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-- HOW TO: Optimize XP for Audio....

HOW TO: Optimize XP for Audio....

So after it just came up in a thread, for those of you still holding out with XP, here are some tips that can seriously increase the performance of your system. It's not going to make miracles happen but it can let you get a few more years out of that old pony yet.

Now firstly, before the tips, you need at least a solid system to start with so, by that I mean there's not much point doing this if you haven't formatted it 5 years and it's chocked full of virii from all your pr0n binges.

Best of all is a fresh install of XP and then the updates/service packs, then your audio software, and because software manufacturers love to make background tasks, the less other non music programs you have the better. However it's not neccesary for a system in OK shape that's had a least occasional maintenance done.

Another EXTREMELY important point is to make sure your system has all the most up to date drivers from the manufacturer's website - often the microsoft driver for that hardware is just a working solution and the correct driver for that hardware will yield much better overall system perfomance and far less bottle necking. I can't stress how important this is, especially with your soundcard, chipset drivers, hard disk controller, video card drivers, or CPU optimisation drivers which are common with many mainstream brands.

On to the tips.....

For consistency, before carrying out the tuning tips suggested below, switch to classic view in the control panel. To do this, Start > Control Panel > "Switch to Classic View".

Then, switch to classic view for the menu. To do this, Start > Control Panel > Taskbar and Start Menu > Start Menu Tab > Classic Start Menu.

Quote:
1. Processor scheduling should be set to background services and not Programs.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced Tab > Background Services


2. Visual effects should be set to a minimum.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Visual Effects Tab > Adjust for best performance


3. Switch Off Desktop Background Image

Right Click Desktop > Properties > Desktop Tab > Background None


4. Disable Screen Saver

Right Click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > None


5. Disable Fast User Switching

Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off > Untick Use Fast User Switching


6. Switch Off Power Schemes

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Always On > Turn off monitor and turn off hard discs to Never


7. Switch Off Hibernation

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Untick Hibernation


8. Disable System Sounds

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds Tab > Sound Scheme to None.


9. Do Not Map Through Soundcard

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Hardware Tab > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties > Audio Devices > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties, and check the "Do not map through this device" checkbox.


10. Disable System Restore

Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > System Restore Tab. Tick the "Turn off System Restore on all Drives"


11. Disable Automatic Updates

Switch off Automatic Updates by going to Control Panel, System, Automatic Updates and ticking the box labelled "Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually.".


12. Startup and Recovery Options

Right click My Computer and click on Properties > Advanced > Start Up & Recovery Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart".


13. Disable Error Reporting

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced TAB > Error Reporting > Click the Disable Error Reporting box (Tick the "But Notify Me When Critical Errors Occur" if you prefer)


14. Disable Remote Assistance

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Remote > Untick "Allow Remote Assistance Invitations to be sent from this computer"


15. Fixed Swap File (Virtual Memory)

Select the Advanced tab of the Systems applet and then select the Performance settings button. Then select the Advanced page. In here it is possible to customise the Virtual Memory. For custom size, this is often recommended to be 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your total RAM for both initial and maximum size. Set this to a fixed minimum and maximum value according to your existing RAM


16. Speed Up Menus

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key. Click Start, and then click Run. Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK. Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop folder. Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file. In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1. Click OK.


17. Disable Offline Files

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Folder Options > Offline Files > Untick "Enable Offline Files"


18. Disable Remote Desktop

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Remote > Untick "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"


19. Disable Internet Synchronise Time

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Date and Time > Internet Time > Untick "Automatically synchronize with an internet time server"


20. Disable Hide Inactive Icons

Start > Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu > Taskbar TAB > Uncheck "Hide Inactive Icons"


21. Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup Wizard

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customise Desktop > Untick "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days"


22. Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (NTFS Only)

Start > Run > regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CURRENTCONTROLSET > CONTROL > FILESYSTEM Add a new DWORD value - "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate" (without quotes) and set the value to 1. Then reboot to make changes effective


23. Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips

Click Start , click Run , type regedit , and then press ENTER. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips . Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0 . Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.


24. Disable CDROM Autoplay

One of the very important (and well documented) tweaks in Windows 98SE, was to disable CDROM autoplay (auto insert notification). Disabling CDROM autoplay no longer offers a significant performance benefit in Windows XP, and therefore you do not need to disable it. Just don't insert a CD during a crucial recording.

However, if you really want to disable it then here a few different methods.

Method 1

Start > Run > Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom

Set autorun to 0.

Method 2

Open My Computer Right Click on each CDROM and choose Properties Click on the Auto Play tab In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Method 3

Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System Double click Turn off Autoplay Enable it.


25. Disable Disc Indexing

Text below taken from XP help.

Indexing Service is a service that extracts the information from a set of documents and organizes it in a way that makes it quick and easy to access that information through the Windows XP Search function, the Indexing Service query form, or a Web browser.

This information can include text from within a document, (its contents), and the characteristics and parameters of the document, (its properties), such as the author's name. Once the index is created, you can search, or query the index for documents that contain key words, phrases, or properties.

Last but not least, do a defrag. Then do it again. Then again.

Now do a disc cleanup. No do a restart.

You should see at least a 10% increase in performance and in some cases (mine on my old AMD PC), I saw roughly about a 30% increase and a lot less stuttering when things got complex.

hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions about the tips!

FUCKING ACE!!

I've done a lot of these, already, but there were some I didn't know about.

if you want to see something ironic, log off and look at the ad in the footer of rann's post, the one i'm seeing is for windows 7.

heres a different approach:
1. get a mac
2. success

see the difference?
and im not even a mac fanboy...

i think it's easier to buy a new pc/upgrade than making your own pc a windows 3.1 486 , the enviroment you work counts too and seeing grey bars all the time is... grey. I'd just disable all the vista visual aids if you are working with vista, aero is very hardware demanding but the rest of the things imply a minor perfomance improvement, all together may improve noticeably the computer perfomance but i think it's easier to save for a better computer if you have to resort to this.

I have done a lot of the stuff in the OP, but the best boost to my performance came from reformatting my hard drive and not installing any anti-virus software this time around. I access the net through Linux (dual boot), and XP runs perfectly for my audio needs.

quote:

Originally posted by Senator Clay Davis heres a different approach: 1. get a mac 2. success see the difference? and im not even a mac fanboy...

I thought you said you were done trolling

Re: HOW TO: Optimize XP for Audio....

Palm stole my joke!

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN 1. Get a Mac.

Fixed!

Re: Re: HOW TO: Optimize XP for Audio....

quote:

Originally posted by EddieZilker Palm stole my joke! Fixed!

Well, to be honest if this thread was called How to optimze your mac, it would be one line long (1. Press power button).

My system at home is optimized purely for music. So I've pretty much done all this.

Lemme just remind everyone about the one thing missing from the list that for me is the most important

"Dual booting"

Its very easy to install two copies of the same OS, and then use the boot prompt to decide between them.

One of mine is only for producing, and the other for messing around on.

quote:

Originally posted by Kysora I thought you said you were done trolling

i also said this from heart.

Thanks for the tips RANN. I'm surprised however that one of the main tweaks for getting the most out of XP, the /3GB switch option, was not mentioned. With it, I can push Cubase much further before crashing using this option as it pushes XP's address space for processes to 3GB instead of the normal 2GB. HERE is a great article detailing how to do it.

Also MrJiveBoJingles gives great advice on using no antivirus. Not using such a resource hog has personally made some of the most siginifigant impact on performance. Your production PC should be isolated from the internet anyway so there is really no need for such software.

quote:

Originally posted by Magnus Thanks for the tips RANN. I'm surprised however that one of the main tweaks for getting the most out of XP, the /3GB switch option, was not mentioned. With it, I can push Cubase much further before crashing using this option as it pushes XP's address space for processes to 3GB instead of the normal 2GB. HERE is a great article detailing how to do it. Also MrJiveBoJingles gives great advice on using no antivirus. Not using such a resource hog has personally made some of the most siginifigant impact on performance. Your production PC should be isolated from the internet anyway so there is really no need for such software.

Nice! I'd heard about that one a little while ago but never did it and totally forgot.

so just to keep it all in one thread:

Enabling 3GB switch on Windows XP or Windows Vista

Many of Autodesk's applications, including Navisworks, are able to take advantage of the 3GB functionality switch.

Advanced users may know that the virtual address space of processes and applications is still limited to 2 GB unless the /3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file. When the physical RAM in the system exceeds 16 GB and the /3GB switch is used, the operating system will ignore the additional RAM until the /3GB switch is removed. This is because of the increased size of the kernel required to support more Page Table Entries.

Note: Only applications that use IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE in the process header can take advantage of this functionality.

Enable the 3GB switch on Windows XP

Right-click My Computer. Click Properties.
In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under System startup, click Edit. The Windows boot.ini file will be opened in Microsoft� Notepad.
Create a backup copy of the boot.ini file. Note: Boot.ini files may vary from computer to computer.
Select the following line in the boot.ini file:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Press Ctrl+C to copy the line and then press Ctrl+V to paste it immediately below the original line.
Note: Your text string may be different from the text string in this solution, so be sure to copy the text string from your boot.ini file, and not the text string included here.
Modify the copied line to include � /3GB�, as shown in the following example:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect

Note: Do not overwrite any existing lines.

Save and close the boot.ini file.
Click OK to close each dialog box.
Restart your computer.
During startup, select the 3GB option. If you do not select the 3GB option, the system will default to the 2GB total memory setting.
Note: If problems occur during startup, you may need to update some of your drivers.

Enable the 3GB switch on Windows Vista

Right-click Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
At the command prompt, enter "bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072"
Restart the computer.
Disable the 3GB switch on Windows Vista

Right-click on Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
At the command prompt, enter "bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa"
Restart the computer.


As for the antivirus issue, I do agree, and in an ideal world, the production PC is never connected to the internet and an external drive or USB key or non commercial disc is ever installed, but honestly, for a lot of people that just not an option. My advice is to use a program that is incredibly skinny in terms of mem usage and system resources in case you can't live without antivirus.

My personal recommendation Eset Nod 32 - out of all of them it's the least of a hog in terms of RAM and CPU and you can set it so it just monitors when a drive is inserted or you are connected to the net - the rest of the time it will take less than 1% cpu.

thanks!!

quote:

Originally posted by shuni thanks!!

Windows XP SP3 nLited and Audio Optimised

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=30162

quote:

This has extensively been discussed in this thread: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=15923 so you can all look it up for additional info, solutions etc. This second Windows XP SP3 AO build is not very different from the first one, but includes some important stuff and updates like: - wireless network is working - firewall is working - all post SP3 fixes, including the december 2008. ones, see the list here: http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/updatepack-sp3.html There are some rather important fixes for multiprocessor PC`s. I`ve been waiting for this, therefore such a delay prior to releasing this build. - Intel, NVidia and AMD AHCI drivers - most of the EU keyboards and regional settings, including UK and US. What it doesn`t include is: general BS, bloat, spam, unnecessary BS, WM Player, Internet Explorer etc. However, this build is much larger than the previous build and weights whooping 300MB, so I had to split the archive into two, because Rapidshare caps the uploads at 200MB. Shame. I`m not sure why it`s so much bigger, but I`m assuming it`s mostly because of the post SP3 fixes. If that`s the case, I don`t regret it being 100MB bigger. So here it is, the first part of the self extracting RAR archive: [[ LINK REMOVED ]] and here is the second part: [[ LINK REMOVED ]] Here`s nLite settings INI file for those who want to tweak the XP installation by themselves: [[ LINK REMOVED ]] I left the "Out of the box experience" in, so it should be "authorisable". I`m trying to stay on the legal side of things as much as possible, as I don`t want Cockos to have any troubles regarding this, some would say "crippled" Windows XP. One warning for the users who are not very proficient with Windows: this Windows installation is mostly intended for experienced or advanced Windows users, not so much because of the way the installation goes - it`s even easier to install it than the default one, but because of the way this Windows look and behave. It looks quite different to your usual default installation and it`s tweaked after my subjective opinions and from my long time experience using Windows for audio and multimedia in general. Most of the tweaking done, you should find on any Windows that a proficient Windows user that is into audio and video is using and inexperienced users could easily have many problems with this OS, as nothing is hidden "under the rug" you can delete important files by accident and stuff like that. In other words - if you don`t know what regedit.exe is, stay away, or be at least very careful with what you`re doing and you`ll be rewarded with a great and fast OS that XP can be when tweaked and cut in the right places. Last thing... Happy Christmas, happy holidays, get nicely pissed... I wish you all good luck, lots of love and patience for your loved ones, some money and excellent health! To your families, and loved ones, too. Links update for those who don't like Rapidshare. Coerce was so kind to provide mirror links on his FTP server. Thank you so much, man! This is the ISO Image file you need http://FallofArcadia.com/Reaper/WXPSP3AO.iso burn it with Nero, ImgBurn or whatever you use, just don't do it at grater than 4x speed, because there's a possibility that such CDs won't boot normally. and here's the link to the INI nLite settings file if you want to do a customised version of your own Windows XP with nLite and most of my settings: http://fallofarcadia.com/Reaper/wxpsp3ao2.ini Just "save as" with the right mouse button to your nLite installation folder.

Can you do a tutorial for Windows 7?

I did about half of these and it helps a lot. Ableton uses close to 3gb of ram before crashing.

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