Windows ME Optimisations for Audio PC's

Windows ME optimisation is very similar to Windows 98 optimisation since Windows ME is simply the latest evolution of the Windows 9x series. The first thing to say however is that a straight install of Windows ME (i.e. not an upgrade from Windows 98) is essential since the upgrade does not work well at all. Windows ME requires that several settings should be made to attain more reliable operation. These settings include the disabling of or at least controlling of the system restore function which is built in to Windows ME. Here are our recommended Windows ME settings for Audio PC's:

Before you start tweaking, ensure your PC is running correctly:

1. Make sure you have no IRQ conflicts or Memory range conflicts, if you have, your system will not run smoothly and may not even work at all for some things. You can check this by looking at the properties of each device and checking for anything being written about conflicts.

2. Make sure you have reliable drivers for everything. ME has most drivers so you won't need many. The most recent drivers are not necessarily the best. Check the known bugs/issues list. Try the driverguide along with the manufacturers Web-Site. If you built the system yourself, make sure you've installed the Motherboard driver(s).

Now begin Tweaking:

3. Disable System Sounds. They can hog the Soundcard output(s) thus preventing Audio Apps from using them or worse, the system could make a sound when you're recording which may get recorded depending on what you're doing. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Sounds and Multimedia' and select Scheme 'No Sounds'. While you're there, remove the tick from the box next to 'Show icon on Taskbar').

4. Disable Screen Savers. If a Screen Saver is enabled, the system will check periodically if any programs which are running have received an input recently thus preventing the program from doing anything for a short time. This can cause glitches in recordings and/or playback. (Right-Click on the desktop and select 'Properties' then click on the 'Screen Saver' tab and select 'None'from the drop-down list).

5. Disable Power Profiles. This stops the system checking for activity similarly to disabling Screen Savers. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Power Options' and select Scheme 'Always On' and then in the options for Scheme 'Always On' set all drop-down menu options to 'Never').

6. Disable any unnecessary applications which are set to run when the system starts up. This gives two advantages. Firstly, it frees up resources such as Memory for the programs you actually want to run. Secondly, it reduces the chances of your PC crashing since less programs running means less for the PC to do. (Go to 'Start'>'Run' and type msconfig. Now click on the Startup tab and remove ticks from the boxes next to the programs you want to disable. You can remove programs such as 'Load Power Profile', 'Taskmon', 'RealPlayer', 'PcHealth', 'StateMgr', 'SchedulingAgent' etc etc).

7. Disable Automatic Updating. This prevents Windows from trying to find updates for itself if you use the internet and also stops it asking you annoying questions. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Automatic Updates' and disable Automatic Updates).

8. Set your Virtual Memory to a fixed size (Max. Size = Min. Size). This prevents Windows from re-sizing the Virtual Memory or Swap File which it may otherwise do whilst you are recording thus causing glitches in the recording. Set it to 1.5 to 2 times the amount of actual RAM you have or 256MB as a minimum. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System' then click on the Performance tab and then click on 'File System'. Now select 'Manually specify Virtual Memory settings' and set the two values (Min. and Max.) to the same value as recommended above. Ignore the warnings Windows gives you). If you have 256MB of RAM or more, you may well benefit by disabling Virtual Memory entirely. This is done in the 'Troubleshooting' tab.

9. Disable the System Restore function. This stops the system from constantly saving it's current state and thus hogging the Hard-Disk and other resources. The System Restore doesn't work too well anyway. (Go to 'Start'>'Control Panel'>'System' then click on the Performance tab and click on 'File System'. In the Troubleshooting section, choose 'Disable System Restore').

10. Add the following line to your System.ini file after the [386 Enh] tag so it looks as follows:

[386 Enh]

ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

This makes the system use RAM more often rather than the Virtual Memory. This improves system performance since RAM is much faster than the Hard-Disk. (Note: Do not use this option if you have less than 128MB of RAM installed). (Go to 'Start'>'Run' and type System.ini - a notepad will be launched containing the System.ini file. Add the above line after [386 Enh] so it looks as above. There will be other lines in the section you're adding to, just add it before them. Now save the changes you made and close the notepad - as ever, you will have to restart for the change to take effect).

Also add or edit the entry after the [vcache] tag in system.ini so it appears as follows:

[vcache]

MinFileCache=16384
MaxFileCache=16384

This limits the Cache size windows uses to Cache the Hard-disk(s) to 16MB instead of the Cubase default of 1/4 of your system RAM/Memory which is often too high.

11. Make sure your Hard-Disk(s) are not too fragmented. You should defragment at least once a week (if you've used your PC), before installing programs and before recording audio onto your PC.

12. Don't set you display resolution and bit depth too high, experiment with different settings starting from 16 bit 800 x 600 and working upwards with a reasonably complex song until the re-draws get slower then set it back to it's previous setting (when re-draws were acceptably quick). Don't set your display to 256 colours as most new graphics cards do not accelerate this number of colours meaning your processor will have to do the work instead.

13. Make sure hardware graphics acceleration is on FULL. This takes some load off your processor (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control panel'>'System', click on the Performance tab and then click on Graphics and set the slider up to full).

14. Turn off all Auto insert notifications (data and audio). This stops the system checking every second or so for new CD's in the CDROM's/CDR's/DVDROM's/DVDRAM's which can block the PCI Data buss for that short time. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System'>'Device Manager' and double click on the CDROM section. Now double click on each of your CD/DVD drives and un-tick the Auto-Insert notifications).

15. Enable 'Show Window Contents While Dragging'. This forces Windows to maintain the graphical contents of any windows you drag around so that you can always see what you're doing. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Folder Options' and select 'Show Window Contents While Dragging').

16. Even if you are going to use the Internet on your Audio PC, it is still recommended that you use IEradicator from 98Lite to remove Internet Explorer. I would then recommend that you install the Opera browser. You can of course re-install IE if you want to, your PC will still benefit. This optimisation dramatically increases stability.

17. USB can be problematic with PC's which are set up as Audio Workstations - particularly those with VIA chipsets. For this reason, it is reccomended that you proceed with caution if using USB devices. If you have no USB devices, disable USB - this will free up an IRQ and prevent Windows from 'Pinging' or checking the USB port for new devices which it usually does a many times per second. (Go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System'>'Device Manager' and double click on the USB section. Now select the USB to PCI host controller and choose 'Do not use this device (disable)').

18. Try not to install any software other than that which you need for your Audio work. You can always create another profile in Windows for other uses. Microsoft Office 2000 and Virus checkers which constantly run (as opposed to those which are run when you choose to run them) in particular has been known to cause big problems.

Settings i DO NOT reccomend:

1. Disabling Double-Buffering entirely.

As a default, Windows sets Double-Buffering (set in MSDOS.SYS after the [options] tag) support to'1' which means 'use Double-Buffering only if required (some SCSI controllers require Double-Buffering). This is almost always fine, only disable (set to '0') if you have problems with disk access.

2. Changing Computer Role to 'Network Server'.

This will simply allocated more Cache space for programs which will use up a little more of your RAM/Memory.

3. Reducing Graphics Acceleration.

This has the exact opposite effect of that which is desired. Graphics acceleration takes the load of Graphics processing off the CPU/Processor and allows the Graphics card/Videocard to do it instead.

4. PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL NORTON. It is a nightmare.