Disable Superfetch and Prefetch for SSD in Windows 8

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SuperFetch, Prefech & SSD in Windows 8

Every time  you run an application in your PC, a Prefetch file which contains information about the files loaded by the application is created by Windows operating system. The information in the Prefetch file is used for optimizing the loading time of the application in the next time that you run it. SuperFetch attempts to predict which applications you will launch next and preloads all of the necessary data into memory. Its prediction algorithm is superior and can predict which next 3 applications you will launch by what time in a day.

In short SuperFetch and Prefetch are Windows Storage Management technologies that provide fast access to data on traditional hard drives. On Solid State Drives they result in unnecessary write operations.

Windows 7 and Windows 8 therefore by default will automatically disable SuperFetch and Prefetch, once it detects an SSD on your system.

Disable Superfetch

Should one for some reason need to manually disable them, this is how one can disable SuperFetch. Run services.msc to open the Services Manager. Scroll down to Superfetch service, which  is responsible for maintaining and improving the system performance over time. Double-click on it to open it Properties box. Make the startup type Disabled and click on Apply.

You will have to restart your computer for the system changes to take effect.

Disable Prefetch

To disable Prefetch in Windows, Run regedit to open the Registry Editor. Navigate to the following registry key:

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

Double-click on EnablePrefetcher in the right side to open its DWORD value box.

The possible values for EnablePrefetcher are:

• 0 – Disable Prefetcher
• 1 – Application launch Prefetching enabled
• 2 – Boot Prefetching enabled
• 3 – Application launch and Boot Prefetching enabled
• The default value is 3. To disable Prefetch, set it to 0. Click OK and Exit.

Incidentally, you can also disable or tweak the Suoerfetcher here – you will see the EnableSuperfetcher DWORD just below it.

The possible values for EnableSuperfetch are:

• 0 – Disable Superfetch
• 1 – Enable SuperFetch for boot files only
• 2 – Enable SuperFetch for applications only
• 3 - Enable SuperFetch for both boot files and applications

If you are a Solid State Drive user, you may want to read about the freeware SSD Life that can check the health of your Solid State Drive and SSD Tweaker which will help you tweak your Solid State Drives.

If you have liked this post, you might want to check out some more, on topics like Features, SSD, Tips.

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