Well Freddie a great summery. I would add that now what are meant as tweaks as such are for the most part user preference. As you say you really don't need to do much on a modern OS unless you have special needs such as on a laptop.  

It's still a good idea in Win 7 to do the basic stuff:

1. Set your computer's power for high performance
If your computer is set to conserve energy, the CPU may not be running at full speed all of the time. This can have a detrimental effect on your computer's audio performance. To set your computer's power for high performance:
- Go to: Start>Control Panel>Power Options
- Choose "High Performance"
- Click the "Change plan settings" button.
- Make sure both power options are set to "Never"

2. Disable system sounds
System sounds can interrupt audio. Ensure that they are disabled by doing the following:
- Go to control panel and select "Sound"
- Go to the sounds tab
- Under sounds scheme, select "No sounds"
- Click "Apply" then, "OK"

3. Enable DMA (Direct memory access) on each IDE channel
This allows data to be transferred directly into the memory and can improve audio performance. To ensure that DMA is enabled:
- Open device manager
- Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers category then double click on each one of the IDE channels
- Under the 'Advanced settings' tab, make sure the 'Enable DMA' box is ticked in device properties
Please note: this only applies to some hardware and if this option is not available, you should not worry about completing this step.

4. Set processor scheduling to "Background services"
This will improve the performance of your audio drivers on your computer. To do this:
- In control panel select "system"
- Go to "Advanced system settings" and then the "Performance" tab
- Set processor scheduling as "Background Services"
- Click "Apply" then "OK"

5. Disable Windows Firewall, anti-virus and spyware software
These should all be disabled to ensure that no interferences occur during audio recording or playback and to ensure that maximum resources are available. To remain secure while your firewall and antivirus disabled, it is advisable to temporarily disconnect from any internet connections when working with audio.

KPerry

Freddie H
That is the correct setting on any DAW or program or audiocard on Vista, Windows 7 or 8. Set to "background" comes from XP time and Matthias Carsten founder and owner of RME. 
RME find that it fixed some problems they had with some older driver and early chips on their cards on XP plattform. It was ONLY with those specific RME cards and ONLY on XP. Audiodriver is not a background task so it doesn't improve nothing. Set the processor scheduling to background task actually can cause dropouts and clicks instead on Windows 7.
    

And there are still some respected people in the DAW world who continue to state that audio drivers are a background task.  Sigh.  Authority <> accuracy!

Respected or not wrong is still wrong. Can it be that they doesn't have any real knowledge?
Ask someone that really know example Noel at Cakewalk or Mark Russinovich that design Windows 7 and 8 at Microsoft Tech..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Russinovich

Mark Russinovich Microsoft Tech.
 
http://www.presonus.com/community/Learn/Optimizing-Windows-Vista-and-Windows-7-for-Music-Production
Visual Effects > Adjust for best Performance (this disables all Aero effects). = AERO
Look at this page. There countless of wrong tweaks and wrong advice that work on XP only but not on Windows 7. They even suggest you to disable Aero too to make your computer work better and faster with audio? We that know at least a little about this; know that it is just a wrong advice.
 
Next bad advice---> disable Virtual memory (or paging files). Wrong again. No it shall be ON and set to let windows manage it regardless how much RAM you have installed. On XP another story.
Advice--->Defrag Often! No! If you use SSD disk that so many do on Windows disk you can even destroy it if you defrag just once.
 
You can make your own conclusions..
 

CakeAlexS


> 5. Disable Windows Firewall, anti-virus and spyware software.
 
Absolutely not. Configure it so it is optimal so it does not get in the way of your DAW. Unless you are running a really low powered PC or you are permanently disconnected and never import anything, there is no need for this and it should not be done.
 

Yes agree!
 
Use this. Its FREE  & safe and no bad impact on the computer.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

"Just wanted to let you know that it is your Focusrite..."
 
Lol. Focusrite rocks, even with the firewire interface . Stable as a rock here.
However...
That was after I went back to the 2.2 driver...  Too many midi glitches with 3.0.
 
FWIW...While I agree with what's already been discussed, when it comes to pops and clicks I always start with my audio interface driver - either update or re-install.
 
V

quibb


"Just wanted to let you know that it is your Focusrite..."
 
Lol. Focusrite rocks, even with the firewire interface . Stable as a rock here.
However...
That was after I went back to the 2.2 driver...  Too many midi glitches with 3.0.
 
FWIW...While I agree with what's already been discussed, when it comes to pops and clicks I always start with my audio interface driver - either update or re-install.
 
V

Totally agree


2 Focusrite interfaces here- one uses Firewire, the other USB. Never had a single problem with either of them

guylemec

I have reverted to non-legacy drivers and all seems ok; I have emailed Focusrite for their advice on which way I should go in this matter. 

Reply from Focusrite:
The legacy FireWire drivers were only required for MixControl 2.4. Now that MixControl 3.0 is released, this should not be necessary. If you can connect using the standard FireWire driver, then please use it, as MixControl 3.0 is not designed for use with the legacy driver.

John


Well Freddie a great summery. I would add that now what are meant as tweaks as such are for the most part user preference. As you say you really don't need to do much on a modern OS unless you have special needs such as on a laptop.  

Thanks my friend!

Here you can see a video that explain more what is under the hood in Windows 7 and later.
It also explain how they cracked the Dispatch lock.


http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Mark-Russinovich-Inside-Windows-7


Windows 8
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138177-under-the-hood-of-windows-8-or-why-desktop-users-should-upgrade-from-windows-7