Please point me to a good computer OPTIMIZATION thread

You may not get as many replies or leads as you would have in the past because Windows 7 is pretty good out of the box.  I rarely tweak anything anymore, and I used to be a faithful follower of Black Viper and other similar optimizations.  They were necessary to squeeze performance from Windows XP, but not now.
 
About disabling the wireless adapter, wireless networking is a known problem with some systems, which you can confirm with the DPC Latency Checker (except for those who are running Windows 8, which isn't yet supported). 
 
The only tweak I do now is to alter the custom power scheme so everything is Always On.
 
One more thing, a blast from the past: there has been discussion about changing the Priority to Background Services, but this is not recommended by Cakewalk's Noel Borthwick.
 

Windows 8 and 8.1 are even better from a performance standpoint.
 
I no longer do any tweaking for any of my DAW software.  I don't even mess around with changing pagefile specifications or disabling internet or antivirus.
 
But I now have a 6-core processor with 64 GB RAM, so I have lots of resources available all the time.  The only thing I still do is keep separate disk partitions, but not for performance reasons.  Mostly just for organizational purposes and to keep my backups from taking three days to complete.  :)

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/knowledge-base/show/752/
 
I like this one......
 
Zap!

IMO the tweaks and optimisations are mostly a thing of the past.

+1 to the posts about not tweaking. Depending on what you do with your machine (and programs loaded), about the only thing I would recommend is running "msconfig" and checking what is in the "Services" (Hide all Microsoft services) and "Startup" tabs. For me, hardware services I leave running (unless utility only), and software services are up to your discretion.
 
Win7 is very stable without tweaking otherwise... the custom power setting of "always on" is a good recommendation as well.
 
 

SUBSONIC:  What method do you use for turning off services?  Do you manually go into msconfig each time you run Sonar?  I'm hoping there's an automated process that can be set up once, then run easily before a Sonar sessino.

James: tell me the make and model of your motherboard ... same for the video and what memory are you running .

jb101 : that's a total joke !

Experiment, it's what got us out of caves and into warm houses. As far as I know and contrary to belief, there is no PC tweak that will leave you as just a pair of smoking boots!.... Can the same be said for your PC? ;-) .... Also it really depends on your definition of 'tweak'.

Yes, I'm sorry for my outburst.
 
I just think that you should try running your system as it is, and, if it works well, then don't bother with all the "tweaks" or "optimisations" that people suggest.
 
Power management, disable wireless card, etc. may be enough.
 
If not, then look at the alternatives.

I do not agree with Sweetwater.
"1. This helps alleviate poor hard drive performance.  In Device Manager open the Disk Drives menu.
2. For all of your hard drives, right click on the drive name and select Properties
3. Go to the Policies tab and check the boxes to “Enable write caching” and “Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing”"
 
Well, if you ever lose power and you do not have an un-interruptible power supply, data will be scrambled on the hard disk if working on something using the hard disk and the power goes off. (not a controlled shut-down of the computer).
 
" Go to the Startup Tab and choose ‘disable all’ in the bottom right corner.
** NOTE: after doing this Pro Tools users must check the box for “Digidesign MME Binder”**

3. Next, navigate to the Services tab.  Check the box at the bottom to “hide all Microsoft Services”
4. Choose “Disable All” on the bottom right corner.  **NOTE: Pro Tools users must check the boxes for “Digidesign MME Refresh Service”, “digiSPTIService” and “PACE License Services”"
 
Well, you do not have to disable all services or processes in Control Panel -> Adminstrative Tools -> System Configuration. There you can decide what to start up even using a  Selective Startup on the General Tab after
unchecking what you do not want to start up on boot-up of the computer. You also have Safe Boot on the Boot Tab but that usually is not needed. Services and Startup is where you uncheck what you do not want to start up when the computer starts. Not all of that has to be unchecked and you would not probably want to.
 
"We recommend AVG or Microsoft Security Center."
 
I do not recommend AVG and use Avira which can be turned-off with the real-time protection if wanting to disable it while playing a game or recording music - in which case on my computer it does not interfere at all. AVG can not be turned off and disabled with the later versions.
 
Be smart and only do what needs to be done, a little more memory not starting up start-up programs when the computer boots are usually only programs that may look for an update, and that also can be set when the program updates and set just to notify you so you can do the update when you want to, and like Windows Update, turn it off and do it manually when you want to - because the second Tuesday of the month is when Microsoft usually has updates for the OS and whatever else it puts on your computer.
 
Other start-up programs only seem to make the computer faster like Office startup or the herd that followed Microsoft doing that in the first place and well those do not have to be started up when the computer starts, and only take a few seconds more to start the program at any time if you even use the program that much on the computer in the first and last place.
 
Well, there may be some other stuff but mainly that is it, and use common sense or set up safe boot on the Boot Tab and use Minimal Boot if you want to try any of that, but Selective Startup should show up on the General Tab of the System Configuration in the Adminstrative Tools in Control Panel. The rest is looking through your computer and knowing what all those Control Panel Icons are for and how to change your computer to the way that you want to use it.
 

So...
 
+1 for thread #6 - that's a good article by Native Instruments, not sure about the other article to be honest.
 
Anyway in addition this is what I suggest...
 
Make sure windows update is up to date, even the optional stuff (within reason, you don't want bing toolbar).
 
Make sure your drivers are up to date, and check for firmware updates.
 
Check your scheduled tasks and disable or reduce the ones you don't need:
http://windows.microsoft....ule-task#1TC=windows-7
 
Defrag once a month.
 
When running antivirus (recommended) exclude these folders as per Microsoft recommendations:
C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs\res*.log
C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs\res*.jrs
C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs\edb.chk
C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs\Tmp.edb
c:\windows\Security\Database\*.edb
c:\windows\Security\Database\*.sdb
c:\windows\Security\Database\*.log
c:\windows\Security\Database\*.chk
c:\windows\Security\Database\*.jrs
C:\ProgramData\NTUser.pol
C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Registry.pol
In addition I recommend excluding the Cakewalk Content and Project folders.

Also disable Intel Speedstep or AMD equivalant such as PowerNow and disable CPU throttling in Windows.
 
Do not change the Priority to Background Services...
 
StarTekh:
>Want me to keep going ?
 
Sure check out post #16 of that thread you quoted/commented upon later (#24 I believe ), so we can both use google!
We need more info anyway...
Anyway I jest, good luck to the OP.

Poster didn't say what computer specs he has... Win 7 & 8 are pretty good  - I agree, no need to tweak, BUT u want performance?  reinstall 64 bit on SSD with plenty of RAM!

Thanks to all- my apologies for not posting mobo, etc.  I typically don't know those things off the top of my head, but I will check and post them (I'm not at the studio currently).   I had it custom built- i7, 16gbRam, Windows 7 (Developer's Edition).  I've had it over a year and it's been great.  I use it with Profire 2626 and Octane via adat.  Lately I've had some crashes (since latest X3d) and performance seemed better with X3b.  It's nothing major, but I haven't kept up with optimizations (it seems they aren't as necessary today).   I do, of course, use msconfig/startup to make sure the nonsense isn't running.  
 
 
 
 

+1 For the Sweetwater Optimization Guide.
 
I built a new computer (win 7 64)  to install X2 Producer about a year ago.  
 
I had a lot of click and pop issues , shut downs , resets etc.  Tried numerous different  trouble shooting fixes, to no avail.
 
After i went through the steps of this guide, everything concerning those issues were gone, i was a bit surprised that after all kinds of trouble shootings that this cleared it all up.
 
IMHO, if you are not in the middle of an important project, it can't hurt to give this a shot.
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/pc-optimization-guide-for-windows-7/