Enable Ready Boost in win 7?

[Hong]

recently, i edited something in regedit and stop some services in order to increase my windows boot speed.the problem now is i may b stop some services and cause ready boost not available now.i will attach the error message here... any idea? turning on "sysmain"? :sarc:

 

[DeaconFrost]

The biggest mistake anyone can make with Windows 7 is to start disabling services. That was debateable back in Windows XP (ultimately proven false), but was never the case with Vista or Windows 7. So that leaves me with two points:

1. Go back and reenable everything you disabled. Then, follow the best tweaking advice out there: Leave it alone.
2. If you have less than 1 GB of system memory, you won't gain anything from using ReadyBoost anyway.

 

[Hong]

How about if my system ram is 1.5 gb?

my system ram was 512mb before and i upgraded to 1.5gb.. so...ready boost give any speed changes for my laptop? another question is why stopping the services in windows 7 is a big mistake?

 

[cluberti]

For the first, with 512MB ReadyBoost would probably be a big help (because superfetch is pretty much limited, and might as well be off), but with 1.5GB it's debatable - it would depend on how you used your machine and how much disk access you do (remember, ReadyBoost memory isn't used as RAM, it's a disk cache - it helps with superfetch, but it is *not* additional RAM!).

Second, most (not all, but most) non-critical Windows 7 drivers and services are either configured for a manual or delayed start, meaning that for the most part, they will only use resources if you need them. If you are *sure* you won't need a service, you can set it to disabled, but you want to always keep track of the default states in case you have to go back and set them to enabled (or manual, depending on what the service was set to when you disabled it). Win7 is a far more efficient user of memory than even Vista was, and is light-years ahead of XP, so reducing potential functionality to save some resources at 512MB makes sense somewhat, but at 1.5GB or higher it really doesn't (and to be fair, I run Win7 on a few netbooks with 1GB of RAM, and have zero perf issues).

To configure and start SysMain again, run the following two commands from an elevated cmd prompt:
sc config SysMain start= auto
net start SysMain

 

[Maxxwire]

The biggest mistake anyone can make with Windows 7 is to start disabling services. That was debateable back in Windows XP (ultimately proven false), but was never the case with Vista or Windows 7.

My Vista computer has 137 services listed and my Win 7 computer has 164 services. As we know the number of services differ from computer to computer but with the number of kernel threads twice the size of XP or Vista the Win 7 OS has a proliferation of services that never existed in XP some of which are so future forward that the architecture is not yet in place to run some services.

An astute user with a complete guide to Win 7 services from Black Viper's Web Site can competently and confidently disable dozens of completely unneeded services in Win 7 and not harm the performance of the computer in any way.

Just because Hong seems to have made a simple mistake in disabling a service that can be remedied with the click of the mouse does not justify calling the disabling of unneeded services a huge mistake. I agree that caution should be taken, but why should anyone leave dozens of useless and unneeded services running some of which collect data for Microsoft even though the user has opted out of CEIP, or to run a fax machine that doesn't exist or a phantom printer?

To name just a few services I do not ever use there is Bitlocker, Bluetooth, Windows Disc Defragger, Encrypted File System, Game Console Service, Human Interface Device Access, Media Center Extender Service or Parental Controls and so I have disabled their respective services. And the list goes on and on of services that I simply don't need and so I have chosen to disable them which is like taking out the computer's trash because while I am running it the computer it will never ever need these services. How can this be considered a huge mistake?

I am not encouraging anyone to disable any of the 150+ services in their Win 7 computer because it will run quite nicely just as it is, but if you are like many of the Members here at the Windows 7 Forums you don't want unneeded services any more than all the GB's of crapware that manufactures put on the computers they sell because although they do not harm the computer both are also totally useless to an individual's operation of the computer and prevent the computer from running lean and clean as some people prefer to.

~Maxx~
.

 

[Maxxwire]

For the first, with 512MB ReadyBoost would probably be a big help (because superfetch is pretty much limited, and might as well be off), but with 1.5GB it's debatable - it would depend on how you used your machine and how much disk access you do (remember, ReadyBoost memory isn't used as RAM, it's a disk cache - it helps with superfetch, but it is *not* additional RAM!).

Hong- I agree with cluberti that ReadyBoost could help your RAM challenged computer to run better, but make sure to get as fast a USB Flash Drive as you can 30 MBps read speed would be good to shoot for and there are several out there that can do that.

~Maxx~
.

 

[Hong]

Hey guys, thanks lot for giving me suggestion!

if i use readyboost, what is the size that i should adjust for my usb pendrive for a better or obvious performance?

 

[Hong]

For the first, with 512MB ReadyBoost would probably be a big help (because superfetch is pretty much limited, and might as well be off), but with 1.5GB it's debatable - it would depend on how you used your machine and how much disk access you do (remember, ReadyBoost memory isn't used as RAM, it's a disk cache - it helps with superfetch, but it is *not* additional RAM!).

Second, most (not all, but most) non-critical Windows 7 drivers and services are either configured for a manual or delayed start, meaning that for the most part, they will only use resources if you need them. If you are *sure* you won't need a service, you can set it to disabled, but you want to always keep track of the default states in case you have to go back and set them to enabled (or manual, depending on what the service was set to when you disabled it). Win7 is a far more efficient user of memory than even Vista was, and is light-years ahead of XP, so reducing potential functionality to save some resources at 512MB makes sense somewhat, but at 1.5GB or higher it really doesn't (and to be fair, I run Win7 on a few netbooks with 1GB of RAM, and have zero perf issues).

To configure and start SysMain again, run the following two commands from an elevated cmd prompt:
sc config SysMain start= auto
net start SysMain

Hi, i finally found that i disabled the Superfetch before... but i watched a video on Youtube that told me that disabling superfetch can increase windows 7 performance, is it true?

 

[Maxxwire]

if i use readyboost, what is the size that i should adjust for my usb pendrive for a better or obvious performance?

4 GB is the largest that ReadyBoost can use although Microsoft is trying to increase that amount so go with 4 GB.

Like I said do try to get a USB Flash Drive that is capable of over 30 MBps sequential read time.

~Maxx~
.

 

[pacinitaly]

I don't show ready boost on my win7 laptop:shock:

 

[nailgunner]

if i use readyboost, what is the size that i should adjust for my usb pendrive for a better or obvious performance?

4 GB is the largest that ReadyBoost can use although Microsoft is trying to increase that amount so go with 4 GB.

Like I said do try to get a USB Flash Drive that is capable of over 30 MBps sequential read time.

~Maxx~
.

That's not true for Windows 7. Per Microsoft, you can use 8 devices for a max of 256gb for ReadyBoost. See at link here ReadyBoost - Windows 7 features - Microsoft Windows

 

[DeaconFrost]

An astute user with a complete guide to Win 7 services from Black Viper's Web Site can competently and confidently disable dozens of completely unneeded services in Win 7 and not harm the performance of the computer in any way.

Let's just say you are about 5-7 years late to that party. There's a reason why he's known as QuackViper, and why posting a link to his sites ruins a person's credibility. Yes, it is true he has updated his website some to remove some of his trouble advice, but his credibility has been completely gone for quite some time.

How can this be considered a huge mistake?

Because of dependencies, and due to the fact that these "tweaks" have been tested, retested, and then retested again until the reviewers have been blue in the face. Disabling services provides you with no gain whatsoever in terms of performance. It's honestly been this stale, and rehashed FAR too many times to even go into a big discussion. If you don't believe me, head over the HardForums.com, create a thread suggesting people follow BlackViper's advice, and wait to see what happens. You'll have developers from Microsoft posting links and suggested tests to prove that disabling services provides no benefit. it is to the point that the mere mention of BlackViper gets a person flamed. I could even give you the username of a guy who wrote several articles on testing methods, which were all confirmed by Anandtech as well.

but if you are like many of the Members here at the Windows 7 Forums you don't want unneeded services any more than all the GB's of crapware that manufactures put on the computers they sell because although they do not harm the computer both are also totally useless to an individual's operation of the computer and prevent the computer from running lean and clean as some people prefer to.

Somewhat incorrect. If you are like most enthusiasts or astute users, as you say, you'll know this has been rehashed to death, to the point it is now considered fact. I know that sounds harsh, and I'm not going to make any assumptions about your age, skill level, experience in computers, etc. All I'm going to tell you is that concept of disabling services in the name of performance or saving resources was utterly and completely debunked in XP, and even moreso in Vista and Windows 7.

However, you do bring up a good point in your last paragraph. ALL of my comments are referring to Windows services, not 3rd party apps. Most OEMs junk up their systems with unneeded crap that can be removed or disabled. That's why any enthusiast that buys an OEM system will wipe it clean and do a fresh install themselves. For those not wanting to go that route, apps like Revo Uninstaller and PC Decrapifier. Cleaning up 3rd party crap is always a good idea, and can definitely inprove performance, especially boot times. Ever troubleshoot a computer that has 4 different IM apps set to run at startup?

 

[cluberti]

Hi, i finally found that i disabled the Superfetch before... but i watched a video on Youtube that told me that disabling superfetch can increase windows 7 performance, is it true?

If you saw it on YouTube, it must be true . In all seriousness, the only time I would consider disabling superfetch was if I had 512MB of RAM, or if I was using an SSD for my main hard disk (Win7 already does the latter if it detects your SSD properly). Superfetch actually makes Win7 *faster* by attempting to cache in RAM your most frequently accessed things from the hard disk, to speed up application load times. There are very few scenarios where disabling superfetch would improve performance, and all of those would be applicable only if you had less than 1GB of RAM in your machine.

 

[cluberti]

I don't show ready boost on my win7 laptop:shock:

Correct - the service is actually called "SysMain", and it's not a visible service (there are quite a few services that are on the system and can be found in the registry, but not in the services UI). You can find it's configuration under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SysMain.

 

[pacinitaly]

I don't show ready boost on my win7 laptop:shock:

Correct - the service is actually called "SysMain", and it's not a visible service (there are quite a few services that are on the system and can be found in the registry, but not in the services UI). You can find it's configuration under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SysMain.

is it there?

 

[cluberti]

Yes, that is it.

 

[andjayik]

So with a ssd on my sysytem and 4gb of ram is a 8gb patriot usb drive ready for boost gonna make anything faster for me or should i diss conect it?

 

[DeaconFrost]

So with a ssd on my sysytem and 4gb of ram is a 8gb patriot usb drive ready for boost gonna make anything faster for me or should i diss conect it?

You have way more RAM than you would need to have to even consider ReadyBoost. I can think of plenty of good uses for that flash drive, and not one of them involves ReadyBoost.

 

[Maxxwire]

All I'm going to tell you is that concept of disabling services in the name of performance or saving resources was utterly and completely debunked in XP, and even moreso in Vista and Windows 7.

Unfortunately you are several years late in telling the 1,000's upon 1,000's of us who's computers have benefited from cutting the massive amount of totally unneeded services in Vista and Win 7 many of which are scheduled to run daily collecting data for Microsoft because we already know better and we greatly value our privacy.

~Maxx~
.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Unfortunately you are several years late in telling the 1,000's upon 1,000's of us who's computers have benefited from cutting the massive amount of totally unneeded services in Vista and Win 7 many of which are scheduled to run daily collecting data for Microsoft because we already know better and we greatly value our privacy.

I'll make a suggestion. Instead of treating this as a my opinion versus your opinion...do some of your own reading on the subject. The facts are out there, and have been for quite some time. I'd be more than happy to find you some links with credible, valid sources. Don't do it because of this "debate". Do it as a learning opportunity for yourself.

I can't stress it enough, that disabling Windows services isn't going to yield any performance gains. It's been proven time and time again, over and over, ad nauseum. I'm not here posting this to "win". I'm posting this information so facts are there for people wanting to know them. If you really don't buy into the facts yet, I'll be happy to dig up some links for you.