# New Windows 10 Optimization



## Daniel Petras

Finally got my new PC put together.

Does anyone have any procedures, tips or links that they follow in order to optimize their system for DAW/audio use?


----------



## amordechai

Check out this: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10


----------



## Daniel Petras

What are people's thoughts on internet vs no internet? It seems somewhat inconvenient to not have a connection when you might need to transfer files all the time.


----------



## Mornats

Sonorityscape said:


> What are people's thoughts on internet vs no internet? It seems somewhat inconvenient to not have a connection when you might need to transfer files all the time.



Kinda relate to this as anti-virus is a must if you're connected to the Internet. I had latency problems and instability with my Focusrite Forte that was caused by my free Avast anti-virus. Focusrite advise that there are issues with AVG and Avast when it comes to audio. I swapped to ESET Nod32 and my latency is noticeably better and everything's a lot more stable.


----------



## Daniel Petras

Mornats said:


> Kinda relate to this as anti-virus is a must if you're connected to the Internet. I had latency problems and instability with my Focusrite Forte that was caused by my free Avast anti-virus. Focusrite advise that there are issues with AVG and Avast when it comes to audio. I swapped to ESET Nod32 and my latency is noticeably better and everything's a lot more stable.



Thanks. I think I'm going to try out the no internet route and see if I have enough patience to put up with it.


----------



## Mihkel Zilmer

I made a short video on this topic a couple of weeks ago - hope this helps!


----------



## zolhof

After you follow the great tips by Mihkel, you could also do these:


If you are using Windows' AV -> Windows Defender Security Center -> Virus & Threat Protection -> Settings -> Exclusions -> add all your sample drives and folders. I also have Automatic sample submission and Cloud-based protection disabled

Disable all privacy crap under Settings (especially Background Apps) and run this great little tool: https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon
Unpark your cores: http://coderbag.com/Programming-C/CPU-core-parking-manager-v3
Playback devices (speaker icon) -> audio device properties -> Advanced -> tick both Exclusive Mode options. This one is a hit-or-miss, in my case it works better with my Motu
SSD properties -> untick "allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties"

Good luck!


----------



## Daniel Petras

zolhof said:


> Unpark your cores: http://coderbag.com/Programming-C/CPU-core-parking-manager-v3


Thanks. Is this more for feedback on how your CPU is working?


----------



## MarcusD

Most things have been covered already, but two things I've not seen mentioned is disabling certain properties on your hard drives. If you keep all your samples on a separate drive consider doing the following > File Explorer > Right Click on your Sample HD > Go to Properties > Uncheck " Compress this drive to save disk space " and uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to filing properties"

Another thing to consider is turning off the "auto power" settings for your USB ports. To do this go to Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > Righ click on USB Root Hub > Properties > Power Managment > Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power "

If you want to ensure your devices are up-to-date press the Windows key and type "Find and Fix Problems With Devices" then run it to diagnose your system.

To elaborate on Mihkels bios update, if you want to ensure your Motherboard is up-to-date with chipsets but have NO idea what model your MOBO is, then do the following. Pres Windows Key + R > In Run window type CMD and press enter > Once the black box has opened type in the following exactly as I've put it:

wmic baseboard get product.Manufacturer,version,serialnumber

Press enter and you'll now be provided all the information about your MOBO. Now you know what to look for.


----------



## Daniel Petras

Thanks.

I've noticed that a lot of people have recommended the fractal design define R5 which I ended up getting, so I would assume there are some owners of it on this forum. It has 4 usb ports at the front of the case (usb 2.0 and 3.0). I've experimented with using those and the MB usb ports and have noticed that front case are slow and have huge drops in performance to almost 0 MBps when transferring files. Has anyone else had this issue? I'm wondering if it has something to do with the cables inside of the case.


----------



## Daniel Petras

MarcusD said:


> If you keep all your samples on a separate drive consider doing the following > File Explorer > Right Click on your Sample HD > Go to Properties > Uncheck " Compress this drive to save disk space " and uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to filing properties"


Do you apply that to just the drive or to the drive, subfolders and files?


----------



## ckiraly

Sonorityscape said:


> Do you apply that to just the drive or to the drive, subfolders and files?



Drive, subfolder and files. You basically want to disable file indexing. You can also disable Windows Search which disables it globally: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...manently/3b2fc340-59d8-4c41-8c00-46118b9985db


----------



## sean8877

I know this is an old thread but I thought this would be worth sharing, the developer of Cantabile has a pretty good free ebook on optimizing windows for audio software:

https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/


----------



## Daniel Petras

sean8877 said:


> I know this is an old thread but I thought this would be worth sharing, the developer of Cantabile has a pretty good free ebook on optimizing windows for audio software:
> 
> https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/


Thanks!


----------



## Licinus

sean8877 said:


> I know this is an old thread but I thought this would be worth sharing, the developer of Cantabile has a pretty good free ebook on optimizing windows for audio software:
> 
> https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/


Thank you for this!

It's a well laid out text in lay-man's terms that covers all the fundamentals.

Highly re-recommended by /Licinus


----------

