Enable or disable the Windows 10, 8, or 7 Superfetch (otherwise known as Prefetch) feature. Superfetch caches data so that it can be immediately available to your application. Sometimes this can affect the performance of certain applications. It tends to not work well with gaming, but can improve performance with business apps.
To modify whether Superfetch is enabled or disabled, you can perform the following steps.
Disable from Services
- Hold the Windows Key, while pressing “R” to bring up the Run dialog box.
- Type “services.msc“, then press “Enter“.
- The Services window displays. Find “Superfetch” in the list.
- Right-click “Superfetch“, then select “Properties“.
- Select the “Stop” button if you wish to stop the service. In the “Startup type” dropdown menu, choose “Disabled“.
Enable or Disable from Registry
- Hold the Windows Key, while pressing “R” to bring up the Run dialog box.
- Type “Regedit“, then press “Enter“.
- The Registry Editor window appears. Navigate to the following location in the Registry.
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- SYSTEM
- CurrentControlSet
- Control
- Session Manager
- MemoryManagement
- PrefetchParameters
- On the right side, double-click on “EnableSuperfetch“. If this value doesn’t exist, right-click the “PrefetchParameters” folder, then choose “New” > “DWORD Value“.
- 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 prefectching of everything
- Select “OK“.
- Close the Registry Editor.
Note: If you disable Superfetch and would like to enable it for certain applications, you can use special switch in the program shortcut: /prefetch:1
FAQ
Where is the prefetch data stored?
By default, prefetch data is stored at “C:\Windows\Prefetch“.
Larry says
I am unable to disable Superfetch. I followed the directions and tried to set to 0. It came back with an error. I tried to enter hex and decimal as well as directly editing the word by replacing the 3 with a 0. All to to avail.
In the services.msc the startup option is grayed out and I have administrator status.
My disk usage is stuck at 100%
Steph says
My Lenovo laptop with windows 10 had been very very slow lately, it had almost permanently almost 100% of CPU and disk usage. Today I uninstalled the Lenovo Companion app and the Lenovo System Interface Foundation app (which was using all the CPU). That brought my CPU down a lot, now it never even reaches 50% in normal usage. I also disabled superfetch and it has apparently solved the disk usage wich now very infrequently has shown 100%, normally it has been very low. Thanks for the help! I hope this fix sticks.
Roberto says
i enabled superfetch, set it too 3
my boot speeded up, installations of games speed up … .
overall speed up … .
and i am on windows10pro … .
on an sshd … .
it definitely works … .
even on windows 10 pro … .
Dan Liston says
VERY NICE!! Thank you. However, I believe there is a piece of instruction missing and a typo at the end of the regedit instructions. Suggested corrections are in square brackets.
On the right side, double-click on “EnableSuperfetch“. If this value doesn’t exist, right-click the “PrefetchParameters” folder, then choose “New” > “DWORD Value“. [Type: EnableSuperfetch and press Enter.]
Give “[EnableSuperfetch]” one of the following values:
Karl says
How long would you have to wait to load a program anyway. 10 levels of disk and memory look-ahead and read cache and still someone comes up with this (miserable) idea.
Vince says
At least twice a day Superfetch would bog down my computer to the point where It would not even function. Disk cache would hover around 96 – 100%. Always at 9:30 am and 3:30 pm…..when I need full use! Tried to reschedule tasks….but you know thats nearly impossible. Finally shut off Superfetch – problem totally solved.
You’d think Windows would know better by now – how to build an operating system that you can actually work with. How lazy are these designers?
fuelie says
I got this laptop used and the ram was stuck at 70-90% so I did abled superfetch and that fixed it – but now I feel cheated
Adam says
It was superfetch for me, thanks so much for the guide!
gamerx says
Great tutorial. Thanks!
Lisa Taylor says
Thanks so much!! Seems my Win 10 has finally allowed me to use internet without rebooting all the time. YEA!!
Dan says
These were shortest most thorough instructions I could find anywhere. I got curious about the process I found in my task manager named ‘Superfetch’ that was eating into my resources. This helped me a lot and I hope that you don’t mind me sending some traffic your way. Thanks