OmegaNemesis28

SuperFetch is a background services that keeps track of which applications you use the most. Then it loads this information in RAM so that programs load faster than they would if the hard disk had to be accessed every time.

The service prioritizes the programs you're currently using over background tasks and simply pre-loads it into memory.

This is the MAIN reason why Vista uses more RAM then XP. Why? SuperFetch tries its best to use as much RAM as it can, because if you have it you might as well make use of it.

If you disable this service, then Windows Vista basically becomes Windows XP in a sense in terms of loading up programs. This may seem like a good thing, but it actually is not. Vista is slow in terms of benchmarks and what not while XP is better. Disabling Superfetch will NOT change this because its all boils down to Microsoft. Whatever bug or main feature in Vista weighs it down to make it slow. So to make it simple, disabling Superfetch will SLOW DOWN Vista pretty much.


ReadyBoost is another service that allows Vista to use flash memory like a USB stick to improve performance. This creates a copy of a portion of the disk cache and places it on the flash memory. All pages on the device are backed by a page on disk.

ReadyBoost uses Windows SuperFetch to pick small amounts of data that are slow to get from the hard disk cache and makes a copy of them on the flash drive. It's important to remember that this is only a copy, so even if the stick is unplugged, no data is lost and the system keeps going. Also, all data on the flash drive is SECURE. (AES-128 Encryption)


Recommended use of 1:1 RAM ration.
Ex: 2GB RAM - use a 2GB Flash Drive

* The USB Key must be at least USB 2.0
* The device must be able to do 3.5 MB/s for 4 KB random reads uniformly across the entire device and 2.5 MB/s for 512 KB random writes uniformly across the device.
* The USB Key has to have at least 64mb of free space
* Max 4GB
* Either a USB Drive or an SD Card.

Just would like to point out that all I did was simple rephrase/state into simpler terms what the Vista Performance Team wrote here.

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Nice, Rep+

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OmegaNemesis28

thanks

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dr4gon

superfetch, one of the reasons vista is superior than xp

...among plenty of other things.

I load so much faster into games because of it and things just start faster because vista is more efficient at using your system's resources.

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OmegaNemesis28

people dont realise this because they dont understand it.

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Micro204

So if I plug in the usb and restart the computer will the readyboost turn on on it own after vista booted?

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OmegaNemesis28

yes it should

I used to use Readyboost on my laptop until it just stopped working - Readyboost wouldnt turn on. I found out couple weeks later that I disabled the service by acident. XD

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jbok

Wouldn't I need a bigger flash drive than 2gb if I have some space taken up?

Hailscott

What if you have 4GB physical memory? Do you still want to use readyboost?

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bdattilo

Readyboost really only makes a difference if you have less than 1GB of RAM. However, I *think* you can use flash memory as a page file, or a scratch disk.

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