Windows 7 tweaks

I tried to implement some of the tweaks recommended in this thread, but have encountered some problems:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1862515

1. When turning off the indexing to the drives, should I also turn off the indexing to the folders and subfolders?

2. The tweak made using the Nvidia control panel requires adding Sonar to the list; does this mean add the executable program title, which in this case is Sonar X1 Producer?

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

I strongly agree with CJ and say CJ is mostly correct when he says newer PCs don't need those tweaks from that thread.

But I would still use the power management tweak (display and hard disk always on), core parking tweak, no Windows sound tweak, and the SONAR thread scheduling (2 value) tweak. :)

thomasabarnes


I strongly agree with CJ and say CJ is mostly correct when he says newer PCs don't need those tweaks from that thread.

But I would still use the power management tweak (display and hard disk always on), core parking tweak, no Windows sound tweak, and the SONAR thread scheduling (2 value) tweak. :)

Good advice; my system has also been working perfectly, but I'm always looking for an edge. I went ahead and added the core parking tweak, and the thread scheduling tweak; the rest of the tweaks you noted were applied a few months ago.

Guitslinger

thomasabarnes

I strongly agree with CJ and say CJ is mostly correct when he says newer PCs don't need those tweaks from that thread.

But I would still use the power management tweak (display and hard disk always on), core parking tweak, no Windows sound tweak, and the SONAR thread scheduling (2 value) tweak. :)

Good advice; my system has also been working perfectly, but I'm always looking for an edge. I went ahead and added the core parking tweak, and the thread scheduling tweak; the rest of the tweaks you noted were applied a few months ago.

http://www.presonus.com/media/pdf/presonus_optimizing_windows.pdf

http://www.sweetwater.com...d=vista+optimizedfalse

It's recommended that you have at least 16GB RAM before turning off virtual memory.

I have an i5 650 with 4GB RAM and did all of the tweaks in the links above and saw a very noticeable improvement in my DAW's performance with one exception ... I saw no improvement whatsoever when I did the core parking tweak.

Tweaking Windows isn't what it used to be. IMO you should err on the side of less tweaks. Too many people dive into these tweak guides (many outdated or containing erroneous or questionable suggestions) and end up having problems.

And unless you have a seriously under-powered computer or are always struggling on the edge of your CPU performance, many suggested tweaks provide questionable value.

I don't agree with adjusting virtual memory settings, turning off Aero (unless you have a very old video card), and I don't even recommend people run out and change processing to background services.

On a modern machine running Win7 there is very little you need to do to make the machine suitable for work. That's not to say that some tweaks don't hold potential value.

The big thing is to just not put things on the machine not related to what you need for a DAW. And check the things that are there and make sure they aren't doing things on their own. But this is best done with each item and not by turning off some big blanket service. Yes there are some services you can shut down, but on modern systems, the resources they use are generally and arguably negligible.

The other big thing is to make sure drivers are updated. This isn't a tweak - it's just being on top of your system. And yes some hardware can be disabled if it's acting up and showing this in a DPC latency test or manifesting itself some other way. This is usually a wireless network interface. Most other devices don't generally cause any disturbance to audio and realistically, don't need to be disabled. Sometimes onboard audio devices can be troublesome but frankly I haven't seen this problem in I don't know how long, especially when using ASIO drivers (as the DAW ignores other audio devices).

So yeah:

1) Make sure you have latest drivers for everything
2) Check your DPC latency and probably disable wireless devices
3) Don't install stuff you don't need
4) Make sure installed items aren't performing unnecessary tasks or performing unnecessary monitoring. (if you follow step 3 there shouldn't be much of this).
5) If you feel like you need more performance from your machine or have some time on your hands experiment with turning off additional services.

Win7 starts fairly lean as is. So unless you've installed lots of things on your DAW, or it came with lots of things installed (hint: remove it), keep the tweaks to a minimum, especially if you aren't sure exactly what you are doing, and just get on with making music.

FWIW: I run:

1) Win7 x64 Pro fully patched with all updates
2) a slightly service tweaked OS with MS Security Essentials and Windows Firewall enabled.
2) Connected via ethernet to wireless bridge so no wireless network device installed
4) Fanless video card and Aero enabled
5) User Account control disabled (only because I find it annoying)
6) I use SSD so I don't defrag.

That's it. So, yes be mindful of your system and keep it lean, but be very wary of over-tweaking. It can cause stability problems and suck up valuable time that could be spent making music. :-) 

One last thing: If you are the tweaky type and want to experiment and squeeze every last CPU cycle out of your system (nothing wrong with that at all), just be mindful of what you've changed so you can change it back if need be. Making a bunch of untested tweaks at one time is probably not a good idea. Try something and then test its effects. Take note of changes so they can be undone if your system starts acting up.

Yea, the power managment is a must. I forgot about that one. 

Hi Brandon:

Your message number 9 is very well said. :)

I agree strongly.
 
EDIT:
 
Oh yeah, the wireless network adapter is usually always problematic when enabled on a DAW system, so that's one I had forgotton to mention.

CJaysMusic


Yea, the power managment is a must. I forgot about that one. 

Haha CJ.
 
Also, good to see you, man. :)

While latest drivers are usually the best, it's not always true. The current drivers for A&H's ZED-R16 aren't that great. They introduce a 5 or 6 second delay after pressing play. Roll back a driver version and all is well......

Bub

Never ends does it? :) 

  Nope - for better or for worse it doesn't seem to. 

Not letting the OS decide the size of the page file has always seemed silly to me. If the OS needs more space so????

But setting a limit means some data in the page file will need to be deleted to put other data in its place. I figger this takes more time than just allocating some unused space.

Of course the page file should be disabled for the audio data disk.

j

JM24, when you have an SSD, you must turn off defrag.

My questions to Brandon were rhetorical.  To call attention to the fact that many services and such that used to be only manual in XP and wV, and now auto started.

"Fine Tuning" for w7 is different than previous OS's, but stuff still needs to be done.

MS and other big companies have responded to bigger drives and faster processors and more ram with not optimizing code. This has often been described as bloat. And they have increased the number of background utilities used to provide support to the unknowning new users.

(And screen size: the insane ribbon in office programs. Less useful, more filling.)

W7 has all kinds of stuff doing things: power anaylysis, performance analysis, defragging, updating,...  without explanation or permission. And brandname computers have a giant **** pile of utilities, and demoware, and trialware, that are started by default with nag screens. 

Review of all startup programs, including scheduled tasks, is a must.

And so on.

J

jm24


Brandon:  when you write you do not defrag should we assume you have the defragger disabled and/or the schedule disabled?

And since we need a pdf reader should we not disable auto updating for such? And quicktime, and, and java,... so we are not interrupted during working?

I also think stuff like the windows media player sharing service are potential malware entryways, as well as useless.

j

I would say deal with each of these items independently. To take each example separately:

1) PDF - disable auto-updating. But it's not like it's going to blow your machine up if it were enabled.
2) QT - I try like hell not to put this slow, annoying piece of software on my computer. If necessary to install it, I disable it using msconifg.
3) Java - If it's present on the machine (it is on mine) it's probably good to tell it not to update automatically. But not the end of the world if it does. It's relatively infrequent and depending on your situation, may never pose any kind of real-world problem.

So yes you need to deal with the software you install - but these are not OS tweaks. It's just managing the software you install not to do more than you want it to. And honestly, while an auto-update "back in the day" could cast clouds on your otherwise sunny existence, in reality it doesn't seem the problem it used to be. Unless you are in a live situation, doing critical large-ish multitrack recording or otherwise using your machine to it's near-capacity under critical or client-based situations, you'll probably never notice it. Most updates don't seem to occur when the system is idle as well.

The other thing to do is schedule updates, if the software allows. Then they can be done automatically and yet at a time in which it would be highly unlikely to be using the DAW (7am? ).

And there's two sides to the coin: The problem with doing everything manually, is that you sometimes forget to do it and can quickly end up with outdated software on your computer. For me, I'm just not diligent enough I suppose to remember to sit down and manually check for updates on everything I run. And I like to be up-to-date, so for some I let it happen and I get by just fine with very good performance and no update-related interruptions that I can recall.

But I also keep to only what I need for my DAW. Nothing extra. That seems to be the key. It's less things to manage and the most you'll have to do is tell a few things to not auto-update. But even if they do auto-update, it's not like the old days where it's going to really affect you heavily. At least that's been my experience.

To me it seems like keeping known good drivers up-to-date, installing only what you need, and making sure you have low DPC latency are the real keys to getting a working system. Leaning  the auto-starts and services is secondary and should be done with a keen eye on how each is effecting your system. Some services, yes, are kind of no-brainers. Although, admittedly, it would be hard to tell a computer that had Print Spooler disabled from one that didn't. 

"riojazz"
JM24, when you have an SSD, you must turn off defrag.

Yes, correct, but this should be done automatically by the OS (Win 7 that is). This is a Microsoft documented feature when dealing with SSDs. Just a heads-up.