9.

7. To Allow Only Boot Files to Preload -
A) Type 2 and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 8)
B) Go to step 9.

8. 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)

9. Close regedit.
10. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply the changes.

That's it,
Shawn

**MilesAhead** · 06-12-2008

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** · 06-13-2008

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** · 06-13-2008

	Quote:	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 · 06-13-2008

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** · 06-13-2008

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 · 07-01-2008

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

**Brink** · 07-01-2008

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 · 07-01-2008

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

**Brink** · 07-01-2008

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