jb101
With modern computers there is little need to optimise.  In fact, it often makes it worse.
Change power settings, make sure nothing goes to sleep, and you're done.
If you have any problems, you can disable wireless card.  I only tend to do this whilst doing important tracking.
Beware of a lot of the optimisation tweaks.  Many of them were needed under older OS, but since Windows 7 they are not. 
I think quite a few of people's problems stem from tweaks they have done.  There is no need.

+ 1000000 !!!

jb101
With modern computers there is little need to optimise.  In fact, it often makes it worse.
 

This is true with modern computers. Judging by the ops system specs he should not need any tweaking at all, but with older systems it has been my experience that the tweaks do help and they have not made my system worse. In fact they have stopped drop outs and freed up system resources on my machine. If someone is running an I5 or an I7 they should not need to do any tweaks as there is plenty of power under the hood.

Since lots of windows and other programs are now set to start via a scheduled task, I disable a bunch of the completely useless bits:
 machine evaluation
  user groove stuff
    sending the results
 auto defrag:    got caught by this one when working after 1 am.
 disk eval
 
And fur shure ALL updaters: windows, av, java, adobe,...  and never install any toolbars, which also want to update, as does chrome (cannot disable this, way annoying)
 
 
Most people never notice this stuff. But I suspect a bunch of hangs and crashes, and momentary slowness, are the result of these tasks/processes.

markyzno

wizard71
There are tweaks you can do in BIOS that help.

If it aint broke dont try and fix it 
 
Changing BIOS settings could have devastating results if you arent 100% sure about what you are doing.
 

+1 to that!
The *only* thing that comes to mind is if you use an SSD (solid state drive)... there are some things you need to understand (and avoid) with SSD's in Win 7. I do not see you have an SDD called out in your signature though, so just bear this in mind *if* you ever install one. Aside from that, I would avoid "tweaking" things.
 
However... I did notice "X1c" in your signature and was curious why I did not see "X1d" there...
 
Michael

jm24
Since lots of windows and other programs are now set to start via a scheduled task, I disable a bunch of the completely useless bits:
 machine evaluation
  user groove stuff
    sending the results
 auto defrag:    got caught by this one when working after 1 am.
 disk eval
 
And fur shure ALL updaters: windows, av, java, adobe,...  and never install any toolbars, which also want to update, as does chrome (cannot disable this, way annoying)
 
 
Most people never notice this stuff. But I suspect a bunch of hangs and crashes, and momentary slowness, are the result of these tasks/processes.

Thanks mate. This is what I'm talking about guys, programs running in the background that can be closed down to optimise your Sonar use. I heard there was a tutorial on how to do this?

Well as the OP's original question was 'how to' and not 'should I' then he should be pointed in the direction he asked about. There is absolutely no doubt that tweaking a system improves performance. It just depends on what you think tweaking consists of. If you don't think running a lean and well tuned machine aka tonydeans points above for instance then you are obviously very lucky people with exceptionally stable systems and bags more power than you need.
It is certainly true that you shouldn't mess about with things you don't understand, but if tweaking is so pointless for today's modern systems then overclocking would be a waste of time for a start. And maybe it is but it's just fun to squeeze as much as you can out of what you have. And some of us don't have an awful lot.
Bibs

Download the Sweetwater's guide for tweaking your computer for recording if you want more information. Here is the link
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/pc-optimization-guide-for-windows-7/
 
Just a bit of advice. be careful if you are turning off windows apps that run in the background, for example shutting off remote assistance may be good but shutting off remote registry will keep your system from booting. This is why some people say use caution. If you don't know what certain windows apps do when you look at them as an administrator then don't shut them off as you can mess things up.
 
Things like typing msconfig from the  the search or run command will bring up an over all view. from there you can shut down things like google update, apple update apps, or any other service that runs in the background. You won't use them while recording and they do take up system resources.
 
Under msconfig click on the services tab and check mark hide all Microsoft services at the bottom. You can turn off things like skype updater, Roxio Hard drive watcher ect. You can start these services anytime you want. I usually turn mine off when I record.
 
I leave the adobe acrobat working because I have the manuals for cakewalk software in adobe pdf.

Here is the list by Native Instruments. They recommend more than I would ever want to do:
http://www.native-instruments.com/knowledge/questions/1395/Windows+8+Tuning+Tips+for+Audio+Processing

If you need to tweak, then perhaps you need to look at upgrading your hardware.
 
Tweaking in this day and age is redundant (apart from power/sleep issues/some AV).
 
@OP - your specs seem fine, don't meddle.  Run Latency Monitor if you're having problems, and decide if you need to address any issues.  Otherwise, leave it alone.
 
I can't count the number of times I've seen people have problems that were related to "tweaks" that "they knew what they were doing" at the time.
 
 

Thanks all, for your kind contributions.