resource tweaks for windows 7 daw

[Dewittian[_2_]]

I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.

Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
junk?

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:45:02 -0800 (PST), Dewittian
> wrote:

>I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
>windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
>tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.
>
>Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
>junk?

Today's computers are powerful, and background processes are designed
to be unobtrusive. Do you have a particular issue on your Windows 7
computer? If not, I suggest you leave it alone and only address
problems when and if they occur.

[Dewittian[_2_]]

On Nov 12, 7:14*am, Laurence Payne > wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:45:02 -0800 (PST), Dewittian
>
> > wrote:
> >I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
> >windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
> >tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.
>
> >Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
> >junk?
>
> Today's computers are powerful, and background processes are designed
> to be unobtrusive. *Do you have a particular issue on your Windows 7
> computer? *If not, I suggest you leave it alone and only address
> problems when and if they occur.

Here's just one example:

Back when my PC was slowing down I found a defrag called perfectdisk
for XP. I gained 35 to 50% speed after using the not windows defrag
routine. That's after 4 years of using XP at a slower rate. Now I
am looking for things like that, getting rid of themes, user
acccounts, etc...

I'll keep plugging away but if anybody know of a pretty reliable site
with some Windows 7 tweaks and setting that willl optimize it please
help me?

[Chip Borton]

Laurence Payne wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:45:02 -0800 (PST), Dewittian
> > wrote:
>
>> I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
>> windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
>> tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.
>>
>> Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
>> junk?
>
> Today's computers are powerful, and background processes are designed
> to be unobtrusive. Do you have a particular issue on your Windows 7
> computer? If not, I suggest you leave it alone and only address
> problems when and if they occur.


I am with Lawrence on this one ... What specific problem are looking to
fix? I have looked at and tried most of the XP tweaks at one time or
another and from my experience they didn't make one whit of difference
in my performance.

Windows machines need regular maintainance , deleting temp files, disk
cleanup, defrag etc. and just be kept lean in general.

I have used Perfectdisk and found it to be only marginally better than
the XP defrag routine, In fact it adds more services and processes.
I am skeptical of the 35% to 50% figure.

I am liking the defrag routine in win7 but if you are looking for
another program I would take a look at JK Defrag.
Perfect Disk is only 29$ and claims to be certified with win7.

[Scott Dorsey]

Dewittian > wrote:
>Here's just one example:
>
>Back when my PC was slowing down I found a defrag called perfectdisk
>for XP. I gained 35 to 50% speed after using the not windows defrag
>routine. That's after 4 years of using XP at a slower rate. Now I
>am looking for things like that, getting rid of themes, user
>acccounts, etc...

Thing is, it took people a few years to figure out that there was an
issue, and to code a thing to do something about it.

>I'll keep plugging away but if anybody know of a pretty reliable site
>with some Windows 7 tweaks and setting that willl optimize it please
>help me?

Right now Windows 7 is so new and so few people are using it in a
production environment that people haven't really figured this
stuff out yet. Give it a year or two and you should start seeing
the community getting a real handle on the issues.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Chip Borton]

Chip Borton wrote:
> Laurence Payne wrote:
>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:45:02 -0800 (PST), Dewittian
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
>>> windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
>>> tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.
>>>
>>> Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
>>> junk?
>>
>> Today's computers are powerful, and background processes are designed
>> to be unobtrusive. Do you have a particular issue on your Windows 7
>> computer? If not, I suggest you leave it alone and only address
>> problems when and if they occur.
>
>
> I am with Lawrence on this one ... What specific problem are looking to
> fix? I have looked at and tried most of the XP tweaks at one time or
> another and from my experience they didn't make one whit of difference
> in my performance.
>
> Windows machines need regular maintainance , deleting temp files, disk
> cleanup, defrag etc. and just be kept lean in general.
>
> I have used Perfectdisk and found it to be only marginally better than
> the XP defrag routine, In fact it adds more services and processes.
> I am skeptical of the 35% to 50% figure.
>
> I am liking the defrag routine in win7 but if you are looking for
> another program I would take a look at JK Defrag.
> Perfect Disk is only 29$ and claims to be certified with win7.


P.S. Sorry Laurence, misspelled your name.

Also, I am using win7 x64 with Nuendo 4(32 bit) and PT M-Powered 8.01
and have had no problems. My workflow has not been hindered at all and
my plugins and other audio apps are working fine.

[Don Pearce[_3_]]

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:10:10 -0700, Chip Borton
> wrote:

>Laurence Payne wrote:
>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:45:02 -0800 (PST), Dewittian
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
>>> windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
>>> tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.
>>>
>>> Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
>>> junk?
>>
>> Today's computers are powerful, and background processes are designed
>> to be unobtrusive. Do you have a particular issue on your Windows 7
>> computer? If not, I suggest you leave it alone and only address
>> problems when and if they occur.
>
>
>I am with Lawrence on this one ... What specific problem are looking to
>fix? I have looked at and tried most of the XP tweaks at one time or
>another and from my experience they didn't make one whit of difference
>in my performance.
>
>Windows machines need regular maintainance , deleting temp files, disk
>cleanup, defrag etc. and just be kept lean in general.
>
>I have used Perfectdisk and found it to be only marginally better than
>the XP defrag routine, In fact it adds more services and processes.
>I am skeptical of the 35% to 50% figure.
>
>I am liking the defrag routine in win7 but if you are looking for
>another program I would take a look at JK Defrag.
>Perfect Disk is only 29$ and claims to be certified with win7.

I have found the answer to a perfect machine. Load the operating
system, load the applications. Then make sure that all file saves are
directed to a second drive. Finally clone the boot drive.

Every now and then swap the boot drive for the clone and it is all
pristine and clean again, with data intact. Make a new clone using the
old drive.

Repeat ad inf.

d

[Chip Borton]

Don Pearce wrote:
>
> I have found the answer to a perfect machine. Load the operating
> system, load the applications. Then make sure that all file saves are
> directed to a second drive. Finally clone the boot drive.
>
> Every now and then swap the boot drive for the clone and it is all
> pristine and clean again, with data intact. Make a new clone using the
> old drive.
>
> Repeat ad inf.
>
> d

That is exactly what I do, Install windows/updates and my basic audio
apps, then make a clone. Never put data on the OS drive.
Win7 has a new backup routine that will make a disk image and along
with the recovery boot CD it should be cake to restore your image.

[Geoff]

Dewittian wrote:

>
> Here's just one example:
>
> Back when my PC was slowing down I found a defrag called perfectdisk
> for XP. I gained 35 to 50% speed after using the not windows defrag
> routine. That's after 4 years of using XP at a slower rate. Now I
> am looking for things like that, getting rid of themes, user
> acccounts, etc...
>

Um, defragged is defragged, whatever you use to do it. Ordering files could
have a slight benefit for app startup times, etc, but nothing to do with
defragging could give the result you experienced.

> I'll keep plugging away but if anybody know of a pretty reliable site
> with some Windows 7 tweaks and setting that willl optimize it please
> help me?

Let us know.

geoff

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Dewittian wrote:

> I went from xp to windows 7 and couldn't find my old tweak site to get
> windows 7 tweaked to use as little rresources as possible. especially
> tweaks for using my pc only as a DAW.

Mostly Windows is less broken with every new version.

> Anyone know where a new site or place to start cleaning up all the
> junk?

Use your common sense:

1) check the display options in the system gadget, whether it actually
matters also depends on the graphics card setup.

2) optimize pagefile placement, with 2 Gigabytes ram or more try to disable
it, leave disabled if windows does not protest, you will get a very clear
requester in case a pagefile is actually required. If you need to have a
pagefile, then distribute it on the spindles or sets of spindles windows
does not reside on so as to avoid drive contestion, disabling it is probably
only meaningfull in case you have only one spindle.

3) disable stuff that requires drive access when you rather would avoid it,
indexing is high on the list of probable items to disable, system restore
may or may not be. Disabling either also have drawbacks .... your choice(s)
depend on your use of the box and on your backup strategy.

All of the above apply for all versions of Windows and probably also for any
other OS. Your choice is: optimize computer for running OS or optimize for
running programs. In many - but not all - respects windows desktop and
server os's are (too) similarly configured out of the shrinkwrap, kinda a
middle of the road "good for all" setup. Which it actually is, "one click
install" tends to work reasonably well.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

As he only asked about "junk", I forgot to mention the Processor
Scheduling Programs/Background Services switch is still there. Though
as anyone running Windows 7 doubtless has a multi-core CPU, the
question arises whether it still does anything useful.

I repeat my advice - leave things alone until/unless problems occur.
You may well be able to run a perfectly efficient DAW without pulling
the plug on your network/internet, without disabling any processes and
even with a couple of other applications running under your audio
program! Certainly the days when we had to specify a stripped-down
system to get a DAW to run at all are lone in the past.

[Sean Conolly]

"Laurence Payne" > wrote in message
...
> As he only asked about "junk", I forgot to mention the Processor
> Scheduling Programs/Background Services switch is still there. Though
> as anyone running Windows 7 doubtless has a multi-core CPU, the
> question arises whether it still does anything useful.
>
> I repeat my advice - leave things alone until/unless problems occur.
> You may well be able to run a perfectly efficient DAW without pulling
> the plug on your network/internet, without disabling any processes and
> even with a couple of other applications running under your audio
> program! Certainly the days when we had to specify a stripped-down
> system to get a DAW to run at all are lone in the past.


I always start by disabling services that aren't needed. Windows comes with
an army of services for use in an enterprise environment that the home user
doesn't need. Turning them saves memory & CPU, reduces the number of
potential exploits available to hackers. Things like Remote Registry
management seems like it's begging to be hacked.

What I do is to aggressively disable any suspect services - I disable them
so I can easily see which ones I've changed - and only turn them back on if
I find a need for them.

Sean

[Mike Rivers]

Sean Conolly wrote:

> What I do is to aggressively disable any suspect services - I disable them
> so I can easily see which ones I've changed - and only turn them back on if
> I find a need for them.

Some are obvious, most can be found with a Google search, but sometimes the
description makes no sense to me at all. What kind of indication do you
get if you
turn off a service that's necessary? Do you get an error message saying
something
like "pblixvt not running"?

[Don Pearce[_3_]]

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:28:30 -0500, Mike Rivers >
wrote:

>Sean Conolly wrote:
>
>> What I do is to aggressively disable any suspect services - I disable them
>> so I can easily see which ones I've changed - and only turn them back on if
>> I find a need for them.
>
>Some are obvious, most can be found with a Google search, but sometimes the
>description makes no sense to me at all. What kind of indication do you
>get if you
>turn off a service that's necessary? Do you get an error message saying
>something
>like "pblixvt not running"?

Usually things simply go wrong - no warnings. But identifying services
and deciding what can go is easy. Just type the name as it appears in
the process list into Google and you will find a full description of
what it is and what it does.

d

[Sean Conolly]

"Mike Rivers" > wrote in message
...
> Sean Conolly wrote:
>
>> What I do is to aggressively disable any suspect services - I disable
>> them so I can easily see which ones I've changed - and only turn them
>> back on if I find a need for them.
>
> Some are obvious, most can be found with a Google search, but sometimes
> the
> description makes no sense to me at all. What kind of indication do you
> get if you
> turn off a service that's necessary? Do you get an error message saying
> something
> like "pblixvt not running"?

It's usually when you try to do something it fails - typically with a
message like "the <x> service is not available". The windows installer
service & automatic updates are examples. Note that to do a windows update ,
you not only have to the auto updates running, it must be set to
automatically run - I just disable it when I'm done.

Most of the ones I turn off are related to windows networking - which I
don't use at all - even at work. I manage all of my systems with a
combination of remote desktop and ssh.

The really important services won't give you an option to turn off.

Sean

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:28:30 -0500, Mike Rivers >
wrote:

>> What I do is to aggressively disable any suspect services - I disable them
>> so I can easily see which ones I've changed - and only turn them back on if
>> I find a need for them.
>
>Some are obvious, most can be found with a Google search, but sometimes the
>description makes no sense to me at all. What kind of indication do you
>get if you
>turn off a service that's necessary? Do you get an error message saying
>something
>like "pblixvt not running"?

Maybe. Other times something just doesn't work.

Such settings are reversible. Play with them if you like. But I
doubt you'll see any benefit. Such things as Indexing know to keep
out of the way until the system is idle. And I strongly advise NOT to
turn off System Restore. Contrary to popular prejudice, it really
isn't constantly thrashing around in the background. And, one day, it
may save your life (or at least get you back up running a great deal
quicker than anything else!)

One excellent, but apparently little-discussed feature of Windows
Vista (and now Windows 7) is Shadow Copy. When a data file is
updated, unused disk space is used to store the old version. A sort
of automatic "Undo" function for all your work. People who see their
hard drives filling up sometimes get aggressive with Clean Up or even
disable the service. I think they're very foolish.

[Mike Rivers]

Don Pearce wrote:

> Usually things simply go wrong - no warnings.

That can happen any time, not just when you disable a service. And the
thing is that the service might affect just one program or funciton, one
that
you don't use right away. By the time you try to use it and it doesn't work,
you forget that you've disabled some services.

> But identifying services
> and deciding what can go is easy. Just type the name as it appears in
> the process list into Google and you will find a full description of
> what it is and what it does.

Easy sometimes, but other times the description is so general that it
doesn't tell me anything. Usually I just leave those services running,
or set them to Manual. I figure that anything that I set to Manual and
it comes on by itself might as well be automatic since it's definitely
being used in what's my normal use.

[Sean Conolly]

"Laurence Payne" > wrote in message
...
> Such things as Indexing know to keep
> out of the way until the system is idle.

Not true. At best it runs at a lower priority to not slow down your other
programs.

The problem is I/O - once a request has been issued to the disk anything
else that needs it is blocked until the call returns. The indexer is
scanning all of the file system looking at things that probably aren't
cached, and keeping the disk tied up. As soon as your process needs to
access something not in cache it gets blocked. These blocked times are in
milliseconds, but that's a long time on today's systems.

The same has been true for network I/O - there are lots of windows program
that use a loooong timeout on socket reads, and every version of Windows
I've tried to date (not Vista or 7) will hang a lot of other network
processes while the first one times out - sometimes even Explorer will stop
for 30 seconds or more. I would really love to see if the newer versions of
Windows still do this.

Sean

[Arny Krueger]

"Dewittian" > wrote in message


> Back when my PC was slowing down I found a defrag called
> perfectdisk for XP. I gained 35 to 50% speed after using
> the not windows defrag routine.

IME Windows defrag isn't that bad, and anything else is not that good.

There was something else going on.

My experience is that modorn hard drives often succomb to a disease where
they are slow, but keep on operating without failures. Sometimes its the
whole drive, sometimes it is just certain spots. I can see where a defrag
program might relocate files to different places on the hard drive and thus
unintentionally circumvent a random area that is slow.