Windows – Enable/Disable Superfetch

Posted onAuthorMrNetTek

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What is Superfetch?

To make it easier to understand, Superfetch is a service that helps to decrease boot time and make must-load programs more efficiently.

Let’s take an example and you can see for yourself how does Superfetch work exactly. Picture this: you just boot your PC. Then you double-click one of your Word documents. It takes about 5 seconds to open. Then you double-click another Word document, this time, it takes just about 2 seconds.

You see, Superfetch pre-loads certain apps based on your usage patterns, and the pre-load files are stored in your RAM. In doing so, you’re able to open your programs or apps so much faster and thus with better user experience.

…or so Microsoft claims.

As mentioned, you may find that Superfetch takes up much of your CPU usage and makes your PC slow to use. Read on and see what you should about it.

 

Should I Disable or Enable Superfetch?

Well, before you move on to disable or enable your Superfetch service, you should know that there is no hard proof whether Superfetch service would increase your PC performance in general.

If you open and close certain apps or programs a lot then you should leave Superfetch enabled. If Superfetch service takes up too much of your CPU or Memory usage to the point where it significantly slow down your PC, then you should definitely disable it.

You should also know that Superfetch service is fairly easy to disable or enable. You may need to test both options to know for sure what to do.

To modify whether Superfetch is enabled or disabled, you can perform the following steps:

Disable from Services

  1. Hold the Windows Key, while pressing “R” to bring up the Run dialog box.
  2. Type services.msc, then press Enter.
  3. The Services window displays. Find Superfetch in the list.
  4. Right-click Superfetch, then select Properties.
  5. Select the Stop button if you wish to stop the service. In the Startup type dropdown menu, choose Disabled.

Enable or Disable from Registry

  1. Using the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location.
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    • SYSTEM
    • CurrentControlSet
    • Control
    • Session Manager
    • Memory Management
    • PrefetchParameters
  2. On the right side, double-click on EnableSuperfetch. If this value doesn’t exist, right-click the PrefetchParameters folder, then choose New > DWORD Value.
  3. Give EnableSuperfetch one of the following values:
    • 0 – to disable Superfetch
    • 1 – to enable prefetching when program is launched
    • 2 – to enable boot prefetching
    • 3 – to enable prefetching of everything
  4. Select OK.
  5. Close the Registry Editor.

Also see disabling background apps

 

Notes

The full reg path

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