how to setup Windows 7 mean and lean as a usb source?

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kyrill

To use a netbook or laptop with windows 7 solely ( no internet) as a source for a usb dac or for a usb-->s/pdif converter like m2tech's products, it may benefit to tweak windows for maximum support of its server's role.

For instance i found: ( more tips: http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/69610eb9-5429-48d8-a00a-e0547fd30ff4/how-to-make-windows-7-lean-and-mean.aspx)

Turn off Hibernation

Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system resources. If you don't use the Hibernate feature regularly you can to disable it to give Windows 7 a performance boost.

To disable Hibernation:

    * Select the Control Panel then Power Options
    * Click Change Plan Settings
    * Click on Change Advanced Power Settings
    * Expand the Sleep selection
    * Expand the Hibernate After selection
    * Bring the selector down to zero
    * Click Apply

Turn off Windows Search Service

 Windows Search  really impacts system performance.

To disable this:

    * Click Start, then Computer
    * Right Click the C: Drive
    * On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
    * On the next dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files
    * You should also Stop and set to Disabled the Windows Search Service.

To set Ready Boost up:
There is this "ready boost" may work well with a netbook with only 2G memory:
Ready Boost uses a USB thumb/flash drive to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. The Ready Boost system can improve system performance.


    * Insert a USB Flash Drive (2GB or more)
    * Click Start then Computer
    * Right Click the USB Drive in My Computer
    * Select properties
    * Select the Ready Boost Tab
    * Choose dedicate this device to ready boost
    * Let windows suggest how much of the available memory to use

Change Power Plan to high performance
( Control Panel)

Turn Windows Features on or off
i. Open the “Control Panel” from the Start Menu and goto “Programs”. Select “Programs and Features”.
ii. Click on “Turn Windows Features on or off” on the left side. The Windows features window displaying the list of windows programs will open. Uncheck the ones you don’t use. This can save you a lot of disk space.



from above list Turn off Remote Differential Compression 

Especially which other window programs can be ticked off in "Turn Windows Features on or off?"

more..( from http://tweaks.com/articles/39655/fine-tune-windows-7-on-netbooks/)
Fine Tune Visual Settings

The Windows 7 eye candy is the main cause of GUI slowness. While my netbook has a decent graphics card that can display Aero Glass it can be choppy at times. Follow these steps to improve the performance of the interface:

Reducing visual "clutter"
The Windows 7 eye candy is the main cause of GUI slowness.
Click on the Start Button and type in adjust the appearance and hit Enter. This will load the Visual Effects performance options.
On this screen I suggest disabling the following settings by removing the check:

    * Animate controls and elements inside windows
    * Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
    * Enable transparent glass
    * Fade or slide menus into view
    * Fade or slide ToolTips into view
    * Fade out menu items after clicking
    * Show shadows under windows (this may be worth the performance hit for some)
    * show thumbnails instead of icons
    * show translucent selection rectangle
    * Show window contents while dragging
    * Slide open combo boxes

Click OK when you are finished.

Remove Startup Programs

Nothing wastes resources more is startup programs that you don’t need. Click on the Start Button and type in msconfig and hit Enter.

When the System Configuration utility is loaded click on the Startup tab.

Disable Services

Now it’s time to trim the Windows services running in the background of your computer.





Click on the Start Button and type in services.msc and hit Enter.
When the Services management console is shown you can stop and disable services by selecting the service, right clicking and selecting Properties. Then change the Startup type to Disabled and hit the Stop button. Finally click OK to return to the Services management console.

I recommend disabling the following services on a netbook:

    * Block Level Backup Engine Service
    * Bonjour Service (from iTunes)
    * Certificate Propagation
    * Group Policy Client (if not on domain)
    * HomeGroup Listener
    * HomeGroup Provider
    * Offline Files
    * Portable Device Enumerator Service
    * Security Center*
    * Software Protection (make sure you activate Windows first)
    * SSDP Discovery
    * Windows Defender*
    * Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
    * Windows Search
    * without internet more services?

Match windows 7 with music server programs running as a background service ( maybe not Foobar, but Squeezebox server does)



Deeply buried:
Control panel/System and security/System/Advanced systems settings/System properties/Advanced/Performance options--> processor scheduling adjust for background services ( default is programs)

more tips or tweaks?
« Last Edit: 26 Oct 2010, 04:52 pm by kyrill »

kyrill

Re: how to setup Windows 7 mean and lean as a usb source?
« Reply #1 on: 2 Nov 2010, 10:39 pm »
ppl Have I missed an obvious link in Audiocircle already explaining how to setup Windows 7 the best way for pure non wireless server reasons?

Then I can understand the zero reactions or is there not anybody out there knowing some extra tips ? :scratch:

Jon L

Re: how to setup Windows 7 mean and lean as a usb source?
« Reply #2 on: 2 Nov 2010, 10:53 pm »
ppl Have I missed an obvious link in Audiocircle already explaining how to setup Windows 7 the best way for pure non wireless server reasons?

Then I can understand the zero reactions or is there not anybody out there knowing some extra tips ? :scratch:

Well, you may get more response if you could tell us how the sound quality changed from before to after the tweaks..

highfilter

Re: how to setup Windows 7 mean and lean as a usb source?
« Reply #3 on: 2 Nov 2010, 10:58 pm »
Some additional things I did while I briefly had Windows 7 as a playback source:

- Put on the classic theme (Windows 95 or 98) + disable all visual animations etc.
- Put the display to 16-bit or 256 color to increase performance (I use the computer only from my iPod so I don't have any display connected to the computer)
- Disable the desktop icons (again, no need for them if using a remote)
- Do not have any devices connected through USB and have no display device running for minimal and optimal setup
- Usual hardware tweaks apply: Solid State hard drive, disable all on-board functions on the motherboard (audio, network, raid, etc), lots of RAM, lower power video card, lower power but high performance CPU
- Bypass the default Windows driver by using Kernel Streaming or WASAPI etc. (I used Foobar)
- Go through the usual performance tweaks searching through Google for removing the bloat from Windows 7

From my experience, no matter how much I tweaked Windows 7, Mac OS X just sounds better, especially when is tweaked out as well. Could be the software players on the Mac side using HOG Mode, memory playback and all the other little cool features. Plus Mac OS X in general doesn't have as much background processes going as Windows.