# Vista Prefetch (On / Off?)



## twicksisted (Apr 20, 2008)

being new to vista, I cant seem to find out where I turn off "Prefetch" as I notice that while my rig is running its constantly wirring away.

Checking the resources monitor, its prefetch doing its thing...
for my system (Q6600 @ 3.4ghz & 4gb DDRII 800mhz) is prefetch neccessary... will it impact in any way on gaming performance?

I have a seriously fast raid setup (four disk raid 0) and 4GB ram, so it is neccessary for windows to always prefetch stuff into ram?


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## Wile E (Apr 20, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> being new to vista, I cant seem to find out where I turn off "Prefetch" as I notice that while my rig is running its constantly wirring away.
> 
> Checking the resources monitor, its prefetch doing its thing...
> for my system (Q6600 @ 3.4ghz & 4gb DDRII 800mhz) is prefetch neccessary... will it impact in any way on gaming performance?
> ...


Leave it on. It makes day to day use much faster. If you've only had Vista running for a couple of days, it's still trying to figure out your most used programs. It will settle down.


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## twicksisted (Apr 20, 2008)

aaah ok cool... well thats good news then... I guess itll make sense if I put some more ram in here aswell (PC6400 is so cheap nowdays)


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## giorgos th. (Apr 20, 2008)

http://xyzzy-links.blogspot.com/2007/08/optimal-prefetch-vista.html


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## jonmcc33 (May 10, 2008)

^^^I frown upon telling people to mess with their registry for tweaks. Not a good idea.


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## Kursah (May 10, 2008)

I left it on with my current Vista x64 build, and after a little while it does calm down. I do turn off and remove Indexing (unistall windows service through Programs and Features), as I don't search on my HDD's enough to need it. But SuperFetch is there to help Vista work as intended and it does a good job, seems my games, favorite programs and such load quite a bit faster after a while of use. Don't expect everything to load faster, mostly the programs you use from day-to-day on a consistent basis will of course be most positively impacted.


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## jonmcc33 (May 10, 2008)

Kursah said:


> I left it on with my current Vista x64 build, and after a little while it does calm down. I do turn off and remove Indexing (unistall windows service through Programs and Features), as I don't search on my HDD's enough to need it.



Indexing only searches C:\Users by default anyway. You can have additional 10 hard drives in your PC and it will not index any of them.


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## Darknova (May 10, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> ^^^I frown upon telling people to mess with their registry for tweaks. Not a good idea.



You'd rather use 3rd-party programs and tweaks that reduce performance, and could destroy your registry? Any edit in the registry is reversible, and you should always make a backup. Common knowledge that keeps you safe.

I'd much rather mess around with my registry than have something else do it.

Also, why the hell is this in Linux/BSD/Mac OS X?


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## jonmcc33 (May 18, 2008)

Darknova said:


> You'd rather use 3rd-party programs and tweaks that reduce performance, and could destroy your registry? Any edit in the registry is reversible, and you should always make a backup. Common knowledge that keeps you safe.
> 
> I'd much rather mess around with my registry than have something else do it.
> 
> Also, why the hell is this in Linux/BSD/Mac OS X?



No, 3rd party programs are worse and do no better. Don't go into the registry unless your computer is very damaged. Tweaking things in it does no good for performance and just cause more problems (or at least risk them). 

I've already stated this before in other threads. Encouraging registry tweaking is a very bad idea.


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## Darknova (May 18, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> No, 3rd party programs are worse and do no better. Don't go into the registry unless your computer is very damaged. Tweaking things in it does no good for performance and just cause more problems (or at least risk them).
> 
> I've already stated this before in other threads. Encouraging registry tweaking is a very bad idea.



Ok, so what about when the registry becomes full of shite (old programs, redundant keys etc.) that Windows just doesn't remove, because when that happens and the registry becomes bloated the entire system starts to slow down until a point where you are forced to reinstall. Would you seriously tell someone not to touch the registry even though it could save them from reinstalling, and could all be reversed with a simple backup?

I've been playing around in the registry for years, tweaking, changing and repairing, and I've never had any issues because of very simple precautions such as taking a backup, and not making hundreds of changes at the same time.

I'm sure many people on this site will tell you the exact same thing, and so will a lot of professional IT techs (where do you think I learnt it from? It's what my dad did for over 20 years).

I'm not having a go here (I do tend to come off that way, I know) but I'm simply pointing out that tweaking in the registry can prove very beneficial with the right precautions. If something goes wrong you boot into safe mode and restore your backup.

And lets be honest, if you don't know what the registry is or what it does, you obviously don't want to touch it


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## eidairaman1 (May 18, 2008)

leave it on, thats what allows apps to launch faster. Its paging file that slows stuff down, warning tho, have tons of ram to disable that.


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## exodusprime1337 (May 18, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> ^^^I frown upon telling people to mess with their registry for tweaks. Not a good idea.



you're still here harassing people lol.  It's a tech and tweak forum.  People use the registry tweaks because they are more specific and overall the registry is a much more efficient and useful method of increasing a pc's potential.  In some cases it's required.  for example, on xp pro my cpu was only detected as having 256k of cache where in fact it has 2x512.  This is a very quick and easy fix easily done by the most inept of individuals.  also.  some things just need to get shut off.  dot3 name conversion, date time stamps, throttle options for dual cores and quads.  there are a thousand things the registry can effectively be modified for to tweak and stabilize the windows platform.  



on another note, windows *all flavors* indexes all drives but network shares.  this is utterly useless in the home computing world thus it's turned off by people such as myself and others because my hdd's are fast enough just to do the search.  The reason indexing is still included in windows is because for the reg. user the hdd is not raid or a high performing one and while sacrificing a small(very small at that) amount of pc performance, you can search the drives much faster.  So please gather your facts before spreading garbage. 


as for superfetch.  leave it on.  When you first get started with your new os, vista will seem to do a lot of hdd grinding.  And as you use the os it will slowly go away. here are some figures from my tests with superfetch on and off

world of warcraft : sf on: 3 secs to load, sf off: 24 secs to load
photoshop cs3: sf on: about 1.5secs, sf off 45 secs
cod4: sf on: instant maybe a sec, sf off 10 secs

those are just my 3 most used programs, over all windows is a lot quicker on the load iwith this feature enabled.


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## eidairaman1 (May 18, 2008)

only reason the 3rd party apps are bad for optimization is because you dont know exactly what they are changing, and later on that change can bite you in the ass.


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## jonmcc33 (May 18, 2008)

Darknova said:


> Ok, so what about when the registry becomes full of shite (old programs, redundant keys etc.) that Windows just doesn't remove, because when that happens and the registry becomes bloated the entire system starts to slow down until a point where you are forced to reinstall. Would you seriously tell someone not to touch the registry even though it could save them from reinstalling, and could all be reversed with a simple backup?



It's not on Windows to remove those old registry keys. The application developer was too lazy to write the uninstall script to remove them. Do not put the blame in the wrong direction. 

Leave them in there as if there are no applications trying to point to those keys then there won't be any problems. Not sure what you mean by "bloated". The registry is a database and nothing more. Not sure how much experience you have with a database but negative things only start happening when you edit the wrong things inside it. 



Darknova said:


> I've been playing around in the registry for years, tweaking, changing and repairing, and I've never had any issues because of very simple precautions such as taking a backup, and not making hundreds of changes at the same time.



That's good for you. That doesn't mean you should tell other inexperienced people to start doing the same thing. 



Darknova said:


> I'm sure many people on this site will tell you the exact same thing, and so will a lot of professional IT techs (where do you think I learnt it from? It's what my dad did for over 20 years).



I've been a professional IT tech for 10 years of my life, 8 of them in the USAF as a 3C0X1. I never had to touch the registry to make anything better. I do remember so called "experts" deleting everything under the sun out of the registry to the point that they would fry the computer and it had to be re-imaged.


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## jonmcc33 (May 18, 2008)

exodusprime1337 said:


> you're still here harassing people lol.



Sorry, do I know you?



exodusprime1337 said:


> It's a tech and tweak forum.  People use the registry tweaks because they are more specific and overall the registry is a much more efficient and useful method of increasing a pc's potential.  In some cases it's required.



That had me laughing and rolling on the floor. Increase a PC's potential? Do you have proof with benchmarks that anything is improved by "tweaking" the registry? 



exodusprime1337 said:


> on another note, windows *all flavors* indexes all drives but network shares.  this is utterly useless in the home computing world thus it's turned off by people such as myself and others because my hdd's are fast enough just to do the search.  The reason indexing is still included in windows is because for the reg. user the hdd is not raid or a high performing one and while sacrificing a small(very small at that) amount of pc performance, you can search the drives much faster.  So please gather your facts before spreading garbage.



Pity you say something like this. I already got into a debate with Mussels and Wile E about this before on this forum. You should go back and read up on it. You might learn a thing or two. You are confusing Vista Windows Search (indexes *C:\Users* only by default) with the Windows Indexing Service, which is neither installed nor running by default on Vista. It was added for backwards compatibility only. 

Garbage you say? 



exodusprime1337 said:


> as for superfetch.  leave it on.  When you first get started with your new os, vista will seem to do a lot of hdd grinding.  And as you use the os it will slowly go away. here are some figures from my tests with superfetch on and off
> 
> world of warcraft : sf on: 3 secs to load, sf off: 24 secs to load
> photoshop cs3: sf on: about 1.5secs, sf off 45 secs
> ...



Superfetch learns over a period of time. You cannot simply enable it and disable it and get such performance differences. I doubt that Photoshop CS3 ever took 45 seconds to load on your rig. It also doesn't do much for games as it cannot cache an entire game into memory.


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## Kreij (May 18, 2008)

Leave it on. It's worth it. 
Give it time to learn what you do most often.

I have not had to alter my Vista registry at all. Performance is fine.


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## Wile E (May 19, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> Sorry, do I know you?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Except, you also failed to prove your point on the Search and Indexing debates. If we need proof, where is yours?

And Imperial is right, this is a forum with a high percentage of people that like to tweak. Other things I like to do in the registry are to reduce app closing times on shut down, and to reduce the draw delay on menus. Neither really add any performance, but both make Windows behave more in a way that I prefer. What exactly is wrong with that?


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## jonmcc33 (May 19, 2008)

Wile E said:


> Except, you also failed to prove your point on the Search and Indexing debates. If we need proof, where is yours?



No, I did prove my point. The only confusion on my part was whether unchecking the option on a drive to turn off indexing actually disabled the Windows Search indexing. 

But, it still stands that the Windows Search indexing only indexes C:\Users by default and only that location. The Windows indexing service that was in older Windows versions isn't enabled in Windows Vista by default. 

If you want to go back and read the thread.


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## Kreij (May 20, 2008)

I'm still wondering why this is in the Linux/BSD//MacOS section


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## spearman914 (May 20, 2008)

Turn it on for both applications and boot files. Make sure you clean it out at least once a month. Too many files can slow down instead of slow up. LOL slow up....


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## erocker (May 20, 2008)

In Vista it's known as Superfetch, leave it on it works quite well.  And to johnmcc33 let people make thier own decisions about tweakin thier computer.  Most of us have been in the "IT" trade for quite a while an know what we are doing and how to explain it to the inexperienced.  Sometimes going into the registry is the only option to change a setting in Windows, it's just the way it is, and I think that handing out free knowledge to people on how to do things is a pretty brilliant idea.  Many of us here have different ideas and opinions, and we all have to learn to respect them.
*And from now on, please refrain from double and triple posting in threads.  There is an "edit" button in the lower right.


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## jonmcc33 (May 20, 2008)

erocker said:


> In Vista it's known as Superfetch, leave it on it works quite well.  And to johnmcc33 let people make thier own decisions about tweakin thier computer.  Most of us have been in the "IT" trade for quite a while an know what we are doing and how to explain it to the inexperienced.  Sometimes going into the registry is the only option to change a setting in Windows, it's just the way it is, and I think that handing out free knowledge to people on how to do things is a pretty brilliant idea.  Many of us here have different ideas and opinions, and we all have to learn to respect them.
> *And from now on, please refrain from double and triple posting in threads.  There is an "edit" button in the lower right.



Yes, and it is not a fact that an inexperienced person "tweaking" the registry can usually lead to bad things? I never touch it myself, hasn't ever shown to do any good.

In regards to the double posting, see this (as I have already pointed out before): http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216644

Should be an option that an admin can enable for the forums.


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## VulkanBros (May 20, 2008)

ehhhh.......wondering why this is in the Linux/BSD//MacOS section.....have I missed something here.......Has Bill Gates bought Apple and Linus Thorvald ??


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## niko084 (May 20, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> ^^^I frown upon telling people to mess with their registry for tweaks. Not a good idea.



Its nothing to frown on...  Many of us here do it religously as we setup our computers.

Anyways, is superfetch the one that will use the usb flash drive or is that readyboost?
Either way, I have heard from many that its really nice if you let it run on a usb flash drive.


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## adrianx (May 20, 2008)

please read that >>>http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-vista-superfetch-and-readyboostanalyzed,1532.html

will solve the problem


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## Deleted member 3 (May 20, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> Can I have a link to your "rulebook" so that I don't violate any other made up rules? Thank you.
> 
> Also, per the official rules: *"If you can't work something out with a moderator a supermod will be happy to try to solve the issue."*
> 
> ...








"view forum leaders"

Any more off topic posts get deleted just as I did with the previous ones.


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