How to Fix/Disable Service Host SuperFetch on Windows 10?

Service Host SuperFetch is a feature in windows that when enabled, increases the efficiency of the system by reducing the booting time of the system or loading time of the programs or applications that need to be accessed. There are many thoughts on whether SuperFetch is useful or not. Here in this article, topics like the concept of SuperFetch, the working of SuperFetch, if it is necessary and how to disable it are discussed.

What is Service Host SuperFetch?

Windows SuperFetch was originally introduced with Windows Vista. Basically, Service Host SuperFetch is a process designed to analyze the system user is using, mainly the RAM usage. This process helps generate a profile of the programs and applications a user uses most of the times.  SuperFetch, as the name suggests, is a process that analyses the use of applications by user and loads the elements of most often used applications on RAM beforehand so that when the user needs to access that particular application, it will load way faster than other rarely used applications. This feature is mainly for hard drives and not much for solid state drive (SSD). If the system has SSD, SuperFetch will be available by default but will not be as effective as it would be for hard drives. If a user is using a system with mixed drives, SuperFetch will improve the speed of hard drive and will not interfere with the SSD.

How does it work?

SuperFetch mainly serves two purposes, decreasing boot time and making sure that the applications which are frequently used by the users, load more efficiently. SuperFetch analyses user’s data about the programs and applications user frequently uses and makes a profile based on that so as to load those applications on RAM in order to increase the efficiency.

When windows are booting, the same file can be needed to be accessed at different times. SuperFetch creates a trace file where the data of these files that are needed to be accessed is recorded which includes details like which files are accessed and at what time those files are being accessed. This helps in future during windows booting, as SuperFetch loads the files beforehand and the booting speed is reduced thus increasing efficiency. SuperFetch also makes sure that the files are stored in the same order they will be accessed during the boot process, by interacting with defragmenter. This task is performed by SuperFetch every three days and then in /Windows/Pretech/Layout.ini, the specific file layout is stored. SuperFetch loads frequently used applications in main memory and whenever the user needs those applications, it becomes a faster process to access them. SuperFetch keeps track of how and when the user is using programs and applications and then loads them to save time.

Is Service Host SuperFetch Necessary?

Users tend to prefer faster loading of programs or applications and that is what SuperFetch provides. SuperFetch reduces the booting time of the system and loading time of programs and applications. According to many experts, Service Host SuperFetch is beneficial for efficiency. SuperFetch runs and operates in the background of all the other processes that go on in the system. It also creates data about the applications that are being used and for how long or at what time they are being accessed which can help in knowing the mannerisms of the user i.e. how a user is using the system and which applications he or she is using the most. SuperFetch is not the most needed feature in windows and there are many users who disable it but if it does not occupy larger space in the storage and does not cause many problems, SuperFetch is recommended to be kept enabled in the system.

How to Disable Service Host SuperFetch on Windows 10

As mentioned above, SuperFetch runs in the background, which also means that it takes some space in CPU and RAM. Even though SuperFetch is designed to make the system and the booting process more efficient, while loading the data or files on RAM, SuperFetch itself can be the reason of slow booting as some amount of time is required to load the programs on RAM which means the system may require the same amount of time with or without SuperFetch. Gamers have observed performance issues with enabled superfetch and the reason is suspected to be RAM heavy games and superfetch using RAM at the same time. Due to these issues, many users opt for disabling superfetch in windows 10.

Disabling SuperFetch in Windows Services:

1. Press Windows Key + “R” and then click the corresponding app entry in the results list.
2. After typing “Services.msc” into the “Open” box, select the “OK” button, or press Enter.
3. Right click “SuperFetch” in the list that will be seen and click on “Stop,” from the resulting menu.
4. If the user wants to stop it from starting again after the next boot up of Windows, right-click again and select “Properties”.
5. Go to the drop-down menu next to “Startup Type,” and select “Disabled.”

Disabling SuperFetch in the registry:

1. Press Windows Key + “R” and then click the corresponding app entry in the results list.
2. In the “Open” box, type “Regedit” and click on “OK” or press Enter key.
3. In the registry editor, navigate through HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE—System—CurrentControlSet—Control—Session Manager—MemoryManagement, and then select “PrefetchParameters.”
4. Double click on the “Enabled SuperFetch” value to open it.
5. By changing its value to zero, the user will be disabling SuperFetch in the registry. Then click on “OK” and close the registry editor.

Disabling SuperFetch using command prompt:

1. Press Windows Key and type “cmd”.
2. Right click on command prompt when it is seen and click on “Run as administrator”.
3. In the command prompt window, type “net.exe stop superfetch and then press Enter key. In the new line type, “sc sysmain start=diabled” and press Enter key.