How To Speed Up Windows 10 To The Max
Through this article, we will see how to speed up Windows 10 running on normally equipped machines that need an extra boost. Microsoft first introduced this feature to use a USB drive or SD card as a memory cache in Windows Vista in the form of a feature known as ReadyBoost.
The functionality was also inherited from Windows 7 and later, but with the ability to configure more than one USB drive for ReadyBoost.
So what is ReadyBoost in Windows?
ReadyBoost is a useful feature to speed up Windows 10 to the maximum by storing application files and data as a cache on a USB drive. This disk caching is useful in case your system is running a slow hard drive. ReadyBoost works with USB drives, SD cards and CF cards.
However, it may not be able to deliver considerable performance on newer hardware. So if you have a very slow Windows 10 due to old hardware, you can speed up Win 10 by using ReadyBoost and the USB drive.
Why use ReadyBoost? To help the RAM chip
ReadyBoost had to integrate RAM in the case of slow hard drives. Almost a decade ago, when the feature was launched, flash-based USB drives could offer a faster alternative when transferring data to and from RAM.
This is because hard drives read data using a mechanical arm which is not the case with the flash drive. Therefore, hard drives are faster when performing sequential data reads but lag behind flash drives while performing non-sequential data read operations.
The problem has continued to diminish in the case of modern magnetic drives which are faster and run at around 7,200 RPM or higher. You won’t be able to speed up Windows using ReadyBoost on machines with faster hard drives.
How does ReadyBoost work?
Now ReadyBoost is a feature that allows the system to store the required data on external media for some time. The real driving force is SuperFetch, a disk cache management system in Windows that speeds up the system. It’s another gem that comes with Windows Vista. However, there was a precursor on Windows XP called PreFetcher.
What is SuperFetch?
SuperFetch runs some algorithms to analyze your habits and automatically loads relevant data into the main memory (RAM). For example, if Chrome is the first application you use when starting your PC, SuperFetch will load Chrome files into RAM and reduce startup times.
Mostly, SuperFetch creates a temporary cache on the main memory itself. Therefore, using ReadyBoost can be an advantage if the system is low on RAM. Additionally, the mechanical arm of the unit contributes to degraded performance.
Supertech works with ReadyBoost to speed up Windows and decides which items should go into the ReadyBoost cache on the USB drive and finally into RAM. Copy the data to the cache file stored in the root folder of the USB drive.
Now, the cache thus created is used only in the case of non-sequential operations. When it comes to sequential operations, SuperFetch uses files on the hard drive instead. Therefore, ReadyBoost only kicks into action when Window’s performance can be improved. This also means that you can take out the USB stick whenever you want, as there are original files on the hard drive.
How to speed up Windows 10 PCs using ReadyBoost?
As mentioned above, you can use a USB drive, SD card, or CF card to improve the performance of the Windows 10 operating system.
For SD cards, please note that you are using the internal SD card reader on the device. The external card reader may not be as effective as the internal one. Also, it would be better if you format the USB drive or SD card before setting up ReadyBoost. However, the decision is yours.
Now, here are the steps to set up ReadyBoost on your USB drive and speed up Windows 10 (for older versions the options may differ slightly):
- Connect the USB drive to your Windows 10 PC.
- Go to My Computer or This PC.
- Now, right-click on the USB drive to open the context menu and select Properties.
- In the ReadyBoost tab, you can allocate space for the ReadyBoost function or use the full USB drive.
- Select Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost if you will not be using the USB drive for any other purpose. Otherwise, select Use this device radio button and use the slider to reserve space for the feature.
- Please click on OK to finish. Windows will take some time to configure the USB drive.
So, this way you can speed up Windows 10 using ReadyBoost on PCs with few resources.
