Windows 10 Disable And Enable Prefetch And Superfetch - Increase Your SSD Lifespan

Windows 10 (and Windows 8.1) does a great job of speeding up file,
folder and applications. This is done using superfetch and prefetch. The
operating system fetching the data from the hard disk in advance and
thus speeds up the computer. However, where disks are SSD (Solid State)
all this extra disk reading and writing can reduce the life span of your
drive. Also in certain cases where the prefetch is actually slowing down
the computer we might want to disable it. This video show how to do this
in just a few minutes.

For more visit:

Transcript (machine generated so it contains errors)

Hello today would have a look at how to disable superfetch and prefetch
in Windows 10 and 8.1 okay. Basically, this is a service that shall we
say, loads of files in advance of us actually accessing them. So
basically, lower program in a few seconds history and our behaviour
patterns windows stores the data for that program, et cetera in advance.
Okay, however it does increase the read times and read access right
access stewardess for example, if you have a solid state desk again
extra reads and writes to it actually wears down the lifespan of in
certain cases, can actually slow your computer down. However, it is
quite an efficient system and it does actually work instruments we need
to disable it how we do it winding services we get there basically quite
simple in Windows 10 of displayed in services.MSc okay. It comes in with
the servers area sometimes before their messy automatically shows up
like their okay and there we go, given permission brings up a window
that we had before and we scroll down and we find our super fetch okay.
What we would want to do is basically disable it Kate stopped running.
Currently okay. Once that's done, we also need to go into the registry
and solo now so we tied the regedit will sign Iran's and now we need to
go to books and clothes that one down. HG that's each key local machine
system, then it is control certain is control session manager's but
bigger and session manager and their and its memory management okay
appreciates parameters okay enable all suicides and enabled tree fetch
okay three basically giving enabled option. Okay, one is doing it zero
is able one 3 factor applications only to enable 3/4 boot files only and
three prefetch boot and application files. In this case we want to
disable so it's 0K type as a hacksaw does not sterilise the same for
both of them. Okay, go to 0 again. Okay, and then that's done, and
basically the next time you restart your computer. You will not have
your research or super fetch running and this is actually going to show
initially when you boot up you might see actually tacking a little bit
longer. Okay has, constantly when at that stage. However, it's only
gonna be accessing files and folders and all data and I need to know.
Kind of basis okay. Thanks for watching

[geerenmo]

I've experimented with this, on a laptop with Windows 10 64-bit, 8GB of ram and an HDD. If superfetch and prefetch are on and value set in regedit on 3 (Enables for Boot and Application files), its disk usage hits 99%-100% for a long time and it messes with performance. I've disabled Superfetch completely and my boot went slower. So what I did is, I changed the values of EnableSuperfetch and EnablePrefetch to a 2, this means it will only be enabled with boot and not with applications. Now my laptop is running great. If you have an SSD, disable Superfetch completely, no need for it.

[CC-iusx]

You saved my PC, thanks! You earned a like! God, I hate Superfetch!!! It says it makes your computer FASTER, but it wears down your disk so much your computer could sometimes crash!

[df]

This information on Windows technical settings is brilliant.

[Rilla-needs-sleep]

Thank you for this. Superfetch was causing my disk usage to hit 100% and endlessly remain that high (despite restarting)... it caused a few blue screens within a week of updating to Windows 10 on a new computer.

[UthoRiley]

Thank you so much! :D
I've got 16 Gigs of RAM, and now with Windows 10 this Superfetch "service" eats through all of it whilst playing games and multytasking.
It's freaking horrible...
Everything is indeed a bit slower, but at least it works now without spiking into oblivion.
I was about to research the laborious process on how to turn this off, conveniently hidden behind Microsoft's disgusting text walls.
Finding this video was a blessing, keep up the good work! ;D

[jamesbutcher]

Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters




Just to speed things up if you saw this

[EkincansFirma]

This shit was causing 100% utilization on my sshd thx to the tutorial.

[pshxjyp]

I did this and My laptop instantly became faster it would always use about 97%-100% of memory but now its around 5%-10% when idle. This saved me.

[WindowsNinjaWorld]

In Windows 1809 there is no superfetch service. It has been kindly noticed by @DigDeep that there is a revert to the Win 7 SysMain service name. That was part of ready boost for USB sticks and virtual RAM.... whilst that was part of a suite of services performing a virtual RAM function... the startup comand is almost the same.

However the registry entry for the 2 are different - especially the RequiredPrivledges key!

Services bounce on svchost, but the registry and linked .dll files may be different.
The sysmain.dll file in Win 10 1609 is 922KB and in 1809 it is 1040 KB... so the file is different and may provide different functions.

Further updates and contributions from viewers are VERY welcome!!!

[anthonyburn]

So thats what superfetch does, thanks man

[danlupsa]

i almost left without giving you a thumbs up. thanx dude.

[willyjannes]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FROM INDONESIA DUDE..

[Le_Sourpuss]

Ok, so after looking into superfetch and prefetch I realize that this feature doesn't actually "take up" your memory; it only reserves it in advance for your most usual applications BUT in a very low priority mode, in such a way that if you launch another application that needs that memory, those resources will be dumped in exchange for this new application. Ideally, if this feature is working 100% well, your memory "usage" in your task manager will be close to 100% but that is not "a process taking up your whole memory"; that's this feature holding all your frequent applications ready to launch instantly. The result is less HDD/SDD/CPU usage and faster speeds because this feature basically uses your RAM as your HDD. And it's also intelligent which means it will learn what programs you use the most and even when you are more likely to use those programs, how frequently, etc. So, in other words, I would leave superfetch turned on. If you open up your task manager and you see your RAM usage at 70% or even 80%, don't freak out because that's exactly what this feature is supposed to do. It holds the most it can in RAM to avoid disk access, but it will quickly release ONLY if necessary. After any heavy application has been run, it's normal to see the memory start filling up again because it knows what to prepare in case of use. Note that the superfetch feature learns your behavior overtime and, if you disable it and enable it again, it will have to learn everything again so it will take some time until you regain the additional speed it can provide.

[lookintoit]

This fixed the Stuttering for me in Sea of Thieves, and should for all future games as Windows isn't fighting for my free Ram.

[retardlol]

Thanks, that superfetch made my 6 core i5 8400 go to 100% and they say “it helps boost performance”

[WindowsNinjaWorld]

Windows 10 Disable And Enable Prefetch And Superfetch - Increase Your SSD Lifespan

[davidatkins]

We don't want to disable it entirely. This would actually make boot times longer. This is because this feature is also used to speed up the loading of boot files. Number 2 option is better. It allows us to keep the advantage of caching system files, without continually clogging the system up with applications .

[Skippypippy]

Thank you! This was very helpful, because I was getting maxed out Disk usage.

[ihavetubes]

I don't see Superfetch in registry, great video thanks.

Saved me 600MB of ram disabling superfetch and thats a lot for trying to run Warframe orb vallis wihout stutter or crashing with 4GB ram.