Basic Windows7 Optimizations/Interference

[geneva.view]

Perfect newbie question:

Will the basic system optimizations they go over in the Avid Youtube page interfere with other things I may use my pc for, other than ProTools? I'm basically using that PC for ProTools, but I also use it for recording some streaming video football games as well, and some web usage for protools how-to's.

optimizations I'm referring to include:
power management
performance options
disable startup items
disc compression and indexing
and desktop composition

I'm as green as it gets, I don't want to change something if I shouldn't.
Thank you!

[sbag]

Originally Posted by geneva.view

Perfect newbie question:
some web usage for protools how-to's.
!

I would avoid using the internet on the recording rig, also It might be a good idea to turn off auto updates, just my 2 cents, I learned the hard way....

[albee1952]

+1 for turning OFF automatic updates. You should right-click on the Pro Tools icon and hit the Compatibility tab. Then check the boxes for the following items:
Always Run as Admin
Disable Desktop Themes
Disable Desktop Composition
Also, since you are connecting to the internet, and will be a target for all sorts of bad stuff, get Acronis True Image(or similar) and save a drive image of your C: drive as soon as you have it working well. You will need that so you can restore from a virus/malware/Trojan attack(which will happen sooner or later) Some antivirus programs will sap your system resources and should not be used with Pro Tools.

You do NOT want disk compression. Power management settings should be for drives to never sleep, monitor to never sleep, no screen saver. Open the pdf manual as I think all the tweaks are explained in there

[geneva.view]

Cool. Thank you very much guys, I appreciate it.

[geneva.view]

Albee, please clarify: save the drive image as soon as I have what working well? ProTools with the optimizations? Or the Acronis Imager? Sorry, I'm not too hip with computers. Thank you.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by geneva.view

Albee, please clarify: save the drive image as soon as I have what working well? ProTools with the optimizations? Or the Acronis Imager? Sorry, I'm not too hip with computers. Thank you.

Acronis True Image is a program that does 2 things extremely well. It can save a drive "image" OF any hard drive, TO another hard drive. With these images, you can use them to restore a hard drive that gets corrupted(maybe a bad update) or trashed by a virus attack. That same image could be restored to a new hard drive(handy if your old drive crashes and can't be read). It also allows you to CLONE a drive(I put a spare drive in a generic USB case, clone my C: drive to the USB drive, and then I can take the new "clone" and set it aside and come back months later and install that clone in place of my working C: drive and everything comes up as it was the day I made the clone. Since my drives are in SATA drive cages, that means I can have a complete crash, pull the C: drive, install the cloned drive and go back to work in a minute,

My recommendation of 3 images is as follows:
Image #1, an image of Windows only with all tweaks gives you a clean baseline from which to rebuild. Restoring takes way less time than doing a fresh Windows install and repeating all the tweaks.

Image #2(Windows and Pro Tools only) is handy if you install some 3rd party software that hoses your system(had it happen).

Image #3 will restore to your complete setup so if you have a crash or an update that goes bad, you can restore way faster than starting from nothing. This can be a life saver if you get a virus, if the drive fails completely or if you update and regret it(like I did when 9.0.6 sucked, so I restored from my 9.0.3 drive image)

Remember there are 2 kinds of computer user; those that HAVE had a drive crash, and those that WILL have a drive crash

[geneva.view]

Wow. Thank you Albee, that was the most thorough AND informative response one could receive. Thank you, most thoroughly. ....perhaps I should hire you as a consultant...

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by geneva.view

Wow. Thank you Albee, that was the most thorough AND informative response one could receive. Thank you, most thoroughly. ....perhaps I should hire you as a consultant...

If only you could afford me oh wait.....I do this for free