grimes "optimise your crappy computer thread"

[legend4ry]

http://www.xp-smoker.com/



Worth the "buy" *wink*

Even though my PC don't really need much optimising in the sense it doesn't have speed issues or anything, this is still a nice piece of software.


I get from bios > Desktop in about 15 seconds, if that.

My XP, with nothing running has about, 12 processes (would be about 8 without mouse, keyboard, midi controller and wireless drivers) with the help of this software.

[primate]

if possible, have a separate pc for production and only have your audio software installed on it. either that or partition the HD so you can have one half for domestic / internet etc and one half for production/pro software. that way, all the extra shit accumulated by surfing the web / gaming / looking at titties is kept to one half of the pc only.

[mrhope]

READ UP ON THIS: http://audioforums.com/resource_center.php
AND THIS: http://www.pcmus.com/TweakXP.htm

That stuff is pretty much how you get it done!

Yeah you should really defrag your computer AFTER you uninstall all that crap and delete all your temp files and junk like that. That way the defrag actually does it's job better.

Some people suggest running disk checking fix before you defrag though. You'll wont lose files on a defrag as long as the defragger doesnt crash and it finishes and as long as it's a decent defrag algorithm and a trustworthy program and as long as there aren't really serious disk errors going on. I suppose if you've got viruses real bad, then it could fail... like if the virus infected the defragger for example.

Sometimes a defragger will actually accidentally fix disk errors. I have found this to be true of JKdefrag. WinContig reports some disk errors and then I run JKdefrag and the errors go away. The JKdefrag manual pretty much says that NTFS is good at healing itself and that his defrag routine is safe. I tend to agree with that.

As far as registry optimizers go, I think maybe removing spyware and adware from the registry is good, but removing anything else from the registry is risky. The registry does a better job of working with too much extra junk than running with not enough entries. If an important entry is missing, the system will crash.

I gave up registry cleaners long ago and my computer has crashed a lot less ever since. There are some registry cleaners that work and some that don't. The ones that don't work are the ones that allow you do delete entries that you really actually need.

It's tricky because some entries look like they are extra and unused when in fact they are there for a purpose.

Well that's my info. Use it or lose it.

[xxxy]

ahem..tiny xp...ahem

[2snide (harmitage)]

if possible, have a separate pc for production and only have your audio software installed on it. either that or partition the HD so you can have one half for domestic / internet etc and one half for production/pro software. that way, all the extra shit accumulated by surfing the web / gaming / looking at titties is kept to one half of the pc only.

Yeah two seperate PCs is me - wouldn't put my production PC anywhere near the internet

some good info in this thread- thanks

[legend4ry]

I don't get why people say they wouldn't put their production PC anywhere near the internet...


What if you need to read up on something? Want some tips or want to know how to do X technique with X synth..?



If you're silly enough to get a virus you shouldn't really be allowed the internet if I am honest

[2snide (harmitage)]

I have two PCs - it's not hard to go into the next room really is it? taking a break from studio location is a good look in my opinion cos when you come back you can look at things with a new perspectave

I stand by my statement that you should keep your production PC away from the internet after reading about how much crap that thing can clog up your system with

[pk]

why would defragging delete anything

[daft cunt]

what's up with the defrag thing then? Is this likely to delete project files or is it just files that are smaller than a certain kb?

Some people say you should do it once a week or so (if you copy/remove files regularly), some people say that the repeated movement of the "reading arm" (or whatever it's called) caused by defrag is reducing your HDD life significantly.
I chose to do it approximately every 2 months.

EDIT: and no, defrag will never cause data loss unless your computer is crashing while defragmenting.

[doomproduction]

how much does taking off your background help??

i'm on a mac if that makes a difference.

[dokie]

This is mostly for newer windows versions, but it keeps my system running well:

Create a restore point before doing this!, if you do, ignore step number 2.

1. Increase your page file size, to over 1gb+, so the system has some 'virtual ram' to use. (in some cases this causes a blue screen with page file access errors).

2. If your brave, disable system restore, or decrease the amount that it uses to store system recovery information.

3. Change your performance option to 'Adjust for best performance'

4. Turn off your desktop background

5. Have a minimal set of items on your desktop.

6. Disable any unwanted programs on startup using MSCONFIG (be very careful about doing this)

7. Uninstall any unused programs

8. Do a system cleanup every now and then

9. Run a checkdisk (chkdsk /r)

10. Disable and uninstall any unwanted services (services do eat alot of memory, especially web servers etc.) using the services panel (again...be very careful).

[zion cluster]

I don't know if this is on any of the sites linked from this thread, but: If you don't use your soundcard's record inputs you can disable them, which should save some CPU. I very rarely use mine, so I have them off by default, and only turn them on when I'm using them. I remember that this used to make quite a difference back when I was using Cubase with a DSP factory.