A very neat feature of Windows Vista is SuperFetch… this service learns which applications you use most and preloads them into memory! And, as you might know, this way you can reduce paging and loading times. Thelazyadmin writes that this is similar to the prefetch used in XP however, Microsoft has come up with a very complex prioritization scheme that will differentiate which applications you use and when you use them.
What SuperFetch also allows you to do is insert a USB thumbdrive and use it to cache, rather than paging to the hard drive. Hard drives are much slower than …read more

Microsoft is promising that computers run on Windows Vista will start up and shut down in 2 – 3 seconds. The official site reports :
Windows Vista computer starts and shuts down as quickly and reliably as a television, typically within 2 to 3 seconds. Windows Vista processes login scripts and startup programs and services in the background so you can start working right away. You’ll also shut down and restart your computer less often by using the New Sleep state, a simple one-click on and off experience which not only reduces power consumption, but also delivers and protects user data.
A …read more

Getting some attention at the PDC is a Windows Vista facility called Superfetch, which monitors both the data and applications accessed over time and preloads them into memory. This contributes to faster access all round.
“Superfetch works great if you have a reasonable amount of memory, and it works fantastic if you have boatloads of memory,” said Jim Alchin, Microsoft’s Group Vice President for Windows Platforms.
But what if memory is not available “in boatloads”? Now users can add to virtual memory by plugging a memory key into a USB socket.
VNUnet reports : “The USB option offers the ability to upgrade the …read more