Upgrading From Windows 7
 

I have what was once a high-end Dell business PC desktop from 2013.

I've been running Windows 7 fairly flawlessly since then even though I'm constantly pushing the limits of the CPU.

A couple weeks ago, knowing that Microsoft was dropping support for Windows 7 I installed a new SSD drive. The previous drive was a standard SATA.

Then I installed Windows 10, updated the drivers and performed Avid's optimization suggestions.

But now many of my Pro Tools sessions won't play from start to finish due to CPU overloads.

So I have temporarily switched back the original SATA drive with Windows 7 and am ignoring warnings from Microsoft.

Now I have a decision to make.

Do I continue trying to wrestle with Windows 10 not knowing if it will ever play ball with the 7 year old technology inside the box?

Or would I be better to baby step to Windows 8.1 which Microsoft plans to support for 3 more years?

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

Did you do an "in-place" Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade install, or, did you do a "clean install" of Win 10? Clean install is the way to go. Turn off all unnecessary Windows junk in settings. Delete all Win 10 bloatware. Disable all Win 10 unnecessary startup items. All AVID optimizations. Which version of PTools? I've got Win 10 & PTools 2019.12 working quite well.

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

Would be best if we had a Sandra report on that Dell. I have 2 custom built computers from 2013 that run W10 and PT just fine.

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

Good on you for saving the old C: drive:D:D +1 for a Sandra report. I have had no issues with Windows 10 on 4-5 custom builds or on an HP Z820 12 core($1100 from eBay).

More thoughts on the new SSD:
If you just cloned from the old C: and upgraded the OS afterwards, it might be worth running optimization software(Samsung SSD's include Samsung Magician. After running it to optimize, uninstall it as it is no longer needed and might make your USB drives disappear like it did for me(once it was removed, the USB drives all showed up fine)

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

If you don't have your ProTools computer connected to the internet, you can still use Windows 7. The extended support which just ended was continuing to provide security updates. That has now stopped.

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

I agree with that. Why switching? Windows 7 works just fine, it will only stop getting security updates from now on. If you know what you're doing with your PC - it will not affect you in the slightest.

Re: Upgrading From Windows 7
 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I tried all your suggestions.

The best solution for me was to upgrade to a faster CPU. I found an inexpensive one on eBay and now Pro Tools performance has improved when using Windows 10. Windows 10 Home seems to perform better than Windows 10 Pro. Windows 8.1 is about the same as 10.

Windows 7 still seems fastest of all so I'll put the Windows 7 drive in a different tower and use that as a backup system.